"English? Why bother?"
This month I’ve been travelling on planes, trains and automobiles; visiting a whole bunch of extended family. It has been a rich time of sharing. Now, hear me loud and clear when I say that there are a bunch of ‘things’ about our family that make for, shall we say ‘interesting conversation’. Catching-up with my family often includes chatter around:
- Are we ever going to move back into a house? You see, we’ve lived in a bus for some two or three years, heading from place to place that God puts on our heart.
- How can the boys be gymnasts and yet we still travel Australia? Yes! This is a fertile topic riddled with detail- one we chew-over pretty much daily in ongoing deliberation with each other and with God.
- What do our boys do in their jewellery making business? These questions usually result in showing photos, conversation around market dynamics, where the money goes, etc.
And..the favourite that never ceases to ‘raise its head’?
- But, what will happen when the boys finish school? Will they be able to go to university? To TAFE? Be employable?
Yes, folks. I could definitely spend a whole bunch of time on that topic, given that my area of speciality is rapidly shifting to helping young people attain alternate entry into tertiary study. Sure! However, this time I tinkle the keys on a whole different subject- how English is perceived in our culture.
English? Do I mean our language? No. No. I mean the subject.
SIt with that for a few seconds. We are going to talk about English.
Sound familiar?
Hehe! You are certainly not alone.
These three quotes reflect literally millions of our experiences of English. I weekly hear stories of teachers who were not at all excited about their subject, about the irrelevence of opinion-giving, recalling antiquated novels that have not been picked-up since, resisting the memory of rules about words and sentences, blah, blah, blah.
So, why is English in Senior school the subject that most tertiary providers -- universities, colleges and such -- demanded as a prerequisite for entry into their courses? What is all of the fuss about?
Let’s take a look at the basics of what English is:
- Can your young person identify bias and positioning in memes on social media, in advertisements on television, or in the snippets of news thaey are exposed to in daily life?
- When your teen is challenged about why a pile of wet chux cloths was left soggy overnight in the kitchen at work, how do they handle that conversation?
- When your young person is challenged by a grieving friend to prove the existence of a God who allows bad things to happen to good people, are they able to draw from a range of sources in order to respond with boldness, respect and humility?
- Has your young person been asked to share their testimony, or to reflect on their own experiences in front of a group of people?
- Does your young person understand the value of scripture in context and the importance of knowing what the original wording was, and how it applies to their daily life?
- Can your young person share their opinion on any topic with any given audience; appealing to their audience’s emotions, intellect and trust?
This is the ‘meat’ of English in Flourish Ideas material- every unit of exploration is a hands-on, transferable, challenging, and invigorating experience in communication. Flourish Ideas young people are offered opportunity after opportunity to explore, deconstruct, persuade, inform, discuss, analyse, infer, reflect, create, pray, imagine, brainstorm, express, draft, respond, and well, you name it! In short, Flourish Ideas young people are offered every opportunity to sharpen their communication skillset moving forward in the call of God on their life.
Go for it and make contact to have a chat. As you can probably tell, this is one of our favourite topics to open-up about!
Yasmin Scott 12th October, 2022
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Tantalising
Have you ever seen someone transplant a shrub from a pot to a larger pot?
The keys to ensuring a plant will 'make itself at home' are ensuring it:
- has enough soil to move into
- is watered
- has a little food
- has the right combination of light and shade
'Much like us!', I hear you declare.
And, you would be right.
Will the plant then grow? It is probable. Will it flourish? Perhaps. However, the key to a great transplant of a plant is tantalising the roots.
Yes! That is a phenomenal verb, hey? Tantalising.
A plant's roots benefit from a good ruffle just as you lift the plant from its old space, into a space that has been tenderly prepared for it.
I repeat: It is vital to give those roots a little ruffle! Ha! Ha!
'What does this have to do with us?', you may be muttering. Good call. Let's get to the point. Let's imagine each of our young people is a plant; growing into new challenges, exploring new topics and experiences.
Sometimes we head down to Bunnings and buy the next few pot sizes that we know we will need over the coming months, as we predict the topics our young people will be talking with their peers about. We equip ourselves with a trowel and a bag of potting mix, imagining what we will have to help them deal with what is next. We have done our research about fertilisers and soil types, thinking we know what our young person will need from us. We might be ready and armed with a book on puberty to have those conversations, or we might have in mind a colleague who we can call on to chat help write a resume, or we have a friend in mind whose own young person is dealing with bullying. We are ready for the changes, even before they are here.
Sometimes we might not see a change coming and we rush over to the neighbour for some of those slow-release pellets to shove in with some leftover sphagnum moss (who even knows what that does, anyway?!) hoping for dear life that we can help our young person transition into this new topic, this new phase in their life. We didn't see it coming, and we are standing in hope with God that they will grow in a postive way, through these changes.
Sometimes we may well be holding our plants in a space for a while longer, hoping they are not becoming pot-bound, and all the while hoping for dear life we are doing what is best for them. If they do not move into those discussions, if we protect them from those experiences that the new pot symbolises, then perhaps we can 'weather the storm' and we may never have to go there.
Whichever our approach -- whether we are prepared with colour-coordinated gardening tools, scabbing the pots off a mate, or choosing to withhold that other pot for the time-being -- here it is:
In Matthew 18 Jesus talks about the importance of leading young people into and not away from His teaching. And, we certainly know in our own lives that scripture is living and active (operative, energising and effective) exposing and judging the very thoughts and intensions of the heart.
Are we tantalising the roots as we help our young people through life's challenges? Are we giving our young people every opportunity to find out what God says about some of those gritty and messy topics? Are we giving our young people an opportunity to explore the scriptures, to debate and to question? Are they being provided with that tantalising, that only God's word and gritty exhortative conversation brings? Can they express their own opinion, based on revelation from the Holy Spirit, or only from what they heard from others?
It is never too early or too late to begin with a new re-potting strategy to help our young people flourish! Go for it and get excited. God loves to do a new thing!