Motives in light of love (Luke 10: 27)

The Greek word “agape” (love) means the love of action that God uses Christians as channels to fulfill their neighbors' needs. To serve students is to serve God. 
 
 a. Teaching As a Sacred Mission
 
 The good Samaritan cared for the unnamed Jew's two primary needs: he saved his life and he rescued him from slavery by promising to pay all the potential expenses to the innkeeper (Luke 10). Caring for his neighbors, he honored God. 
 
 All God's people are called to a full-time ministry. Martin Luther and John Calvin pointed out that “all work, even so-called secular work, was as much as calling from God as the ministry of the monk or priest" (Keller 2012, 20). The Calvinist view of Faithful work is to create an environment that honors God and enables people to thrive (2012, 20). Using English as bait to brainwash or proselytize the students is thus unethical (Baurain 2018). Humans are image-bearers who are granted the whole personhood, who think, say, talk, behave, make moral or immoral, good or bad, ethical or unethical choices, who cannot be forced to change their hearts and minds (Baurain 2007).  Teaching is a calling and a sacred mission.

b. Teaching As a Profession
 
 In the Gospel, Jesus is called Teacher sixty times (Today in the Word, 2020, Aug). The word Teacher in Greek is didaskalos, which means someone is acknowledged for mastery in their field of learning (Today in the Word, 2020, Aug).  Jesus is the Master Teacher. 

Martha and Sarah are Christians but their primary purposes were to teach English and fulfill students’ academic needs. They would consult and observe the local teachers and tried to learn Chinese, Chinese culture, history, and customs so that they can understand their students better who adapt to the local culture and their learning skills. Whoever is fully trained will be like their masters (Luke 6:40) which was their goal for the students. The job that God gives to CELTs is to teach, and all should teach with excellence. CELTs would miss the target and fail the mission if they ignore the actual teaching.

Lesson plan in light of love (Luke 10:27)

 

As much as Sarah and Martha wanted to help their students in English, they also wanted to plant the kingdom seeds like Bruce. Using Christian holidays seems to be a common strategy for Christian teachers to compete for such a “mission”. Snow mentioned that Christianity is already associated with Western culture, such an approach created the division between teachers and students as “they” and “us” which may have countereffect (2001).

 

a.       Lesson planning as a “rebel” 

 

Purgason condemned CELTs who came to the field with a secret agender as she was quoting II Corinthians 4:2 “We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception” (TNIV) and claimed that from the perspective of Christian teachers who want to talk about their beliefs with students, avoiding a covert approach will help them meet students who are genuinely interested in further conversation” (2011). 

 

Cynthia, a teacher trainer in a nonprofit who taught in China for a long period and did not include Christian holidays into her lesson planning. Her fellow missionaries were very upset and saw it as a “sin”. But for her, such content does not fit into the language objectives, and she considered that there was absolutely nothing that her students needed to know about those holidays in the context of their language learning. One of Cynthia’s jobs within the non-profit was traveling to see if other teams’ members are teaching with integrity and not pushing an agenda (p23). Non-evangelicals have shown concerns about conversion-based and poor academic-focused teaching would bring the field as a whole into disrepute (Johnston, 2017). He further emphasized that high-quality materials, good pacing, and effective use of the classroom can best serve students. 
 

b.      Lesson planning as an Integration 

 
 God created all things and His existences are beyond every dimension of our lives. He is much more than the infant Jesus on the stage on Christmas or the stories we need in the Bible. We can feel, touch, smell, and hear Him through our interactions with His creations. 

 

Christian English teachers such as Kitty Barnhouse Purgason (2011) provided several excellent lesson plans by integrating faith into the lesson plan. In one of her lesson plans Message of Love, she introduced different relationships in life for group discussion: husband-wife, parent-child, friend-friend, boyfriend-girlfriend, God-human being. Questions such as “What are some common ways people express love in your culture?” Or “What message of love would you like to receive from someone? Give to someone?” 

 

There is one common message in all these relationships: Love, whether it is the love of attraction “eros”, love of affection “Phileo”, or love of action “agape”. The relationship between God and the human being are embedded in all these relationships and much more. She then provided four quotations about love from a different era, country, ethnicity, and religious belief including atheist for writing practice, and students have three prompts for the quotation to choose from. The time is near Valentine’s Day. The topic would perfectly fit the theme and the content was inclusive: multi-religious and ethnicities were included. 

 

Very often, there will be more than one religion represented in the classroom. Including relevant quotations from world religions on the topic can produce a space where students can learn from one another not just a Christian value, but pan-religious (Mahboob, 2011). Purgason (2016) also provided Christian music-based content catering to different levels of students. Again, the focus of language skills was listening rather than find out students’ ethics or moral beliefs. 

 Besides, Integrate faith into the lesson plan is more than doing, the being of a teacher, such as showing personal virtues of love and respect as well as humility to students and embracing beliefs other than one’s own (Mambu, 2017) is the living testimony to our Christian faith. 

Conclusion:

Even Biblical characters had a life outside of the temple which is not alien to Christian belief. They did not listen to the Word all the time who had a full range of living, from birth, marriage, work, feasting, fighting, complaining to singing and dancing. God’s glory and Truth manifest through every faculty of life. Jesus has passed down the torch to his disciples. It was their time to exercise all the power and authority that were empowered to them. They have been equipped by their Master's teachers. They carried out the missions that Jesus Christ has entrusted them and their transformations exemplified the work the LORD has done in them. This is the calling for all CELTs. It is not just about doing but being. When we are a spiritual being, everything we do in Christ is spiritual, whether it is teaching the Bible, a lesson about work, or chores. Our first allegiance is Christ which means the motive behind every job is for Him. We do it with excellence in the field God has called us to because Jesus Christ has set a perfect example for all of us for being a Master Teacher.

 

Baurain, B. (2012). Beliefs Into Practice: A Religious Inquiry Into Teacher Knowledge. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 11(5), 312–332. https://doi-org.chilib.moody.edu/10.1080/15348458.2012.723576

 

Baurain,(B. 2018, December 10). Professionalism and Witness in TESOL. ChinaSource, Retrieved October 10, 2020, from https://www.chinasource.org/resource-library/articles/professionalism-and-witness-in-tesol/

 

Baurain, B. (2015). Religious Faith and Teacher Knowledge in English Language Teaching.

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

 

Burgos, Francisco. (2017). Using the Bible to Teach a Foreign Language. Journal of Adventist

Education, 4. https://jae.adventist.org/2017.4.6

 

Dormer, J. E. (2011). Teaching English in missions: Effectiveness and integrity. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.

 

Johnston, Bill. English Teaching and Evangelical Mission: The Case of Lighthouse School. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2017.

 

Keller, Timothy.(2012). Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work. New York: Penguin Books. (pp.20-21)

 

Lingenfelter, J. E., & Lingenfelter, S. G. (2003). Teaching cross-culturally: an incarnational model

for learning and teaching. Baker.

 

Mahboob, Ahmar. (2011). Additive perspective on Religion or growing hearts with wisdom. In M. S. Wong & S. Canagarajah (Eds.), Christian and critical English language educators in dialogue: Pedagogical and ethical dilemmas (pp. 187). New York: Routledge

 Mambu, J. E. (2017). Addressing Religious Issues and Power in ELT Classrooms: Voices from English Teachers in Indonesia. International Journal of Christianity and English Language Teaching, 4, 6-27. Retrieved October 4, 2020, from https://digitalcommons.biola.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=ijc-elt

 Moody Bible Institute. (2020). Today in the Word: Lesson from the Great Teacher. Today in the Word, 33 (8) (pp.6). Moody Publisher

 

Purgason, K. B. (2011). Classroom guidelines for teachers with convictions. In M. S. Wong & S. Canagarajah (Eds.), Christian and critical English language educators in dialogue: Pedagogical and ethical dilemmas (pp. 185-192). New York: Routledge

 

Snow, Donald B. English Teaching as Christian Mission: An Applied Theology. Scottdale, PA and

Waterloo, ON: Herald Press, 2001. 

Whorter, Mc. “What the World Will Speak in 2115,” Wall Street Journal Language death news article packet

 

Wong, M. S. (2016). Called to Teach: The Impact of Faith on Professional Identity Formation of Three Western English Teachers in China. In M.S. Wong., Kristjansson, C., & Dörnyei, Z. (2016). Christian faith and English language teaching and learning : research on the interrelationship of religion and ELT (pp. 9-11). New York: Routledge.