If you are an experienced ESL teacher or tutor, we need your help today! And so do our recently arrived refugees! Even for those with some English language skills, life in the US is challenging enough; learning how to ride the bus, understanding bank accounts and junk mail, reading through your child's school papers....imagine the same for those with limited English experience! You can help change lives with your ESL expertise.
The ESL program is a volunteer tutoring opportunity run by the IRC in Silver Spring. We have clients throughout the Washington Metropolitan Area and are consistently placing people in new areas. As a volunteer in the program, you will visit the house of a family that recently arrived in the U.S. to work solely on English language learning skills. This means that, these students either do not attend classes or they need supplemental help with classes in which they are currently enrolled; you are essentially replacing the ESL classroom. For this reason, our ESL tutoring program is designed for volunteers with a background in teaching/tutoring ESL. This program was also created to help our clients build confidence in English. Many of them are nervous about leaving their homes or interacting with people in public and, with an eye towards increasing their potential to achieve self-sufficiency, we strive to improve their language abilities. While you will be assigned one client, many times family members will "join in" the classes and it becomes a family affair. The experience is wonderful and unique. Many times tutors and their ESL learners create lasting bonds.
The expected time commitment for an ESL tutor is a minimum of two hours a week, not including lesson plan preparation or travel time. Whether it is twice a week for one hour or two hours one day is up to you and your student to determine. However, the overall length of the commitment is a minimum of four months.
If this important program sounds like a good fit for your skills, interests and abilities, please contact VolunteerDC@rescue.org today!
