Volunteer

Become a volunteer

Beaverton Literacy Council is an all-volunteer organization helping over 500 adult learners from 50+ countries improve their English and connect to community. 

We hope you can join us for next school year!
Please register here to join our mailing list. A volunteer coordinator will get in touch soon. Although we are unlikely to have openings for new volunteers this school year, we would still appreciate getting to know you. 

Please note: BLC volunteers must live or have lived extensively in the US. We ask for a minimum 3-month commitment, once or twice weekly.

On-line / In-person

Volunteers may teach once or twice per week, whether in a core or enrichment class. 

Core classes meet twice-per-week

• Teach reading, writing, listening & speaking

• Levels 0-4 use a textbook.

• Online on Zoom, mornings and evenings

• Evening in-person: near the main Beaverton library 

• Morning in-person near the corner of Allen Blvd & Murray Road

• Morning in-person at North of Hwy 26, east of 185th.

Enrichment classes meet once-per-week online. 

• These are primarily conversation groups, but volunteers may offer book groups, pronunciation classes, grammar practice, or other options.

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: 

• Observe other teachers (required for new lead teachers)

• Communicate with a mentor teacher (required for new lead teachers)

• Attend August in-person all-volunteer workshop if possible.

• Attend roundtable workshops online 

• Use the textbook to guide lesson planning in levels 0-4

• Supplement lessons with BLC paid online subscriptions