October Partners Update

October Happenings

Small Talk

On the last Friday evening of October, Gateway to English hosted its first Small Talk event of the school year. We plan Small Talk as a monthly event with the goal of connecting with our students and getting to know them better through informal conversations, games, and food. These evenings also give our church members the chance to interact with our students and bridge the gap between church and school.

Reflections on English teaching from Jaden Kilmer

I would like to take the opportunity to describe the group class of teenagers I help teach. A group class usually has 4-8 students and two teachers. A typical group class runs for 1½ hours. Currently at GTE we have six children’s classes, four teenage classes, and five adult classes.

Jewel and I teach this class once a week and we are finding the experience stretching. For us, it can feel challenging to connect with teenagers. Nevertheless, we are finding the challenge rewarding. I am very grateful for Jewel’s experience and insight.

What are some goals we have? Helping them think about the world in healthy ways is important. We have been loosely following the Bible story of Daniel and his friends by using the theme of “Challenge.” This has led to some interesting thoughts and observations. Sometimes their observations are provocative in their simple directness. A nice side benefit to teaching this story is the continual challenge of pronouncing ‘Nebuchadnezzar’! Another goal is to introduce and reinforce new vocabulary. We do this primarily through group exercises and games. I think we all look forward to the games (at least if noise means anything…). Finally, we hope to expedite communication skills by beefing up their conversation skills. We continue to search for new ways to do this.

Prayer and Praise

Prayer

• We’ve had lots of conversations recently about a new Polish film, Kler, a sort of protest film about corrupt Catholic priests in Poland. Lots of people have seen it and have strong feelings about whether or not it’s a good film. Sadly, most of our students have told us that everyone knows that the film is true; that some Catholic priests are abusive, drunk, and stealing money from their parishioners. Our hope for our students is that this film will make them ask hard questions, and that the answers to their questions will lead them to Truth and not to giving up on God completely.

Praise

• We are grateful that the beginning of a new school year has started to bring in funds again after the summer break.

Financial Needs

In November, we expect to need $9,750 in general donations to support the team and the ongoing activities in Poland. In October, we received $5,300 in general donations. We have some reserve for November, but we may have a shortfall of several thousand dollars by the end of the month.

The Board is working with Jaden and Jewel to raise $30,000 for their financial support this year. If you would like to contribute to that need, please contact us at homeoffice@aimpoland.org.

Give to AIM

Donors may indicate preferences for where their gifts are used (such as staff support, Gateway to English, or Seed of Truth) and AIM will honor preferences where possible. AIM reserves the right to assign all contributions where needed. If you would like additional information about how funds are used or if you wish to pledge ongoing support, please contact Matthew Mast at homeoffice@aimpoland.org or 814-789-4394.

To make a donation using credit or debit card, please visit our contact page.