Happy, Mercy, Faith and Hope. These are the names of the English classes that OM Mercy Teams International (OM MTI) has been conducting in Indonesia for more than 2 years. Altogether, there are five such ESL classes in various parts of the country.

Each week, the volunteer teachers, who are mostly from Singapore, meet with their students online and engage them in an hour of class. The students of two classes – Happy and Mercy – are located in Pulau Burung, a small remote island in the Riau Islands province. One class for primary school students, while the other is for the local schoolteachers.

Recently, a student in the Happy ESL class won first place in a province-level English speech competition. One of the teachers in his ESL class, Brenda*, tells us that Rifky (pictured) is an enthusiastic student. “Rifky is participative in class and answers questions well. He tries hard to pronounce the words he is reading correctly after listening to the teachers.”

“Rifky is participative in class and answers questions well… I have been so blessed by this ministry!”

Brenda, ESL Teacher

Since November last year, everyday topics like types of clothing, places in the neighbourhood, and likes and dislikes have been the points of discussion in the Happy class. As the class is big, the students are divided into smaller groups after a brief time of teaching in the main group, so that each student has sufficient time to speak and practice.

Besides the weekly online classes, OM MTI’s local partner, Santoso*, also visits the students regularly to get to know them and their families. Santoso shares that the families are very happy to welcome him into their homes because their children have reported wonderful things about the class to them.

Similarly, the ESL teachers have found much joy in volunteering for this project. Brenda says, “Yes, I have been so blessed by this ministry and I thank God for calling upon [MTI] to call me!”

*not their real names
Top photo by rivage on Unsplash

Please pray:

• Thank God for the wonderful volunteer teachers who continue to give of themselves to the ESL classes. Pray that God will sustain their energy and that the teachers will be blessed in return.
• Pray that the students of the ESL classes benefit richly from the class, not just in the learning of the English language, but also from their interactions with the teachers and our local partners.

Can you see yourself or someone you know as a volunteer teacher for our ESL classes? If your answer is yes, drop us an email at admin@mercyteams.net to introduce yourself and we will get back to you very shortly.