Much depends upon what target group you are aiming to help. Are you wanting to help immigrant adults to live in Australia and adapt to the culture, or for foreign children who may have to undergo education in English as their second language. Anything can be done, particularly if you have enthusiastic people who are committed to the project. Materials are easy to obtain, but the willingness of people to use them is not always so easy.

You need to consider
Who are you going to teach
what facilities you have
what times you want to teach
how many do you want in one class
is the aim to help with studies or with life
are you teaching kids or adults or both

I'm sure there are lots more, but these will do for starters

Michael Hughes

Thanks Michael. We are aiming to help adult migrants adapt to life in Oz ... and be a witness to the Lord Jesus while we do it. I am overseeing a number of congregations, each in slightly different situations, as well as my own. I teach ESL professionally, but ESL ministry within the church is a new initiative for our denomination. Training the volunteers in leading ESL classes is my primiary focus at present. Blessings, Judy.

I am with the TEFL resources ministry of Greater Europe Mission and our director has recently finished a TEFL training DVD which might be a good resource for training up a team of volunteers, which is what it sounds like your current need is. Check out the website and let me know if you have more questions for us. Also let us know how it goes as we are learning too!
http://www.gemtefl.org/resources/

Ok Judy. I am sure that as a ESL teacher then you will have plenty of idea about resources. I seemed to get the idea from the original request that this was a new venture starting up with personnel with no ESL experience. I have helped churches here in Malaysia to set up similar outreaches to the community - not teaching immigrants, but using English as a tool to help locals and introduce them to the fellowship. The hardest thing to get is not the materials, nor is it the training to help people gain confidence in teaching, but finding people who are willing and committed to a long term outreach. Many volunteers started off keen enough, but then found 'other directions' after only a short time. I pray you have a good committed team and then you can really move forward. One of the best source of practical resources I have found on the net is at www.eslprintables.com This site has contributions from all over the world and whilst some of the submissions are not very good, there is enough excellent material that it makes it worthwhile. The only catch is, that you have to submit your own worksheets before you can download others, but once you submit a few and gain a few points then downloading is very easy. I have the name Logos if you want to check my materials that I have submitted. My particular expertise is developing PowerPoint to use as an interactive tool in the classroom, rather than just the normal 'click click' type of presentation. Need anything then let me know.
Michael

Michael & Thad: Thanks very much for your input. I hve checked out your suggestions, which were very helpful. Much appreciated. "Talk" to you later! Judy.

Judy,
I direct a community-based ESL Program through Sunset Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon. We offer Saturday morning classes with free childcare to reach immigrants who are not candidates for more mainstream or traditional ESL classes. This is our 9th year and while the only constant is change, there are many things that seem to be working well. Unfortunately, our website is not one of them, at the moment, or I would refer you to that.
I agree with Michael that maintaining a group of dedicated volunteers is by far our greatest challenge. Most of my time as director is spent seeking and responding to the needs of volunteer staff upon which our program depends. To avoid excessive turnover, I ask for the ability to commit to at least a quarter, preferably a year, in the ministry. We offer quarterly training and I spend a good part of the summer recruiting. If I can answer any specific questions about our program, I'd be happy to do so.
Best wishes as you get started! Nanci