It might seem that i-DELTA has been mentioned a lot lately (in our newsletters and on Facebook), but that is only because it has been. This training program is sort of all consuming for its two-month duration.  The students and staff work long days, eating meals together and even taking breaks together, for volleyball or canoeing, but mostly learning together.

The daily routine starts with a time of prayer and Bible study together, usually with song. Then, all of the students take a 2-hour class together, while teachers of other courses prepare lessons, grade or collaborate.  At 10:30am, there is a short coffee break before the next 2-hour class, when they break into 3 separate courses according to their track.  There is a lunch break, but classes resume in the afternoon and finish at 4:30pm.  By this time, everyone is ready to get up and move, so there is usually a friendly volleyball game.  The students will have at least 3-4 hours of homework each night, so after dinner, they will get back to studying.

This year was Shannon’s first year serving as the course registrar, which includes handling all of the logistics for the course, but also helping keep the students on track and content.  With so many different cultures represented, it is not always a straightforward task. The 22 students who have survived this far come from 8 different countries and represent 17 different language groups.  Despite the many differences, we all become one big i-DELTA family after 8 weeks together.

This Academic Cycle (AC3) is the third and final year in the three year course which awards students the equivalent of a first year university degree in Translation, Literacy or Scripture Engagement.  They are mostly already involved in various community Scripture projects, so what they learn is immediately able to be applied to their work, and for many of them, they will also be training others and passing on the knowledge that they have acquired through i-DELTA as well.