It took three and a half years, but Steve Stanley has now finished his full-time language study of the Kovol language. Two language learning consultants visited Steve and Gerdine recently to give them a language test. Steve went up the last required level to finish his culture and language study. Gerdine went up another level to level 5 of 9, which is great work for a full-time homeschool mum doing language learning on the side!
When Steve told the Kovol people he had passed the test they surrounded him in a group bear hug with everyone jumping up and down in excitement!
It was a relief to be done with the test. they knew that they had improved in their language ability, but the question always is had they improved enough?
Finishing language study opens the door to new ministry opportunities:
– Preparing a Kovol literacy course
– Translating Scripture
– Preparing Bible lessons
The next step of preparing a Kovol literacy programme will involve:
– Creating primers that introduce Kovol alphabet symbols. (A phonics course teaching literacy)
– Translating readers into Kovol.
– Preparing classroom materials.
– Designing a post literacy reading practice course with materials.
There is a lot of material to prepare. A team of three could do it in several months, but it might take a little longer with just Steve working on it. Getting started with both literacy and translation requires attendance of some workshops for training. They will be looking to get those booked but may wait for the Hansen family to return from home assignment first so they can also attend the training.
Becoming “fluent” in the Kovol language is a major milestone! For Steve, it feels like coming to Everest base camp. Translation, teaching and discipleship now looms and it’s time to start on that next mountain! Pray for perseverance as Steve starts the next steps!