Share Your English

We've had a unique opportunity fall into our laps that has been such a fun fit as we desire to connect more in our neighborhood and also seek to meet the needs of our community.

Our life group, that began a little over a year ago, wanted to have an outreach element to our group. Our original idea was to become volunteers at a local group home. But when the process to become cleared as a volunteer took 8 months, another opportunity arose and I see now that it was the best fit.

We met Walter at a gathering of One Church for Our City (OC for OC). Walter works with MIKA, a community development organization in Costa Mesa. Walter partners with a strip of apartments just across the street from our neighborhood. As he has assessed the needs of the neighborhood, learning English has been one that he would love to address.

That's where we came in. We know English! This summer we gave it a whirl, hosting a monthly meeting at our house where we partnered English speakers from our group with a Spanish speaker and neighbor. We met some incredible new friends and had a great time learning more about their lives and sharing something so easy for us to share.

This Fall we partnered with some other church groups so that Share Your English could be a weekly gathering.

Last week, I got to partner with a couple who speaks very little English. We set aside the lesson and spent time writing out the English equivalents of questions they would love to ask on their job site and practicing pronouncing them. It was so great to offer such practical and valuable info. They totally soaked it up.

It's been fun that this is something that anyone can do. We just pair the non-Spanish speakers with someone who knows more English and vice versa. But even better, we are seeking to bridge the gap that language creates in our community through these interactions.

A large group of neighbors at the apartments host an annual Thanksgiving dinner. They invited us and treated us like honored guests. And boy was there food! Two of the kids in Noelle's class were there and although she didn't like the smell of the food (she's always been so sensitive to smell), she really enjoyed the multiple pinatas ;). We've met some really great new neighbors.

There were years waiting, wondering how we might get more involved and connected with our community and then at just the right timing, the perfect opportunity arose. It was worth keeping our eyes and ears open and our hearts willing, even if there was lots of waiting involved.

Mika posted an interview with one of our participants and friends. You can read it by clicking on the word interview.