wfn.org | Teacher opens doors

[BethAH@mbm.org]

March 21, 2001
Beth Hawn
Communications Coordinator
Mennonite Board of Missions
phone (219) 294-7523
fax (219) 294-8669
<www.MBM.org>

March 21, 2001

MVSer’s teaching opens doors to her students’ hopes, dreams

Grant Rissler is serving through Mennonite Voluntary Service as a
writer and photographer.  After spending a year as intern at the
Mennonite Central Committee United Nations office in Manhattan,
he is traveling for five months by bus to 20 other MVS and
Short-Term Mission sites, gathering the stories and experiences
of other volunteers and communities.  A weekly column by Grant
can be found on the web at www.MBM.org.

SAN ANTONIO (CHM/MBM) – When Margaret Braun, an MVS worker here,
graduated from Bethel College in North Newton, Kan., with a
double major in Spanish and English, she wasn’t sure what she
wanted to do next.

“I wanted to [use my] Spanish and I knew that in Texas, it would
be more than my work,” she said.

After also applying for MVS in Chicago and Washington, Braun
settled on a two-year placement in San Antonio teaching English
as a Second Language at the House of Neighborly Service.

HNS is a Presbyterian-affiliated neighborhood outreach center in
the predominantly Hispanic area of west San Antonio.  The center
offers preschool, after-school, art and summer enrichment
programs for children, as well as ESL classes for adults.

When Braun arrived, she was put in charge of the ESL program at
HNS, where the students – mostly married mothers in their 20s and
30s who moved from Mexico to San Antonio in the last decade – can
learn English.

The English levels of her students were “all over the place,”
Braun said, and she needed to pull together a curriculum and
materials with a budget of $27.  The fall, she added, was
frustrating.

But over time, after some organizational changes allowed her to
work with smaller classes that had similar learning levels, Braun
has found her work rewarding.

“When I see these students with a sincere desire to learn, it’s
inspiring,” she said.  “They’re the ones who fill my mind when
I’m not teaching.  How can I phrase something better?  How can I
make learning more interesting?”

Braun said even though her job is to teach, her favorite times as
a teacher are “before and after class, talking with my students,
not about class, but getting to know them.”  Periodically, her
students will invite her to parties at their homes, complete with
Mexican food and loud Tejano music.

“Culturally, people here are very open, open about sharing their
lives with you,” Braun said.  “I like the people part more than
the ‘me teacher – you student’ part.  [Those times of sharing]
are what make it not more enjoyable, just more real, to see the
whole person.”

“It’s a growing-up time,” she says, “because I see all these
lives and what they’ve gone through, even to get here to the
United States.  It’s enriching because I see another reality.
I’ve learned that patience and listening to what’s really going
on are important.”

Now, Braun says, the job is gratifying, because her students
often tell her how much they appreciate the chance to learn.

“What I do directly affects these people’s lives and their
futures,” she said.  “I can see their hopes and dreams for being
able to help their children with their homework.  It’s something
real and very important to them, and I don’t want to let them
down.”

Mennonite Voluntary Service is a joint program of the Commission
on Home Ministries of the General Conference Mennonite Church and
Mennonite Board of Missions of the Mennonite Church.
* * *

Grant E. Rissler       PHOTOS AVAILABLE