Can we agree that English is a strange language? Not the strangest surely, but not the most regular in its spelling or grammar either. It is an historical hodgepodge. It is also the language most in demand across the planet.

The teaching of English, then, is desired in many places—certainly not just in the United States. For many years, churches focused on teaching English as a second language to internationals, refugees, and immigrants in the United States. Now, perhaps as many churches and individuals through churches are teaching English abroad as are involved in the U.S. This approach is TEFL or Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

The methodology for teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL- another acronym for your lexicon) has changed much in the past fifty years. Many church-based literacy programs began English instruction with materials designed to teach adults to read in English. The Laubach Way to Reading became The Laubach Way to English. Church-based programs have benefited significantly from the development of new approaches to language teaching such as TPR (total physical response) and the Lipson Method. Currently, a new emphasis on communicative learning emphasizes learner-centered behavior more than what the teacher does.