A featured fundraiser in the G.O.D. Int’l 2021 Holiday Campaign was dedicated to sharing learning opportunities with immigrants and refugee families. The objective was to take services already offered by G.O.D. Int’l, and produce an online class opportunity. In light of challenges presented by COVID-19 and limitations on our students related to transportation, work schedules, and family obligations, we asked for help to create something they could access anytime, anywhere.
We partially met our fundraising goal, and thus focused our funds on one specific video series on an important topic for immigrant and refugee families - driver’s education. This series of 6 videos, coupled with a classroom management service, will create a completely online driver’s education course.
The major challenges for immigrants trying to get a license is the language barrier. Many of these folks have been driving for years in their home countries, but the written test is not typically offered in the language of most of the immigrant communities we serve. Our video series will teach not just the rules of the road, but also the English necessary to pass a written exam. The videos will be slow, clearly articulated, and have subtitles in the languages of the immigrant communities we serve. Much of the homework will be related to learning all the key English terms needed for passing the exam.
To produce this series, we partnered with Genovations Media, which offered its high quality production work at a discount in support of our cause. Stephen Carver, Program Manager for Language in Action, managed and developed content for the project. Institute for GOD Professor and CASE Afterschool Program Director, Benjamin Reese, wrote scripts and taught on camera. Institute for GOD Academic Dean, Jeff Sherrod, will oversee the creation of a course using classroom management service, Canvas, when videos have been completed.
While teaching English and providing services to immigrants in Nashville has been a practice for G.O.D. Int’l throughout much of its history, the Language in Action program officially started in 2018. At that time, we encountered a community of Hispanic immigrants in Antioch that was hungry to learn English. We started Language In Action and quickly began serving communities from the Congo and from Burma as well. In the last 4 years, LIA has been able to offer maternal health seminars, Drivers Ed. courses, Bible studies, and more. The original lead teachers who started with each of these communities are still with the program.
Deuteronomy 10:18 speaks to God’s concern for the foreigner, saying: “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.”
Throughout the Bible, God identifies immigrants as a demographic he personally looks out for, ensuring that they have their needs met. As people who want to serve God, we must engage in the work of caring for the needs of immigrants as well. This program recognizes the necessity of understanding basic English and American culture in order to engage life in America effectively. This is why our class focuses on subjects related to practical things, such as buying food at a grocery store and filling out government forms, or even communicating with doctors in an unexpected crisis.
For this project, we focus on helping immigrants who don’t speak fluent English to get a driver’s license. Being able to drive in a city with limited public transportation opens doors for people to get jobs, go to stores, and meet countless other needs that those of us born and raised in the U.S. may not even think of on the day to day.
The Driver’s Education video course has completed its initial phase. It goes next to subtitling and attaching course structure, after which it will be distributed for use. If you donated to this cause, we thank you for your generosity! You are helping to meet the needs of refugees and immigrants in Nashville and beyond
Written by: Stephen Carver, Manager of Language in Action
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