Volunteers Needed To Teach English As A Second Language To Adults

Today,  September 8, 2010  is International Literacy Day  and all over the world BloggersUnite to educate and advocate for global literacy.    In a recent post on BrooWaha,  Theresa H Hall considered the things we take for granted.   And for those of us who write and publish web sites and spend just Way too much time curled up with our computers,   the ability to read and write is often a very big one.

Imagine for a moment that you are stranger in a strange land.    You don’t speak the language,  making it extraordinarily difficult for you to do even basic survival tasks like grocery shopping or paying a bill,  let alone finding a job in an extremely competitive labor market.    Perhaps you are a refugee who has been granted asylum in this strange country because of unimaginably bad conditions in the land you came from,  the land you fled.   As a newly arrived immigrant attaining basic English literacy must be a major priority.    Luckily,  back in 1930 Dr. Frank Laubach,  a missionary in the Phillipines saw literacy as a critical need among the people he served.   Dr. Laubach developed an Each One Teach One program of literacy instruction that continues to be used all around the world today.

Here in the United States,  almost every city has a program in which literate volunteers take a 15 hour training class and then teach English as a foreign language to an adult student.    Dr. Laubach’s teaching method has been successfully used to spread literacy since its creation back in 1930.   If you go to your search engine and type in  “Laubach literacy training  YourCity”  you are very likely to find a program that actively needs volunteers right now.    You’ll have to do a 15 hour training class,  often taught on weekends.   You’ll then be asked to commit to at least six months of working one on one with a student,  whom you’ll be expected to meet with at least once a week.    As you help your student learn English and serve as a cultural guide to his new home,  you will have the opportunity to get to know someone whose background is probably completely different than your own.    I can say from experience that it’s an extraordinary experience and that the teacher benefits and learns just as the student does.

Just to help you get started,  I am posting links to local literacy programs which need volunteers for Laubach programs:

Tacoma Area Literacy Council

Literacy Council of Seattle

Los Angeles Public Libary– Adult Literacy Services

If you can’t immediately find a program in your area, visit ProLiteracy,  a national organization for literacy advocacy and volunteers.   They can help you find a program in your area.    Writing a blog post about literacy on September 8th can help to raise awareness for a few days.   Volunteering to help someone become literate can change a lifetime.