By Jim Coggins

“ENGLISH is the most coveted skill in the world,” said Greg Bitgood, “and broadband internet access is becoming worldwide.”

This has created an unprecedented opportunity for Heritage Christian School, a relatively small Christian institution in Kelowna, to carry the message of Jesus around the world – without leaving home.

Last year, Heritage, already a leader in online high school education, launched the International Christian Online School (ICOS) to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) around the world.

Heritage has a traditional kindergarten to grade 12 school, with just over 300 students enrolled. In addition, over the past few years, Heritage has become the largest provider of kindergarten to grade 12 internet courses in B.C., with a full-time equivalent of 1,550 students and with hundreds more being added every year.

With the school’s expertise in course development and internet technology, online ESL courses were a natural development.

However, Bitgood, superintendent at the school, said two other elements were crucial: the availability of some highly trained ESL teachers from a local business college that had closed down; and Heritage’s commitment to making disciples of Jesus.

Heritage has spent $250,000 to $300,000 developing the online ESL program over the last couple of years, but that hefty amount is dwarfed by the opportunity.

The international education industry is worth $46 billion annually in Canada.

The Heritage online ESL program is founded on four values called ‘the four Cs.’

• Cambridge Standard English – this is the most widely recognized standard for teaching ESL.

• Canadian – the courses teach the students about Canadian culture.

• Culturally sensitive – the courses also use symbols and discussion points from the student’s own culture. There are already versions of the course using simple Chinese; and traditional Chinese and Korean cultures. Russian and Hispanic versions are being planned for development this year and next.

• Christian – ICOS is clearly identified as offering Christian education. Since learning English involves practice conversing about something, in addition to discussing Canadian and international cultures, the ICOS courses discuss Christian faith.

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ICOS began by offering three ESL levels: beginner, lower intermediate and upper intermediate. Advanced (preparing students to enter an English-speaking high school) and expert (preparing students to enter an English-speaking university or English-speaking workplace) are being added this year.

Most of the students are expected to be middle and high school students, but elementary students and adults could also take the courses. While the courses could prepare international students to enter schools in Canada (Heritage has about a dozen such students at its Kelowna campus each year), the expectation is that most of the ICOS students will not leave their home countries.

Each course involves 100 hours of instruction (spread over either five weeks or 20 weeks); plus 20 hours of one-on-one conversation with a tutor. The conversations are carried out through an online internet phone system (Skype), which is much cheaper than long-distance telephone rates.

Highly skilled professional ESL teachers prepare and oversee the courses, but the main requirement for tutors is that they be fluent English speakers – anyone from high school and college students to stay-at-home moms. Each tutor is given 50 hours of training plus additional training in how to chat about their Christian faith in a relaxed and informal way. The remarkable thing, Bitgood said, is that the program will allow anyone to do international missions without leaving home – and get paid for it.

A unique aspect of the program is seven animated characters who are used throughout the courses and who represent a cross-section of Canadian youth: two are committed Christians, three are moderate Christians, and two are not believers.

Each of these characters has a Facebook page, and students in the courses are invited to join the discussion of spiritual issues and other topics on those pages.

Heritage is marketing the new program through its website (icos.ca), through agents in places such as Hong Kong and Korea, and through schools and school divisions in Alberta and British Columbia.

A version of the program without Christian content will be produced for public schools. The school also hopes to work with international missions to offer the course.

Bitgood said the program is really about fulfilling Heritage Christian School’s commitment to the Great Commission. It shows average Christians “how we can use the super information highway to deliver the gospel.”

August 2010