ESL tutors at three different sites in the Charlottesville community. Please read about all of them so that you can pick the site that suits you best! For the Albemarle High School and Adult Learning Center sites, the time commitment is approximately 3 hours per week, including travel time. For Charlottesville High School, it's about 2-3 hours. All volunteers must attend a 1-2 hour training session before they begin.
Albemarle High School
Volunteers carpool to AHS one evening per week (either Monday or Wednesday from 6:00-9:00PM) and help out in either the:
Adult classes to assist a classroom teacher.
The adult English levels vary from the very basic level one ("What is your name?") to the virtually fluent levels four and five ("When do you use 'who' and 'whom'?'). Volunteers help explain concepts, answer questions, and give students someone with whom they can practice their English.
Children's Room.
While the adults are in class, their children work with us on their homework and other language games to enhance their English comprehension and have fun! If you like to work with younger children, are full of energy and enthusiastic, the children's room may be just the place!
This site offers a great opportunity to work with either adults or children, a larger Spanish-speaking population in the adult classes, and provides some time to get to know other Madison House ESL volunteers from UVA!
Adult Learning Center
The ALC, located on Preston Avenue on the UVA bus route, also holds a variety of classes for adults learning to speak English.
Volunteers, working a weekly shift, can work in a beginning ESL classroom, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-8:30PM. They will assist a classroom teacher by working individually and in groups with students.
The ALC is pioneering a new Homework Help program staffed exclusively by Madison House volunteers, where ESL students can bring in work assignments and receive help from English speakers. This lets you work independently one on one with the students!
The ALC also sponsors a Dialogue Café - English speakers come and simply chat with ESL learners to help them perfect their language skills. There are numerous volunteer opportunities at the ALC practically any time of day!
Finally, the ALC offers "Global Greetings" - an online ESL class for long distance communication! Some in person contact at the ALC will be required.
With the ALC, you get easy transportation, flexible times, and a great way to help out a truly diverse group of adults!
Buford Middle School
Buford Middle School provides an opportunity to work one on one with 7th & 8th grade students who need tutoring help with their core academic subjects as they struggle with learning English as well . We encourage volunteers to carpool although some take the trolley or ride their bikes. Volunteers sign up for one hour long shift per week. These shifts range from 8am to 2:30 pm Monday through Friday.
Looking for a great experience helping middle school ESL learners? Then volunteering at Buford Middle School will be an incredible opportunity for you!
Buford is located on 9th St. SW about 1.5 miles from Grounds. We will arrange carpools for students without transportation.
The ESL students at Buford are 7th and 8th graders from a variety of different countries with extremely diverse backgrounds. Many of the students are refugees from war-torn countries. All of these students are pretty far behind in their academic subjects, and they also need a good role model and a friend to help them succeed.
The volunteers will work one on one with students and will usually pull the students out of their classrooms to work on a particularsubject. o Again, these students are really excited to begin working with you and your help will definitely be appreciated!
Burley Middle School
Tutors will work with middle school ESOL students after school; the shift is 3:30- 5:30 on Thursdays. Volunteers will carpool to the site
At 3:30, the ESOL teacher will meet with the volunteers to go over materials to be used with the students, and help volunteers prep some of the materials.
At 4 PM , when school ends, tutors will work with students until 5:30.
What will volunteers teach? A little bit of everything--- reading comprehension, vocabulatry, reading fluency, as well as journal work and internet activities, reinforcing basic math skills, as well as homework help.
Charlottesville High School
Charlottesville High School provides a targeted ESL class for high school students. Volunteers will carpool here, and sign up for shifts of one school period.
This is a great opportunity to work with a high school students, which can be especially rewarding!
Madison House volunteers will assist the ESL teacher in his classroom. Volunteers will usually work one on one with students to help with reading and other language skills.
At Charlottesville High School, you can help students who are struggling in school because of lack of English skills to do better in not only English, but in all of their classes!
If you want to work in a classroom setting with teenagers from all over the world, this is the site for you!
Jack Jouett Middle School
Volunteers will carpool to the site and work with middle school ESOL students in the classroom from 2-3:30 (8 th period) on Wednesdays. Please allow 10-15 minutes of travel time to the site.
Eighth period alternates between ESOL and math, and tutors will assist in both areas; there will be math and ESOL teachers in the room instructing students and guiding tutors.
Great chance to work within a classroom setting with middle school students, and get experience both teaching ESL skills and a subject!
