Teaching English as a Volunteer with South Coast Literacy Council
We welcome volunteers! We'll provide all the necessary training. We welcome your help at one of the existing tutoring center locations, or you may work with us to develop a new Orange County tutoring location.
If you would like to be a tutor, please begin by completing the Tutor Registration Form and mailing it to the address indicated on the form.
If you have questions about volunteering, contact South Coast Literacy Council by writing to us at Volunteer@SouthCoastLiteracy.com.
Tutor training for South Coast Literacy Council consists of online training with quizzes followed by several sessions of in-service training. Before beginning the online training, contact Harriet Kelly (Training Supervisor, 949-770-0642, SCLCTraining@att.net) to obtain permission and a password.. If she is not available, write to email@example.com.
Documents you must download in connection with the online training:
Start The Online Tutor Training
Other Resources for Teachers
- These are short teaching and reference documents created especially for South Coast Literacy Council to explain key grammar concepts simply and clearly:
- "Verb Pictures" uses unique time diagrams to explain the major English verb tenses.
- "Articles In English" Explains when articles ("a, an, the") or other words such as pronouns are required before nouns, and explains when to use "a," "an," or "the."
- NEW! "Feelings" addresses a recurring problem ESL students have by showing how words describing feelings (such as "excited") are different from descriptions of things that cause feelings (such as "exciting"). It contains many helpful examples.
- "Infinitives" Explains how infinitives can be used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs, and explains the seven special infinitives that do not begin with "to."
- "Clauses and Phrases" Explains the meanings of "clause" and "phrase," and shows the different types of clauses and phrases.
- "Conditional Sentences" Explains and gives examples of the types of verbs used in the four different situations where conditional sentences ("If" ...) occur.
- "Expressions and Figures of Speech" Explains the meanings of these terms, and explains idioms, metaphors, and slang.
- "Identifying and Pronouncing Syllables" Understanding rules for dividing words into syllables is essential for teaching students to read out loud and pronounce new words.
- "Three Ways to Pronounce 'ED' at the End of Words" Explains whether "ED" is pronounced like "ID", "T", or "D" based on the letters it follows.
part of your tutor training, we encourage you to purchase the book "Teaching Adults, An ESL Resource Book," published by New Readers Press (ISBN 978-1-56420-344-1). You may order this book from us at the discounted price of $15.
- Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom is a great resource for conversation classes.
- PhraseMix is an easy, quick, and helpful website for learners who want to speak more natural English. It provides one new useful real-world English phrase or expression every day. You can teach a few of these to your students each week.
- You can download the 116-page book "Making It Real," a teaching guide developed by the Tacoma Community House Training Project, funded by the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Section
of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. The book describes effective practices for teaching preliterate
adult refugees, with techniques and activities that support these practices. Major sections of the book include:
- Teaching Speaking and Listening Skills
- Teaching Reading and Writing
- Managing a Multi-Level Literacy Class
- ESL Resources
- "EFL/ESL Teaching Techniques" from The Internet TESL Journal.
- ESL Book of Short Stories: easily reproducible worksheets designed for
beginning-level adults who are learning English, with subjects that
include communities, civics and government, employment, families,
feelings, finances, health, nutrition, recreation, and travel.
- Civics Government and History Lessons for ESL Students: an easy way to learn about American history, geography, and culture.
- "Holiday Lessons" is a good resource for teaching students about U.S. holidays.
- Dave's ESL Cafe: a meeting place for ESL and EFL teachers and students from around the world.
- Lanternfish provides printable teaching resources such as worksheets and flashcards for language arts, TESOL, TEFL, and ESL.
- ESL Galaxy offers over 2368 free printable worksheets for ESL lesson plans and ESL activities.
- Linguistic Funland: the many links on this page cover a wide range of activities for ESL students, such as international e-mail discussion lists and online tests.
- "500 Tips for TESOL" (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), a book by Sue Wharton and Phil Race you can preview for free.