In his recent “State of the County” address, County Executive Pittman talked about immigration and said that in the last twelve years, the Latino population in Anne Arundel County has grown to 10% of our residents. As a result of this local population change, in recent years, the Literacy Council has seen a steady increase in demand for ESL tutoring services. Approaching the end of 2023, 39% of our students are Spanish-speaking, and just shy of 50% are English language learners.
Working with an immigrant student is rewarding. We currently have 52 volunteers tutoring students who are studying English so that they may participate more fully in a child’s education, communicate at an English-speaking workplace, pass the U.S. citizenship test, earn a Maryland high school diploma, or achieve one of many other goals. How can you help?Please review our early-January Available Student List when Wendy emails it to tutors. More than half of the people seeking a tutor are hopeful ESL students. Perhaps there is someone you could help. If you have questions or reservations about your ability to tutor an adult in English language learning, please let us know. We will work with you to give you the tools you’ll need. (If you are a trained tutor and have a willingness to work with someone from another country, you are already quite well equipped.) In 2024, in addition to two new tutor training sessions, we plan to offer an in-person training workshop focused on ESL tutoring. Please stay tuned for details in the months ahead. Trained tutors are welcome to come to our March 2 tutor training ESL breakout session in the afternoon. Please let Wendy know if you are interested in attending that portion of the day. |
Online Training for ESL TutorsProLiteracy offers free webinars in every subject that we tutor, including Low-Level English Language Learning and High-Level English Language Learning. Tutors can register for upcoming Teacher Training Plus webinars or watch videos of past webinars. There are videos on goal setting for high-level students, “starting from scratch” for low-level students, and more. ProLiteracy on YouTubeWebinars for tutors are available on ProLiteracy’s YouTube Channel, where you can watch them at your convenience. The YouTube Channel offers videos in all subject areas. |