Volunteer
Become a volunteer
Beaverton Literacy Council is an all-volunteer organization helping over 450 adult learners from 50+ countries improve their English and build community. We hope you will join this meaningful work!
Please click here to volunteer for fall and for the 2024/2025 school year. If you're new to BLC, we will contact you about attending a new volunteer info session.
If you're not sure about volunteering and want to start with an info session, please click here to join our mailing list. We will get in touch soon. You may also contact lindab@beavertonliteracy.org.
Please note: BLC volunteers must live in the US.
On-line / In-person
Volunteers may teach once or twice per week, whether in a core or conversation class.
BLC offers core classes twice-per-week
Online on Zoom, mornings and evenings.
Evening in-person at 5150 SW Watson Ave, Beaverton,
Morning in-person at 13600 SW Allen Blvd, Beaverton
Morning in-person at 17435 NW West Union Rd, Portland
BLC offers conversation classes once-per-week online.
What's required?
Volunteers may be lead or assistant teachers.
Lead teachers create lesson plans, lead classes, track student progress to inform future lessons.
Assistant teachers help model material, lead breakout rooms, assist as agreed to with the lead.
Volunteers need to be fluent, open-minded English speakers. You don't have to be a grammar expert or have even have teaching experience, but you do have to love learning and helping others learn.
It's helpful but not required to have:
Teaching experience of some kind
Experience learning another language at any level
Experience being an outsider
Comfort with basic technology
Online teachers need a laptop or desktop computer with a stable wifi connection. (Sorry, tablets and phones don't work well for this.)
Training and support is encouraged and available for ALL volunteers:
Fall in-person all-volunteer workshops.
Mentor teachers for each class level
Roundtable discussions
Observe other teachers
Textbooks to guide lesson planning in levels 0-4
BLC paid online subscriptions
A few more details
Classes run from mid-September through late May.
We ask for a minimum 3 month commitment. Subs are available!
Volunteer responsibilities
Teaching resources
See teacher training resources here (self-paced trainings, videos, workshops, and tech help including Zoom, WhatsApp, Wordwall, etc).
Increasing impact with assistant teachers (a short presentation)
Resources by level and Ventures unit. (These documents are works-in-process.)
Current BLC volunteers also get access to paid online teaching resources.
All Beaverton Literacy Council students and instructors must be at least 18 years of age. With that exception, the BLC does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations.