Volunteer
Become a Volunteer
Beaverton Literacy Council is an all-volunteer organization helping over 400 adult learners improve their English skills. We hope you will join this meaningful work!
Volunteer registration for 2023-2024 will open in early July. In the meantime, please click here to join our mailing list and let us know a bit about your interest. We will get in touch when registration opens. If you have questions, you may put them in the form or contact lindab@beavertonliteracy.org. Thank you!
On-line / In-person
For 2023-2024, we will offer online classes and in-person classes in Beaverton.
Evening classes are at 5150 SW Watson Ave, Beaverton, OR, 97005.
Morning classes are moving - stay tuned!
What's required for volunteers?
Volunteers work as class lead teachers or assistant teachers, and there are projects now and then for volunteers to help in non-teaching roles.
To volunteer in a class, we ask that you are a fluent, open-minded English speaker and that you want to teach students from many cultures and countries. You don't have to be a grammar expert or have extensive teaching experience, but you do have to love learning and helping others learn!
For teaching online, you will need a laptop or desktop computer with a stable wifi connection. (Sorry, tablets and phones are not optimal for teaching with Zoom.)
There's training too! We hold live and Zoom-based training in the summer and fall. Throughout the year, we encourage volunteers to observe other BLC teachers, attend our volunteer Roundtable discussions, attend the Portland Literacy Council spring conference, and more.
A few more details
Classes run from mid-September through early June.
If you are unable to commit to the full year, we ask for a commitment of at least September through December holidays or January through June.
Volunteer options include:
Lead or assist a class
In-person 2 hour morning classes or 90 minute evening classes
Online 75 minute classes
Once or twice per week
Classes take the usual school holidays according to the Beaverton Public School calendar.
Volunteers who will miss class can use our sub list to find a replacement.
BLC Volunteer Resources
Teaching resources
See teacher training resources here (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.)
Learning outcomes
BLC Teacher Resource Bank (searchable)
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.