Volunteer teachers are the foundation for facilitating ESL classes for adults at Su Casa. The literature review helps to narrow the researcher's focus on volunteer teachers in the community of Su Casa. Volunteer teachers have an interest in supporting ESL educated adults at Su Casa.
Volunteer teachers align with Su Casa's mission to engage, connect and empower the community. Volunteer teachers gain knowledge about themselves, their peers, adult students, and the Su Casa community.
Volunteer teachers believe Su Casa provides informative training support
Its mission to connect the Latino community with the broader Memphis community does not overlook the diversity of languages found among volunteer teachers and adult students. Mother tongues spoken by volunteer teachers can affect their ability to use these languages when teaching if an adult student has difficulty understanding English instruction. Volunteer teachers see value in the training, regardless of how many years they have served at Su Casa.
The training gave me a better understanding of my students and their immigration and integration experience.” Another volunteer expressed the benefits of having background on the adult students helps teachers "understand who the students are, where they come from, and how they can relate things to their culture." Although there were differences in the types of training participants said they received, volunteer teachers acknowledged Su Casa's efforts to provide professional support to them. Another teacher said he enjoyed the "interactive lessons because they help students become more engaged." One volunteer teacher expressed "the training has helped me understand the Latino community and incorporate learned exercises to ensure I met their specific needs in terms of language, conversation and communication." She is very flexible and she is willing to do almost anything to make it work.” Many volunteer teachers shared role-playing opportunities during the training.
One teacher said, "Any new information that can be put into practice in the classroom is of great value." Another Finding 2: Training reinforces Su Casa's mission to connect, engage and strengthen its community. The Collaborative in Education modeled similar strategies to be used by volunteer teachers in their classes. Volunteer teachers described the training and their perspectives by saying that they "felt that the staff at Su Casa would provide the necessary assistance if I asked and it was within their means." A second-year ESL-certified volunteer teacher added her perspective by saying, "We received instruction from other ESL teachers who shared their best practices." Another teacher agreed: "I served with a co-teacher who was more experienced and learned a lot from them." Two testimonials from first-year volunteers noted that "they helped me understand which areas to focus on the most," and one teacher "felt less nervous because [she] was working with another teacher." One-year volunteers also shared their experiences with Su Casa's orienteering training.
She said, I think it would have been more helpful if the volunteer teachers had more training about how best to teach ESL.
Volunteer teachers believe professional training makes them better ESL teachers
One said, "As my volunteering progressed, working with other teachers helped me adapt and improve my teaching methods." A volunteer teacher studying education reflected on her training experiences over the two years. Reflections on the training helped identify common themes across the morning and evening cohorts. The diversity of volunteer teachers and adult learners means that a range of professional training topics is required.
53 Training Question 3 (TQ.3) shows that volunteer teachers seek further professional training on their own, as shown in Figure 12. Of this group, four volunteer teachers reported attending formal training at Rhodes College, a local college. Others acknowledged, "My TEFL class in Rhodes is helpful" and commented that professional needs were met through "collaboration and discussions with other ESL volunteers." In these collaborative meetings, “they explain the curriculum and have resources.
They offer games.” Three percent (n=1) of volunteer teachers indicated that they only participate in online training. The remaining 3% (n=1) of volunteer teachers described seeking other resources, quoting, “I sometimes find ESL charts and explanations online.” The search for more resources leads to the fourth finding. I hate to say, I don't know, because they ask me the questions.
Although volunteer teachers serve different parts of the day, their professional development needs are not defined by their teaching cohorts.
Volunteers want more intensive training
55 The second research question explored the impact of teacher experience or volunteer status on professional needs. The digital survey questions provide background demographic information such as previous teaching experience, current teaching experience with Su Casa, and the types of students taught, as shown in Figures 13 and 14. The morning cohort had only 16% ( n=4) volunteer teachers with 11 or more years of teaching experience.
There is an even distribution of teaching experience with the remaining time frames in the morning cohort. Forty-six percent (n=11) of volunteer teachers in the evening cohort had five or fewer years of experience or tutoring prior to becoming Su Casa volunteer teachers. The professional needs correspond to the eight domains listed in the Standards for ESL/EFL Teachers of Adults Framework.
Research Question 2 confirms that professional development needs are influenced by teacher experience or formal ESL training. Findings for RQ2 are consistent with the literature in that individuals lacking teaching experience or formal ESL training reported more professional training needs (Tran, 2015). One ESL certified teacher said, "The best training was in class with the teacher [and] I need more of that."
It was really great.” One teacher said, “I'd like to learn more about how I can help my students and their children in their lives outside of our classroom, and I'm not sure how to help.” Volunteer teachers with formal ESL training identified their professional needs in building learning communities by collaborating and enabling authentic adult experiences.
Teachers with formal ESL training and prior teaching experience report fewer professional development needs
Volunteer teachers in these groups wanted help understanding when to use techniques to achieve more positive learning outcomes. The data reflects a desire for professional training that focuses on community, meaning, and identity by more experienced volunteer teachers. The researcher inquired about the role of the classroom's English proficiency levels in determining the professional needs of the volunteer teachers.
This study found no correlation between professional needs and classroom English proficiency levels. There was no significant difference between the professional needs for teaching cohorts and the corresponding English language proficiency level of the class. Fifty percent (n=18) of volunteer teachers with less than one year of experience also represent half of respondents needing professional training, as shown in Table 2.
Of 13 volunteer teachers with initial classes, 54% (n=7) report a need for professional training as shown in Table 2. 63 for additional training on "increasing conversation with students". In the intermediate grades, 57% (n=4) of volunteer teachers state that additional training "in [skill] levels and goals for each level would be helpful." Classes that were identified as too diverse to determine skill level ratios One of the teachers with diverse classes is also ESL certified. There is a correlation between professional needs and experience with no influence from the English proficiency levels of the class.
The volunteer teachers also used several descriptors to classify Su Casa as shown in Figure 16: ethnic community, community-based organization (n=4), faith-based organization (n=10) and a combination of the previous descriptors (n = 21).
Volunteer teachers are aligned with the mission and goals of Su Casa’s Adult ESL Program
Volunteer teachers claimed that “[t]he program exists to help immigrants adapt to learning in English and to help them learn to speak English fluently so that they can adapt to life here and communicate and work in the society." Another volunteer noted that the “second reason Su Casa was founded was not just to provide a transition experience for the coming immigrants, but to introduce them to Jesus.” The nature of the communities influences the learning objectives (Kanno and Norton, 2003). Fifty-five percent (n=21) of volunteer teachers identified Su Casa as a community-based, ethnic community, and faith-based organization. All of these things show me that Su Casa's leaders care about having relationships with our students.
As a teacher, I love making friends with [students] outside of the classroom.” The volunteer teachers understood and embraced Su Casa's mission and goals to build a safe community inside and outside the classroom. From this group, the volunteer teachers reported that Su Casa's mission was "to bring the community together and identify a fundamental need among those from other countries who are here." One volunteer said, our goal is to “provide connections with people who are spiritual in nature. By teaching English to adult learners, volunteer teachers are fulfilling the mission of Su Casa's outreach ministry.
Findings about Su Casa's mission for this group include the "opportunity to connect with people on a deeper level" and "develop a personal, mature relationship." Of those in this group, volunteers reported the following goals: improve communication, build relationships, and engage in reflective practice. The identification of Su Casa's program is linked to the volunteer teacher's comments about the organization's mission and goals. Defining their role as a teacher is linked to the volunteer teacher's understanding of Su Casa's adult ESL program.
By continuing to actively participate in the practice, volunteer teachers' identity is formed individually and collectively in Su Casa's community.
Identity as a volunteer teacher is grounded by individual connections to Su Casa, its volunteer teachers, and adult learners
Volunteer teachers used the planning time to meet the goals of the program and the needs of their classes. One recommendation focuses on Su Casa's general structure for planning professional development for volunteer teachers. To implement the recommendations, Su Casa must adopt a framework for providing professional development for its volunteer teachers.
Adopting a teacher development framework will guide Su Casa leaders in supporting the diverse needs of its volunteer teachers. Incorporating the framework allows Su Casa leadership to purposefully offer professional development content to its diverse volunteer teachers. Volunteer teachers can work together to offer tailored support based on the volunteer teacher's needs.
Feedback, mini-observations and a support system are part of the personal support for volunteer teachers. Meeting the needs of volunteer teachers involves planning content, deploying resources, and determining when to facilitate professional development sessions. The survey was conducted to provide additional insight about the volunteer teachers and Su Casa's adult ESL program.
You were recently emailed an invitation to participate in a study about the adult ESL program you serve as a volunteer teacher. I will interview volunteer teachers who have dedicated their time to the adult English language classes in the morning or evening. Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey on Adult ESL Training for Volunteer Teachers.
