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| Volunteers cleaning boardwalk after Hurricane Sandy |
My students often ask me how they can improve their fluency locally, especially if travel to an English-speaking country is cost-prohibitive or regular contact with native English speakers is infeasible or inconvenient. Volunteering, for example with a non-governmental organization or charity, where English is the preferred language for communication, represents such an opportunity. The chance to practice language skills while at the same time making a valuable contribution to a noteworthy cause or project should persuade students that they have options for language learning that can benefit others as well as themselves.
In today's global economy, it may seem strange that some people would be willing to commit their time and efforts to a project or cause without getting paid for their contribution. Nevertheless, many people volunteer willingly every day, with no thought of material compensation. For them, the project or cause is reason enough to contribute to or participate in.
One reason volunteering is popular is that it provides an outlet for community service. Volunteers choose the activity or project to which they wish to commit their time and how much time they are willing to commit. In so doing, they feel they are contributing to the improvement or betterment of their communities or some group. Volunteers expect no remuneration, but they anticipate obtaining personal satisfaction or self-fulfillment in return for their participation.
Volunteering is also popular with project leaders and organizers as a way to cut costs. Volunteers provide a service that might otherwise be cost-prohibitive. And volunteering is voluntary; no coercion or material incentives are necessary to recruit volunteers.
The terms and conditions of volunteering may vary from project to project. Some projects may require on-site participation while others can be joined virtually. Some projects may require a fixed time commitment, for example, so many hours per week or month. Still other projects may require proof of language proficiency. In any case, the volunteer is always in control of the level and amount of participation they wish to offer.
I first became interested in volunteering soon after I decided to become an educator. I realized that while I wouldn't earn any money from volunteering, I would perhaps build a reputation for hard work and community service while providing a necessary function.
My first volunteer experience was as a home tutor for the Colorado Refugee ESL Home Tutors program. This program matches English tutors with refugees who are either unable to attend formal English classes or who simply prefer receiving instruction in the privacy of their homes rather than in a classroom.I was paired with a Somali father of five who was housebound due to disability. We met twice a week for a year, during which we followed a set curriculum but also just talked about ourselves.
What I liked about this volunteer opportunity was not just the chance to practice my teaching skills, but the chance to get to know someone for whom life had been less than kind and, perhaps, make a new friend. I'm happy to say that both outcomes were realized. My student is still disabled, but he is no longer housebound.
My next volunteer opportunity will begin shortly as I wait for my application to be accepted to join the TED Open Translation Project. This project uses an application called Amara to provide closed captions and subtitles to the world-renown TED videos, in English and other languages, for the benefit of the hearing-impaired as well as non-English speakers. I will be focusing on closed captions and subtitles in English rather than translation since English is my first language.
Finding local volunteer opportunities can be as easy as performing an Internet search on the phrase "[local] volunteer opportunities" where [local] represents the name of your community. This search can then be refined to include only those opportunities where English is spoken. So if you're interested in volunteering as a way to increase your English fluency, let me know with a comment or a private message. I will be happy to help you in searching for an opportunity that will work for you.
