Dr. Alan Seaman's Summer Travels
In August 2012, the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) launched its new English textbook series, Passport to Adventure, in Christian schools across Indonesia, of which Dr. Alan Seaman was the senior editor. asked by ACSI to assemble a team to conduct teacher-training workshops that would help Indonesian teachers understand how to use the series. The “Wheaton College team” (as they were known) included Dr. Seaman, Esther Hong (English curriculum director at Central Christian Academy in Korea), Grace Van Maanen (a former EFL teacher/curriculum director who currently teaches ESL at Churchill Elementary in Glen Ellyn), and Sara Vroom (a current TESOL grad student who previously taught ESL in Minnesota and EFL in Austria). Their team was rounded out by two ACSI Indonesian staff: Ishak Wonohadidjojo, the national director, and Rosiana Adinegoro, the academic director. 
The team conducted workshops in East Java in a remote camp near Surabaya and in West Java in a mountaintop conference center near Bogor. They helped lead a youth leadership training program (the Student English Leadership Conference) in both locations, mentoring teenagers in discipleship and Christian leadership. Additionally, their team spoke at a large church and toured Christian schools in Jakarta.
In August 2012, Dr. Seaman visited the Wheaton TEFL Certificate programs in Phnom Penh and Beijing to gather information about the current state of these programs and provide direction. From August 28-29, 2012, Dr. Seaman also conducted a series of guest lectures at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign addressing the issue of pedagogical grammar for an audience which included both current graduate students and teachers at the University’s Intensive English Institute (many of whom teach grammar).
Dr. Pam Barger - Cambodia & Beijing
During the first two weeks of August 2012, Alan Seaman and Pam Barger went to visit the ELIC faculty and staff in Asia for the August TEFL Certificate Program. Dr. Seaman and Dr. Barger observed the graduate courses, talked with faculty and staff, and met with students in the classes to analyze some of the strengths and issues concerning the program. During the first half of the trip, Dr. Seaman and Dr. Barger went to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the Southeast August TEFL Certificate Program. This is the first time the program was held in Cambodia and it was a wonderful opportunity for them to meet the country director, Vandenn Krouch, who is also a former student in the Intercultural Studies/ELIC program. Vandenn presented his vision for the program and they met with the Provost, Rector, and other distinguished faculty members of the National University of Management in Cambodia. The Cambodian faculty and administrative staff had high hopes of ELIC/Wheaton teachers helping their faculty improve the English-based programs in the university.
For the second half of the trip, Dr. Barger and Dr. Seaman met with the ELIC faculty/staff in China were able see their complex August TEFL Certificate Program, which also included teachers who are planning to teach in Mongolia. Finally, their team had a meeting with key staff and faculty in China to discuss continued partnership with them.
Dr. Scott Moreau in Seoul and Houghton
In May, Dr. Scott Moreau was a plenary speaker at a Korean consultation in Seoul on “Immigration and the Church” at which he presented a paper on cultural issues of immigration that Koreans need to consider. The consultation lasted three days, after which, Dr. Moreau spent three days as a guest at the Korean Research Institute for Mission (KRIM) center, giving two additional lectures on missions trends at local seminaries.
In June, Dr. Moreau attended the “Bridging the Divide” consultation in Houghton, NY. The focus of the consultation was to bring together people strongly divided over a contemporary method of reaching Muslims for Christ known as “Insider Movements” so that at least they could listen to each other with the hope of making progress on understanding and agreement. Once at the consultation, Dr. Moreau was asked to chair a committee that would create a statement from the consultation and would ultimately give 4 presentations at the consultation on a variety of things that were being discussed.
Dr. Cheri Pierson - Serving Closer to Home
The summer of 2012 was both productive and busy in Wheaton. Dr. Cheri Pierson focused on three areas: teaching, scholarship and mentoring. In June Dr. Pierson taught two intensive courses: INTR 613 TESOL Classroom Dynamics Practicum and INTR 614 (Curriculum and Materials Development in TESOL). Because she supervises each practicum teacher’s experience, Dr. Pierson is required to do multiple observations for each teacher and facilitate a final conference with their mentoring teacher. This summer she drove over 300 miles in the Chicago area observing teachers in both academic (Dominican University, Harper Community College and College of DuPage) and adult education contexts (World Relief DuPage and Pui Tak Center, Chicago).
In July, Dr. Pierson taught INTR 573 Qualitative Research for Second Language Educators with 30 students. This course required a great deal of grading while simultaneously traveling to Indiana and Tennessee to visit family members. Finally, Dr. Pierson conducted four independent studies with students from ELIC and the Summers Only program. This gave Dr. Pierson the opportunity to invest in students’ specific areas of interest. One of these students, Will Bankston (ELIC Vietnam), co-authored an article with Dr. Pierson entitled, “English for Bible and Theology: Understanding and Communicating Theology Across Cultural and Linguistic Barriers,” which has been accepted for publication. Will and Dr. Pierson plan to write a book together this coming year entitled Exploring Parables: Integrated Skills for English Language Learners of Bible and Theology. Additionally, two other articles that Dr. Pierson co-authored with students were published this summer.
Dr. Susan Greener in Rwanda
From June 21 to July 2, 2012, Dr. Susan Greener, Associate Professor of Intercultural Studies, traveled to Rwanda to engage with the Anglican church in service to the youngest members of the communities. To prepare for training contextualization, she visited genocide memorials, a church-based preschool, and stayed in the home of Bishop Laurent Mbanda and his wife, Chantal. Musanze is an area that continues to see militia activity and struggles with issues of low literacy, post-genocide traumas, 
unsupervised children, and extreme poverty. The diocesan goal is to start a preschool in each of the 350 parishes; 200 preschools have been established in the last 18 months, yet the teachers lack training in Christian early childhood education. A typical classroom has 90-110 children with two teachers. Dr. Greener trained 34 teachers (most of whom have less than secondary education) over several days on topics, such as: the importance of children in the Kingdom, role of the teacher, holistic development of 3-5 year olds, developmentally appropriate discipline, curriculum development, lesson planning, and much more. Positive outcomes included: increased church and teacher support of the importance of early childhood education, increased teacher confidence in the importance of their role in establishing faith foundations for young
children, church growth after preschools have been established, increased safety and supervision of young children, and establishment of a sustainable funding model without outside financial support.
Rev. Beth Seversen & Dr. Rick Richardson
Teaming Up For Nation-Wide Ministry
The summer of 2012, and the months leading up to it were also very busy for Rev. Beth Seversen and Dr. Rick Richardson.
March 30-31, 2012 at the Open Door Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, Rick Richardson and Beth Seversen co-taught an Evangelism Weekend, Church Without Walls, for a Korean Church—OPDC. They team-taught a two-day seminar for laity, spoke to staff and elders at a luncheon, and a breakfast was hosted for Rev. Seversen to address women interested in ministry or graduate and seminary education. They each received an honorarium.
From June 4-6, Rev. Seversen and Dr. Richardson were involved with a prayer ministry at Honey Rock in Three Lakes, WI. This involved a two and a half day, team-taught seminar for 40 staff on listening and healing prayer followed by an evening of prayer ministry to about 150 staff and students and daily morning devotionals. Rev. Seversen also met with 4 of the Honey Rock students for advising and encouragement. Both Rev. Seversen and Dr. Richardson each received a small honorarium for this ministry.
On June 15, in Charleston, South Carolina, Dr. Richardson and Rev. Seversen participated in Alpha Mobilize, which is a gathering of leaders passionate about the Great Commission and longing for a more mobilized church. Beth Seversen spoke on emerging generation evangelism within Rick Richardson’s plenary session, specifically addressing Moralistic Therapeutic Deism and the moral compass of many emerging generation people.
July 20, 2012 at John Armstrong’s UBF Cohort, Chicago, IL, Dr. Richardson and Rev. Seversen team taught on Emerging Generation Evangelism. Rev. Seversen also introduced the cohort to our two Masters degrees in Evangelism and Leadership and Missional Church Movements.
Finally, from August 28 – September 3 at Burning Man, Black Rock, Nevada, and Rev. Beth Seversen was the adjunct for EVAN 650 Cultural Hermeneutic Practicum to Burning Man and took eight INTR, TESOL and EVAN students to Nevada. Rev. Seversen and her students had an extraordinary experience especially in evangelism and prayer ministry among Neo-pagans and a culture saturated by but disinterested in church, but interested in spirituality, ritual and pilgrimage.