Who Is My Neighbor? Student Manual: Learning Spanish as Church Hospitality

Who Is My Neighbor? is a field-tested resource through which
English speakers of any church and congregation can learn basic
Spanish-speaking skills to be able to communicate and provide a
welcoming atmosphere to the Hispanic communities surrounding them.

The
six-session resource developed by the Northern Illinois Conference
covers basic conversational Spanish, and simple and easy to follow
Spanish-language worship material. The program encourages openness
toward Spanish-speaking neighbors, understanding of different cultures,
and compassion for those who struggle to learn English.

This
resource is easily implemented by congregations of any size, and it
results in a program of hospitality that will help include Hispanic
communities in your church congregation.

Ruth Cassel Hoffman, PhD, has been a lover of languages since childhood. She first experienced the power of speaking another s language as hospitality on a UMC youth mission trip to Vieques, PR. She earned her doctorate in Romance Languages from the University of Chicago and taught French at St. Mary s College in Notre Dame, IN. Ruth founded Language Resources Ltd. in 1983, providing corporate foreign language training, translation, and interpretation, and has developed active curricula in French and Spanish for students from preschoolers to adults. She is an active member and a former Lay Leader of Kingswood United Methodist Church in Buffalo Grove, IL.
She lives in Lake Zurich, Illinois with her husband Miles and their dog Isabella.

Joyce Carrasco, is a retired teacher from the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools where she served for over two decades as a lower school teacher, curriculum writer, director of the Lab Summer Program, and chair of Faculty II. She holds a BA from LaGrange College and a Master of Theological Studies from Emory University s Candler School of Theology. She is an American Montessori certified 3-6 teacher and a certified Director of Christian Education. As a young college graduate, Joyce served with the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church as a Latin America 3 missionary in Chile. Joyce is married to Rev. Oscar Carrasco, a District Superintendent of the Northern Illinois Conference of the UMC.
Joyce lives in Elgin, Illinois with her husband, and they have four children and eight grandchildren.

Ngoc-Diep Nguyen, PhD, is a professor of education at Northeastern Illinois University, specializing in bilingual education. She has been a Spanish and French High School teacher, a teacher trainer and a school administrator. Ngoc-Diep is a member of Our Redeemer United Methodist Church, Schaumburg, IL. Together, these three women designed the curriculum, taught it, and trained instructors in how to use it.