BootsnAll Travel Community

I looked through the discussions and I understand people's position on online courses. While I'm still looking for an in-classroom course, I may have to resort to the online track.
If I had to do an online course I was thinking this:
Do the online course, but volunteer to tutor/teach at for a local ESL program stateside. There is one program that will give volunteers an additional 6 hours of instruction before they let us out with students.I would like to volunteer at least twice a week to get more practice.

Of those who currently teach and/hire teachers. Would this provide me with at least some decent creditials for jobs or should I do more?

Thanks in advance!
Joyce

I think that's a good idea, especially if you can get the six hours of training. I did something similar in Chicago before teaching (though I did go on to do a celta) and found a lot of practical information.

One tip I would add is, if you can, to get involved with a class - first of all it is likely to be more similar to what you'd do overseas, and second because lots of English language learners in the US work long long hours and, in my experience, cancel a lot - so if you are relying on one person, you may not get as much experience as you hope for.

I think how the certificate will affect your chances depends on where you want to go - in many countries (asia - maybe latin america, it depends), no certificate is required, so anything is seen as a plus by employers. In countries where it is a more formal requirement (europe), tutoring experience would probably not make up for it.

I've worked mainly in eastern europe - so hopefully others will weigh in on other locations - but these are my impressions.

I think it's great that you will volunteer - from what I understand there are long waiting lists for people who want English lessons and can't afford them. Good luck!

KateL

Would you mind sharing where you volunteered and/or how you found somewhere to volunteer in Chicago.

I'm new to the area, but have been meaning to start volunteering somewhere here. Teaching ESL would be perfect as I'm considering making Teaching English a second career somewhere down the road. Getting some practical experience and seeing if it is something that I would be good at/interested in would be great.

Also, to the OP: I can't imagine that having practical experience could possibly hurt. And I know that when I lived in China (not teaching), that anyone showing up with teaching experience should have zero trouble finding a decent job even without a certificate. So I guess it just depends where you want to go.

I don't really remember how I found out about it, but I did a 12-hour training with Literacy Works and then volunteered at a Albany Park Community Center.

I recommend the training very highly - I think you pay $25 or something, and it's on two consecutive Saturdays. Organizations that get funding from the state have to show that their volunteers have received some training - and while this is geared towards teaching classes (and you are maybe more likely to end up with a one to one student), it's very practical and useful.

There are a lot of organizations listed on the Literacy Works site (partners maybe?), so you may want to just look through those, find one near you and get in touch with them - though Literacy Works is probably knowledgable about whether one organization needs more volunteers now too.

Also, idealist.org is a searchable site with lots of organizations. Good luck!

What Katie is suggesting sounds a lot like my first training/volunteering experience. The training was useful, though certainly not comprehensive.

The volunteer teaching was GREAT and encouraged me to head on overseas.