NOVEMBER-DECEMBER
Construyendo
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Puentes
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called:Wonderful Counselor,Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
INDEX 2 Editorial Praises and Prayer requests
3 Fundamental Courses, annual report Testimonials Fundamental courses 2016 CCCs
5 Training and accreditation process CF 2017 Masters 6 Conversation: Coordination of the Fundamental Courses 7 Upcoming Online Courses Calendar 2017 9 English for Professional Development 11 Conversations for Growth 16 Tools for Ministry
CONTACT US www.distantcourses.org Curso Fundamental de Lingüística y Antropología Educación Continua PCO educacioncontinua.edublogs.org
Scripture Earth
Editorial ÂĄThank you! At the end of 2016 and the eve of 2017, we can see what God has been doing with our team and the Department of Continuing Education and can not stop thanking Him for his grace and mercy. We also thank each of you for reading our past editions and for continuing to read them this next year. We want you to participate in our plans and challenges. May our Father keep you, bless you in all your endeavors and guide your lives in every step of this 2017. A hug in Christ. Department of Continuing Education (DEC)
Praises and Prayer request PRAISES: For the faithfulness of God throughout the year. For each of the participants in the courses of the Department of Continuing Education during this year. For the course given at ECCAM in association with Letra Argentina. Through the work of the members of the Department of Continuing Education. For the guests who blessed our lives by participating in Conversations for Growth. PRAYER REQUESTS: For the plans and projects next year. For the life of each one of the tutors and facilitators of the CFs. For the new certification process for teachers of CFs, which will begin in March culminating in Cuzco in September. For future participants Conversations to grow. By the draft InglĂŠs as professional development.
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Fundamental Courses
Annual Report
As the year ends, we want to thank God for the partners, teachers and students of each course. We have seen the hand of God in each of our students and we know that God has a special purpose for the life of each one. We appreciate the effort to maintain the quality of the courses and the confidence in the coordination of the Fundamental Courses. I reiterate our commitment to continue serving them. We have great challenges ahead for this 2017, in which we will begin the new certification process for Fundamental Courses teachers in March. Throughout this year the Fundamental Courses and Teacher Training Course have been offered by SIETE, TBM, Sin Fronteras, Letra Argentina and AEL, and Fundamental Courses by TRES and ECCAM of Bolivia. Similarly in the online courses, we have had students from Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Mexico.
We want to share with you some testimonials from our participants:
"It was a blessing to participate in this course for many reasons: The cost was affordable; the schedule was convenient for going to work afterwards; I remembered issues of phonology and understood it better than before and also, because God made it possible for me to understand messages that He had for me, from the first day of school; because in addition to everything I learned academically, I will always remember certain things the teacher said, among which are: "I do not feel frustrated by not serving in an unreached people group, but I feel happy to be in the place where God wants to use me, in missionary training. "
"In your hands is the possibility to train future missionaries to unreached people and this is a great responsibility before God". | 3
This course has been for me a reencounter with the feeling that God has placed in me to help many people have the Word of God in the language of their heart and not the way I want or think I should do, but the way God wants me ... whether in prayer, giving, helping with training, supporting mobilization or finally giving my life by going to a mission field. After the course I feel my heart is willing to say
"Here I am" to God, for any missions task that He may entrust to me." "Madali Reyes, Peru. Teacher Training Course AEL, July-August 2016
"Taking the Fundamental Courses online has been a blessing for my life, not only academically but also spiritually because through the course God has further motivated me to continue this call of translating the Bible into other languages. For me the Fundamental Courses can be summarized in one phrase: "Extension of the kingdom." I encourage others to accept this challenge."
“"In my work I received virtual classes to help me understand the company where I work; I received virtual training regarding technology, I have done self study using videos; but to me, the virtual classes I have taken matters (Fundamental Courses in distantcourses.org) have been the most useful for my life, especially because I love the Lord and want to serve Him better, and personally I think that the content of the classes is very successful. They don’t waste time on unimportant topics but focus on what we really need. In addition the mentoring is very accessible; the tutors, when I have needed their help, have been there, almost instantly, to encourage and help me complete each assignment with excellence. My heartfelt thanks, happy holidays, and may God continue to use you every day. Blessings. Sincerely," Byron Fonseca, Ecuador, CF's on line 2016 .
Angel Gómez, Peru Fundamental Courses on line 2016
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Invitation to Participate
Training and accreditation process CF 2017 Masters Both modalities (classroom and online) The SIL Americas Consulting Services team has developed a set of certifications for a variety of roles and specialties related to language development and Bible translation programs. This competency-based system is designed to help build the capacity of the organizations involved in the Bible translation movement by developing the expertise of their staff. While the certification system has been being developed and tested in the region of the Americas, in the rest of the world SIL and other organizations are evaluating it.
One of the key certifications in this new system is «Dialogue Education», which is designed to help instructors to apply current best practices for teaching and training adult learners in a cross-cultural context. The «Dialogue Education» model helps any instructor to design learning activities (courses, workshops, and one-on-one mentoring) that ensure that learners are successful, for any content. The Coordinator of the Fundamental Courses, in an effort to support partner organizations and teachers of these courses in their service, has organized the certification process for teachers of core courses that will take about 6 months. The process will have one phase in online mode and another in a classroom phase (in Cuzco, Peru - September 2017 in partnership with Reaching All Ethnic Groups in Their Own Language - AEL Peru). As part of this process teachers will participate in training to become certified in the specialty of Dialogue Education (designed by the Consulting Services Team SIL Americas) This project began last year with the review of the content and activities of each subject as part of the process of change and improvement of the Fundamental Courses. Now the next step is to help teachers to become familiar with the updated contents of the courses, raising the quality and effectiveness of their performance. For details of the process, requirements and costs, those interested can contact the Coordinator at email: curso_fundamental@sil.org. We hope to hear from you! | 5
Conversation: Change in Coordination of the Fundamental Courses (Interview)
In this half hour interview conducted in early October, Silvia Zelaya tells us about the reasons for the change in the coordination of the Fundamental Courses and how God has called her to a new role serving Latin American missionaries. You also have the opportunity to learn a little more about the new program coordinator, Rosalba Rugamas. She talks about how she became involved in the Bible translation and education movement, as well as her vision and expectations for the future. We invite you to see the full interview on our Youtube channel (Continuing Education - SIL): https://youtu.be/QHQX0ccd-Bo
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Upcoming Online Courses - Calendar 2017 FUNDAMENTAL COURSES ONLINE (CFO) Target: People who will be or are serving in literacy projects, Bible translation and/or missionary mobilization in multicultural and multilingual environments. These courses are accredited preparation for applying to CILTA program. Time necessary for each subject: the participant must spend approximately 6 hours/week Methodology: fully participatory and dynamic courses in an online mode. Each participant is assigned a facilitator who accompanies you throughout the course. The content and activities are in a virtual platform available to participants 24 hours / 7 days a week. Cost of each subject: US $ 125
Articulatory Phonetics Duration: 12 weeks (about 72 hours of study.) Academic pre-requisite: none General objective: Upon completion the participant will have developed and / or strengthened their ability to recognize, produce, transcribe, classify and describe sounds used in spoken languages. Some topics: Parts of the vocal apparatus, phonetic symbols, phonetic transcription, producing sounds of the world languages, among others. Dates offered: GROUP A: January 16 - April 15 GROUP B: April 3 - June 25 GROUP C: August 14 - November 4
Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics Duration: 12 weeks (about 72 hours of study. ) Academic prerequisite: Articulatory Phonetics Objective: Upon completion the course will have piqued your interest in linguistics and dispelled some false assumptions regarding language. You will have discovered your linguistic aptitude to pursue this field of study and acquired the basic tools for linguistic analysis. Some topics: Language and dialects, bilingualism and diglossia, phonemes and allophones, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic structures, among others. Dates offered: GROUP A: February 13 - May 13 GROUP B: May 2 - July 23 GROUP C: September 11 - December 2
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Operating in Multicultural Multilingual TeamsFEMM (formerly Second Language Acquisition) Duration : 13 weeks (about 78 hours of study.) Pre-requisite academic: Articulatory Phonetics Objective: Upon completion of this training the participants will be prepared to continue growing in their ability to participate in groups who come from different cultures and languages to fulfill the mission in which they are / will be working. Some topics: Research and analysis of the culture of a mission in a country working with an ethnolinguistic group, techniques and resources for language learning, and practice language learning, among others. Dates offered: GROUP A: February 13 - May 21 GROUP B: May 2 - July 29 GROUP C: September 11 to December 10
ADULT EDUCATION Addressed to: Teachers who teach adults and those involved in the design and implementation of adult training. Time necessary for the subject: The participant will need approximately 10 hours/week Methodology: fully participatory and dynamic online mode and moderated by a course facilitator. The content and activities are in a virtual platform available to participants 24 hours / 7 days a week. Cost: US $ 50 Duration: 9 weeks (approx. 90 hours of study) Prerequisite academic: None General Objective: Provide the participant principles, tools and practical strategies to act as facilitator in the teaching/learning of adults. Some topics: Andragogy, effective adult education, development of critical thinking, teamwork, conflict resolution, preparation of assignments and assessments, among others. Dates to be confirmed (tbc): GROUP A: January 30 to April 2 GROUP B: May 2 - July 2 GROUP C: October 2 to December 3
Ethnology Duration: 12 weeks (about 72 hours of study.) Pre-requisite academic: None Objective: Upon completion of this course participants will be able to discuss the fundamental concepts of cultural anthropology, ethnology and culture, work cross culturally with empathy and efficiency, understand the social dynamics governing the classification of roles and structural (economic and political) within society of a people, incorporar useful anthropological principles in communicating the Gospel in a multicultural context, among other skills. Some topics: Concept of culture,worldview, research methods in ethnology, social, political, stratification and social control, religion and supernatural beliefs, among others. Dates to be confirmed (tbc): GROUP A: March 13 - June 10 GROUP B: July 3 - September 30 GROUP C: October 16 to January 15
For more information and registration write to: cursos_online@sil.org / curso_fundamental @ sil.org
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English for Professional Development (EPD): Supporting Latino missionary organizations.
In the last two years, we have developed in SIL (Americas area) a program to help Spanish-speaking members improve their English language skills in order to successfully achieve the organizational goals of the department or project in which they are serving. In 2017 we will put this program at the service of Latin American churches and mission organizations. We interviewed Anneke Painter, the EPD program coordinator.
Hello Anneke, could you tell us what is English for Professional Development? English for Professional Development (EPD) falls under the category of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Rather than taking on mastery of the entire English language, EPD narrows the range of vocabulary, grammar, and skills to the language that will be most immediately helpful to the career and ministry of the learner. What is your vision for this program? We understand that English, as the primary international language, is a necessary tool for Latin Americans, both for those who are heading into cross-cultural missions outside of South and Central America, as well as for those who plan to stay in their home region but need English to read educational, theological and missiological materials, as well as to travel and participate in the global mission movement. We desire to encourage and help our partners and the missionaries to achieve their professional development goals in English in order to enhance and enable their ministry for the Lord.
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What does your system look like? Currently we tailor each person’s program to their anticipated and current English needs, as well as the realities of our staffing. We are always looking for volunteers and interns to help with services requested. This department has a clear mandate and target audience of those who work in SIL or with SIL in the Bible Translation movement. The first step is to involve the supervisor(s) of the candidate in the decision-making of the program, as the learner will need the accountability and the support of their church and/or mission leadership. Once the supervisor and the language-learning candidate have agreed on English development goals, the next step is to schedule an interview on Skype in order to assess the candidate’s current skill and projected areas of need for English. Then we proceed to make a plan and provide a direction for enabling the candidate to make progress in the language. A key component is signing a contract to ensure that our candidates understand the importance of good communication and responsibility to prepare for all sessions appropriately. For those who will need English for reading about different topics in their field, we read and discuss appropriate books or other reading materials, developing extensive receptive English vocabulary. For those who need productive English for meetings and/or future immersion in English-speaking areas, the focus is on pronunciation and fluency with focused areas of vocabulary.
ÂżHow can the candidate stay committed to EPD? Because this program is most appropriate for those who do not live in an Englishimmersion situation, it is very important for the learner to find accountability partners, supervisors, and possibly a language coach. The best way to make progress is invest regular and consistent time in language learning. This is difficult with many other tasks requiring attention and when English is not a constant necessity. Having regular encouragement is crucial to keeping motivation high. What should supervisors or leaders of organizations that are interested in having any of their members participating in / benefiting from this program do? Interested leaders and supervisors should contact me (anneke_painter@sil.org) to talk about their organizational English needs and how we can help them.
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Conversations
for Growrth
What started as an "internal mini-project" in the Department of Continuing Education for spiritual and staff members growth, was transformed over time into an eagerly awaited event with large attendance - in virtual form - of fellow Christians from the whole continent. Each month we met for for 60 minutes with field missionaries with extensive experience in Bible translation and missionary mobilization. In the first half hour the guests shared their stories of life and mission. During the remaining half hour our guests answered the questions and concerns of the participants, producing rich dialogue which was a great blessing for everyone. The impact of these talks has been so great that we saw the need to open a blog to share video recordings of these monthly talks. Here we share with you the links to see the recordings of these meetings, accompanied by an bit of the testimony of the participants. Videos can be resources to be used in workshops, conferences, etc. and do not need our permission to use, but please cite the source and place the link to the blog, for example: Paul Lewis: "Many dreams, one goal" LINK: xxxxxx Department of Continuing Education - SIL Americas.
Paul Lewis: "Many dreams, one goal" "As a child he dreamed of being a missionary in Guatemala. As a teenager, he wanted to become a great doctor and serve God in that way. He soon realized that he did not like the sight of blood and decided he had to choose another career." LINK: http://conversaciones-paracrecer.blogspot.pe/2016/07/abril-conversando-conpaul-lewis.html
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Tom y Doris Payne: "Research and training as a missionary vocation" "Through the life of Tom and Doris, it is very interesting to see how God gives us different gifts and how each can be used in missionary work, because if there were noone working in linguistic research and teaching, as they have done, there could not be trained missionaries with tools to do the work in missions. We are all needed in the work of God, and they have been instrumental in gathering the data, which which to teach theories of language." LINK: http://conversacionesparacrecer.blogspot.pe/2016/07/mayo-conversando-con-tom-ydoris-payne.html"
Oscar Gomez “Called to ... stay. Investing in eternal things" "
“Oscar Gomez and his wife Nancy Riquelme (Chile) have been mobilizing missionaries for the Bible translation movement for more than 10 years. In this conversation we discovered life experiences, satisfactions and great challenges experienced by Oscar and his family, Latino pioneers in the areas of mobilization and training of Latin missionaries for Bible translation and literacy . With great humility and the wisdom and insight that only comes with experience, Oscar explains with Biblebased principles why the phase of the training is vital for the missionary and his service in the field. For 60 minutes we participants were impacted and blessed by the history of this Latino missionary.” LINK: http://conversaciones-para-crecer.blogspot.com/2016/07/junio-conversando-con-oscargomez.html
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Gilmar y Noemí Rivas: “Jesus died for the mastanawas” "The call of Gilmar (Peru) and Naomi (Bolivia) has been tested through cross-cultural experiences and their life experiences with friends and family. In the midst of loneliness, without friends, adapting to the lifestyle in the Mastanawa community (province of Purus, Ucayali jungle of Peru) they had noone to talk to or with whom to share, but they could feel God's support in their lives, and have testified that prayer has much impact on the process of adaptation..” LINK:http://conversacionesparacrecer.blogspot.pe/2016/07/julioconversando-con-gilmar-y-noemi_12.html
Dave y Judy Oltrogge: “the Gospel brought smiles and a reason to live “They witnessed how the gospel brought smiles and a reason to live to the tolpan people. The Oltrogges have been a blessing also to the Latinos, contributing and being pioneers in this region in the area of developing training for the translation of the Bible. His advice, backed by years of experience on various topics ranging from technical aspects to family, encourage us and motivate us to be patient, take a long-term view and hope for the fruits that God will provide in His time. ” LINK: http://conversaciones-paracrecer.blogspot.pe/2016/08/agostoconversando-con-david-y-judy.html
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Francisco y Ana Angélica Linares “The Challenge of believing God”" “Francisco and Angelica, a couple of Salvadoran missionaries, gave us the challenge to believe, hope and live the call of the Lord in prayer. They remind us that God uses circumstances to shape our lives, that obedience is the key to success in the field, and that the main ministry is called "family". They and their children; Daniel and Ariel, believed God, and despite the trials they have experienced, today serve in mobilization and training in support of Bible translation in Lima, Peru. "The place where God has us is the best place.” LINK:http://conversacionesparacrecer.blogspot.pe/2016/09/franciscoy-angelica-linares.html
Rodolfo y Beatrice Senn: “God always speaks in difficult and crucial moments” “We loved hearing the story of how God called them as family of five into the jungle of the Amazon. It was impressive to see how through Proverbs, both parents received confirmation of their decision to leave. With this we learn that the Word never returns empty, and always God speaks to us in the crucial moments. You can read between the lines how God was faithful to them, and their young children. Anyone would have decided not go to the field for security reasons for their children or the family in general! But they were obedient, and God provided what was needed and cared for them on the field”. LINK: http://conversaciones-paracrecer.blogspot.pe/2016/10/octubre-conversando-con-rodolfo-ybeatrice-senn.html CONSTRUYENDO PUENTES | 14
Steve y Pamela Echerd: “The conquered challenges make us stronger. The Lord is always faithful "
“Steve and Pam Echerd, missionaries with SIL and Wycliffe for over 40 years, working in countries such as Honduras, Guatemala, Peru, India and Bangladesh shared their life story full of multicultural experiences in their missionary ministry, but also full of family and personal challenges. A lesson in courage and faith in extreme situations, situations that often lead us humanly speaking, to question God's decisions and be completely discouraged. But Pam and Steve have responded to every challenge abandoning themselves to God with the conviction that the Lord is always faithful and that each challenge overcome prepares and strengthens us to face greater challenges..” LINK:http://conversacionesparacrecer.blogspot.pe/2016/12/conversa ndo-con-pamela-y-steve-echerd.htmll
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Tools for Ministry:
Scripture Earth
Some time ago we found about scriptureearth.org, a SIL website that give access to Scriptures translated into hundreds of languages of the world. The resources include PDF files, audio and video (Jesus film), apps for your cellphone, among others. We talked with Archie Trammell, the Archive Coordinator for SIL in the Americas and the administrator of the site. -Archie could you tell us what is scriptureearth.org? Scripture Earth is a website that is designed specifically with the language community in mind. It is a place where anyone can go and, in just two clicks, see all that is available related to the Bible for that language community. They can order a copy of the Bible from a print-on-demand service. They can download PDF copies of each book or the whole New Testament if it is available. They will also find resources for audio and video recordings and apps for the cell phone. -How did you get the idea of developing this project? How was the process of getting all the resources and organize them in one place? I did not develop this website. It was developed several years ago by a number of people who worked in the Americas. Their vision was to take all of the New Testaments that were only available in print form and make them available on the web as digital copies. The website is hosted by Wycliffe Canada and the development work was done by several people, mostly Bill Dyck and Loren Hawthorn. They had to get the New Testaments back into the computer which in some cases required that they be typed in again. Then they used a program called Paratext to organize it and produce the digital PDF copy for the website. Then they had to get links to other websites like Faith Comes by Hearing so that a user would know where to go to find those materials.
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What about the places where there is not good internet connection? Do people could have access to these resources without restrictions? I think this is one of the best features of Scripture Earth. It is easy to use. It can be viewed in any of five languages, including English and Spanish. A user will only need to go to the website and click on the country and then the language community. In just two clicks they can have a list of all the products available in that language. The website does not include a lot of complicated graphics that might make it look more impressive. Instead the focus is on having pages that can load as fast as possible on a slow Internet connection. Videos like the Jesus Film have been divided up into segments so that a user can just see the part of the video that they want. Are you working/developing apps for cellphones and tablets? Yes. The team that is working on Scripture Earth is making new applications available all the time. Currently, they have been developing a Smart Phone app for the Google Play store which can be downloaded to the phone so that the user can read the Bible even when they are far from a cell phone network. If the audio is available, it can be played while the text is being highlighted. We are very excited about this tool. The app has been created for many hundreds of New Testaments already. Each language community that has this app will have a link on the website to the Google Play Store Which languages could we find resources in? Are there specific areas of the world represented in the site? The website can be viewed in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Dutch. Each language community has resources, like the New Testament, that are written (or spoken) in their own language. The site contains Scripture resources for those languages where we did a major portion of the translation. In addition to the languages of North and South America (numbering about 375), languages from many other parts of the world are included. There are almost 1500 language communities represented on Scripture Earth. What else do people could find at scriptureearth.org? We are just beginning to find and add to the Scripture Earth website other resources like Bible stories and Scripture-based hymn books in the minority language. As time goes on, we expect to have added many such resources to the website
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As a Department of Continuing Education (DEC) We wish you a prosperous year full of blessings.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NVI
Alejandra Guajardo cursos_online@sil.org Coordinadora del Departamento de Educación Continua Rosalba Rugamas curso_fundamental@sil.org Coordinadora Curso Fundamental Pamela Echard pam_echerd@sil.org Asesora Sil Claudia Rugamas yani_rugs@yahoo.es Coordinadora del Boletín