I am starting a new phase of language learning this week. It will provide me more opportunities to speak and grow in vocabulary. A major part of this phase is to utilize “shared stories” – stories both my language helper and I are familiar with. I decided to try going through The Jesus Storybook Bible with one of my language helpers. She doesn’t know all the stories yet; so she will read the French copy, La Bible te Raconte Jesus, the day before our lesson. Then I will ask her to re-tell the story in Chadian Arabic. I will record the story and play it back, sentence-by-sentence to “negotiate meaning.” If I don’t understand a word, we can discuss it until I understand. Then, I go home and listen to the recording until the words are all familiar to me. It’s a win-win: I learn more Arabic, and my language helper gets to know some Bible stories. Hopefully this provides opportunities for discussing Truth and looking further into Scripture together. Please pray for M’s heart to be open to the Way, the Truth, and the Life as we enter this next phase of language learning.
