The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Offers New ESL Classes to the Queens Community

A Daily Dose of Learning

Students Mia Nonaka from Japan and Minjung Kim from Korea hold up their ESL certificatesThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has been dedicated to offering ESL classes to the communities they serve for years. What’s different for 2011, is a new approach to teaching the classes that livens things up and gets students speaking right away. Prompted by the desire to standardize their classes and make things more interesting, the church administration worked with a professional company to create a program called “Daily Dose.”

According to the church, it’s a dose of good fun. Students stand in small groups (“huddles”), and work with a colorful graphic dialogue poster and an instructor, so they are engaged in conversation right away. “It’s an exciting approach to learning a language. It’s an opportunity to start [practicing] speaking the language instead of memorizing words, nouns, and verbs,” says William Nelson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints New York South Mission.

Classes will be available throughout Queens at various Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints chapels, and are open and free to the public. Community members are welcome as volunteer ESL instructors; the church will provide training.

Call 917-579-5204 or e-mail nynyfamilies@gmail.com to find out more about “Daily Dose” and ESL classes.