Volunteer Training Resources

Articles on specific topics

• Modeling Cultural Humility, by Lee Shainis at Intercambio

• Increasing impact with assistant teachers (a short presentation) 

• Enhancing learner self-confidence, from Oxford University Press

• Creating Positive Group Dynamics, from Oxford University Press 

• Understanding the impact of task design on learners’ willingness to speak 

• Making It Real: Teaching Pre-literate Adult Refugee Students (Handbook from Tacoma House, 2005. Written for tutors in traditional contexts, but filled with ideas for activities)

• Retrieval Practice: helping students remember (from Cult of Pedagogy)

• Multisensory approaches to teaching, by FluentU

• What I learned about teaching English from Russian 101, by Linda Bonder 

• Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) - resource list, from Massachusetts TESOL

• Everything Teachers Need To Know About Bloom’s Taxonomy, from Teaching Utopians

• Snapshot of the New Normal from a Beginning Level ESL Teacher (April 2020)

Instructional examples (videos)

• From Adult ELL Pathway to Literacy - short videos or online classes classes

  • Small Talk & Situating

  • Total Physical Response (TPR) 

  • Vocabulary Building: Food 

  • Vocabulary Building: Weather

  • Teaching reading/directionality using booklet

  • Teaching reading using story (no words/words)

  • Language Experience Approach: Creating a learner-generated story

  • Phonics: Blending

  • Phonics: Take away / replace

• Skill-based teaching demonstrations, by Ventures

• Linda's TESOL - two short sample online classes

• New American Horizons. Teaching ESL to Adults: Classroom Approaches in Action - 12 teacher training videos of actual classrooms in action 

• Putting English to work: list of videos with topic labels, playlist for the whole series

Interactive, self-paced trainings

(All thanks to Amy Grant!)

• How and when to correct which errors? 

• Connecting with learners (reducing learner confusion) 

Lead & assistant teachers working together

• Increasing impact with assistant teachers (a short presentation)

Sample lesson plans

• From Adult ELL Pathway to Literacy (theme-based plans & resources)

• From the British Council on Teaching English (theme-based plans & resources)

• From Beaverton Literacy Council: Lesson plan examples

• When Should You Abandon Your Lesson Plan? (from Barefoot TEFL Teacher)

Teaching reading

• Letter sounds and spelling patterns, learner videos by Amy Grant

• Alphabetics, TESOL 2023 presentation by Kaylin Wainwright 

• Helping struggling readers by Amy Grant (synthesized information for teachers)

• Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults (an online book)

• 11 alternatives to Round Robin Reading, by Edutopia (ways to get students to effectively participate in reading activities in class)

• Supporting English Learners with Dyslexia, from Ellii

• Reading Strategies - many ways to activate student learning and help them both read to learn and learn to read, by ELT Buzz

Tips for teaching with technology

• Tech tips for BLC teachers (truly short & helpful videos from Amy Grant)

• Zoom: 3-5 minute "how to" videos

  • Setting up breakout rooms in Zoom (by LindaB, 5+ min)

• Basic “How to Use WhatsApp” (3 minutes)

• Step by step: Creating and using a class WhatsApp group

• Making WordWall games

• Making Flippity games

• Zoom, WhatsApp, and more - short video guides for volunteer teachers (by Minnesota Literacy)

• The Google Suite

  • Step-by-step Google Drive & Docs

  • Step-by-step videos:  Google Drive to manage files

  • Step-by-step videos: Google Docs (it's like MS Word)

  • Getting started with Google Slides (it's like Powerpoint) 

• Local tech classes & help

  • PCC Opportunity Centers: Computer Basics 

  • Beaverton Library: tech classes and one-on-one help

  • Multnomah County Library: tech classes and one-on-one help

Ventures training

• Using Ventures, Zoom training provided by the Ventures authors for BLC volunteers in fall 2021: presentation, video

• BLC lesson planning with Ventures: presentation 

• Using Presentation Plus with Zoom, video

Videos trainings 

• Portland ESL Network 1-minute teaching tips

• Modules about how to teach specific aspects of language, from University of Texas at Austin

• Minnesota Literacy Video Trainings 

• ProLiteracy Training Courses (BLC teachers, contact Linda for the passcode if needed)

• Videos of Portland Literacy Council workshops

  • Tips & Tricks for Teaching Beginners (presentation)

  • Teaching low-level learners - part 1, part 2

• Teaching grammar: A Step-by-step approach (the presentation, the video)

• Developing effective online lessons

  • The presentation and resource links: Session 1, Session 2

  • Videos of the workshop: Session 1, Session 2 

• Teaching ESOL on Zoom: a 4-part workshop from summer 2020

  • Session #1 (slides, recording), Session #2 (slides, recording), Session #3 (slides, recording), Session #4 (slides, recording)

What to teach when

• An excellent & straightforward list of skills - categorized by skill type and student level. Thanks to the Torrance Adult School!

• Ventures Scope & Sequence - These scope & sequence documents can give good guidance on what to teach when. You can get the books themselves on Amazon. 

• CASAS standards. From their web site:

• The CASAS Competencies identify more than 360 essential life skills. The CASAS Content Standards identify the underlying reading, listening, and math basic skills at specific proficiency levels.

Workshops to attend

• Minnesota Literacy has many workshops throughout the year. See what's coming up and videos of past events. 

• Portland Literacy Council. Join their mailing list to learn about upcoming workshops.

• ProLiteracy has webinars with optional one-on-one coaching sessions afterwards. See what's coming up and videos of past events.