Volunteer Recruitment

ESLC recruits volunteers in various ways. We have several opportunities during the year to present our ministry at Missions conferences or expos. We also run promo ads in the church bulletin and power point presentations periodically. Interested people come in for an initial interview where they find out more about the program and are encouraged to observe in several classes before deciding to commit. We encourage a commitment of one year, but understanding people's busy lives, ask for a firm commitment of one term only.

Not all volunteers are from within CLA. At times, Christians from other churches who have taken ESL training, or who are still in the midst of training, find out about the school and volunteer to give themselves more experience. Some of those volunteer teachers continue to teach with us for years as their schedules allow. Often, our volunteers come through word-of-mouth by current or previous teachers. Some are referred by ESL programs at Trinity Western University.

Volunteer Training

Training is mostly hands-on. We usually go through a process of 1) observation 2) orientation to the goals and practices of ESLC 3) substitute teaching (if needed) with a lesson plan prepared by an experienced teacher, 3) taking a class using lesson plans prepared by an experienced teacher 4) assuming full responsibility for a class, including lesson planning with ongoing assistance from staff. The length of this process varies considerably depending on the volunteer's previous training, capabilities, and the needs of the program. As our classes are conversationally based, formal ESL training is an asset, but not a requirement. Once a term, we have a Professional Development Day, with a focus on a particular aspect of ESL, such as pronunciation, conversation games, etc. Either ESLC staff or an outside "expert" presents.

Materials

Because of our strong conversation component, we use a lot of material that draws students into discussion. This past year we used the integrated Canadian Concepts series as our base curriculum for themes. This coming year we will rotate to the North Star series. We have a large library of photocopiable materials and class sets to flesh out any theme at the time. Students do not have to purchase materials, but some do so for study at home.

--Catherine Mc Mann, Director of ESLC