The English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program at St. John Neumann is looking for additional volunteer teachers for the 2024-2025 academic year, beginning with the Fall Semester of 2024. Currently, the program has 15 teachers working with 30 students, both online, using the ZOOM program, and in-person in classes held at St. John Neumann. Since Fall 2022, our new classes have all been in-person classes on Thursday mornings and evenings.
Requirements
Teaching English to speakers of other languages requires only a true interest in helping students learn English and patience since English is a difficult language to learn. Being fluent or knowledgeable in the native language of the students (mostly, but not exclusively, Spanish) is helpful, but not required.
Textbooks and Curriculum
We are using the Oxford University Press’ Step Forward textbooks and workbooks for these classes, so there is a curriculum to follow for each one of the five levels of English proficiency. Each teacher is provided with a hard copy of the textbook and workbook for their teaching level, a digital copy of the textbook, and access to the online Teacher Resource Center (provided by OUP for each teaching level) that provides additional teaching resources and a method for measuring student progress throughout the year. We have a teacher orientation meeting in September, prior to the start of the Fall Semester.
Classes
We have reserved classrooms for English classes on Thursday mornings (10 a.m. – 11 a.m.) and Thursday evenings (7 p.m. – 8 p.m.). Volunteer teachers should indicate their preference and availability to teach during one (or both) of these two periods each Thursday. Class size varies each semester, but generally, the Level 1 classes attract the largest number of students. If there are more than five students in a class, we try to assign two teachers (subject to availability) to that class to teach as a team. Historically, our courses have the highest student attendance early in the semester. Our students are busy, working adults, and most have families and the many obligations and uncertainties that go along with both. Consequently, we lose some students over a semester or full academic year. Nonetheless, many students are able to persevere and continue to learn English throughout the full academic year, and this is the opportunity that we strive to present to each student.
If you are interested in serving others as an ESOL program teacher, please complete the below registration. Any additional questions can be directed to esl.stjohnneumann@gmail.com.
To Register Now
Please download the fillable PDF Student Registration Form, complete, save a copy to your device, and email as an attachment to esl.stjohnneumann@gmail.com.
