Volunteering for ESL students: A model from the classroom for establishing effective links into the community
Summary ~ ATESL Conference presentation, October 20th, 2007
Justine Light – NorQuest College, Edmonton
This presentation, given at the ATESL conference in October, focused on three main aspects of volunteering for ESL students: the benefits of volunteering for ESL students; experiences gained and lessons learned from a NorQuest College project; and, recommendations for anyone planning to set up a volunteer program in their own ESL setting.
Most ESL instructors would intuitively expect that a volunteer experience might be beneficial to an ESL student in a number of ways. Firstly, we could anticipate that volunteering might present opportunities for language acquisition. Furthermore, volunteering appears to offer potential for addressing settlement concerns of new immigrants and building community and job related links in the community. To a large extent these intuitions are supported by the research. The classroom may not always provide the best venue for language acquisition due to the lack of varied comprehensible input it offers (Wong Filmore, 1992). The ability to communicate effectively in the target culture however will be one of the key factors in the successful integration of immigrants into a host society. (Dudley, 2007) Dudley further posits that volunteering opportunities could provide the avenue by which language acquisition opportunities could emerge. Research conducted in the benefits of volunteering for NS has shown further benefits of volunteering including social, economic and educational benefits. Despite the conclusion that volunteering may be beneficial to ESL students, Dudley’s research conducted in a Northern Alberta College indicated that only a fraction of students were participating in volunteering outside class. The reasons cited for the low participation rates were: Lack of time, low confidence about communicative skills, and lack of knowledge about volunteering.
Building on this body of research and further in-house needs assessment, an academic preparation course for ESL students, Academic Enrichment (AE) strives to include a course component of volunteering for its students. AE is a 20 week course that runs as part of the ESL Intensive program at NorQuest College. These students have clear goals for further academic study, and many have professions in which they are attempting to achieve recognition for their credentials. Volunteering is just one element of this unique course.
The volunteer project takes place for eight weeks of the twenty weeks of the course, but takes more than twenty weeks to organize and execute! The first phase of the project is the pre-volunteer preparation. It starts right away at the beginning of term and, for me, always started with a series of guest speakers. These range from those with a personal story to tell about why they volunteered, to Volunteer agencies looking for volunteers, to employment services explaining how to find meaningful volunteer placements. Students are encouraged to set their own goals for the volunteer placement, whether those be language focused, networking opportunities or simply a first chance to observe the Canadian context for professional employment. Employment counselors help further, with the consolidating of such skills as resume building and interview skills. At this early stage, it can be vital to secure police checks. Each AE student completes the security clearance process so that they are ready for any requirements that their chosen placement may have. There is an approximate wait time of six weeks for these clearance forms in Edmonton. Finally, students are provided with a letter of introduction from the College and AE course to assist prospective placement sites understand the goals and limitations of the project.
Phase two of the project is to secure a meaningful volunteer placement. The volunteering is done in class time for an eight week period for half a day per week. Students are further permitted to attend volunteer interviews and training sessions in class time. The volunteer placement takes place over the last eight weeks of the class. During this period of time a number of language learning opportunities are linked to the project. Students write papers which included feedback on volunteering. Students last semester were shocked to learn one day that their spontaneous presentation would be on the topic of volunteering and would be given to another class!! They did a great job with this because they really knew their content!! Table one indicates some of the many great community partners we have had in the Edmonton area for our volunteer project. Feedback from students has been on the whole very positive. Despite some initial hardships in finding the right placements, most students are able to enjoy their time in the community and extend their network of “known Canadians.” I have collated their feedback in specific areas off volunteering in Table 2.
| Volunteer location | Volunteer position |
|
|
| Student feedback on language acquisition | Student feedback on job search skills | Student feedback on their views of Canada | Student feedback on the Canadian workplace |
| “I used to want to take a medical terminology course but I realize this setting is much better than that.” “Volunteering enriched my medical terminology by hearing the words and taking notes.” “I want to improve my pharmacy vocabulary; so it’s a good idea to stay in this environment.” “In the IT department, we discussed software and hardware and that improved my conversation in the context of work.” |
“I now know where and how to apply my skills and knowledge.” “It gave me a chance to apply for a job, to pass an interview and have such an experience.” “It enhanced my confidence to get back my career.” |
“I think Canadian senior people are happier than those in developing countries.” “Canada has a good healthcare system.” “Canadians are charitable and helpful.” “Canadians in business are friendly, helpful & communicative.” |
“Even though this volunteering is not related to my career, it is a good chance to know the real Canadian workplace.” “There are no shortcuts to be successful.” “Being a pharmacist is better than being a pharmacy technician.” “I had many chances to talk with patients, to understand how they describe their suffering and feelings.” |
I would highly recommend this type of project to ESL instructors everywhere. My students are challenged to set their own goals, find their own placements and make the most of their time there. Students have had positive experiences in previously unknown settings, secured jobs, learned a little about Canadian workplace culture and made friends. The most gratifying part of this for me as an instructor has been to see students realize that despite obstacles that might be still in place they are closer than they realized to achieving their goals in Canada. This project has provided the time, knowledge and confidence boost that students had previously identified as gaps in their ability to take part in volunteering (Dudley, 2007). So now that I have inspired you to have a go at this kind of project, I am including my ten steps to a happy, healthy volunteer experience.
Ten steps to a happy healthy volunteer experience:
- What are your language & settlement objectives?
These objectives will determine the length and scope of your project. - Plan ahead
Everything takes longer than you think!! - Utilize the expertise around you
Nobody can teach resume writing and interview skills in our College as well as the counselors from Career Services, so they teach this part! - Student buy-in
Students, who don’t buy in, don’t show up! - Always think how you can integrate your language/settlement objectives into the process.
- Use your network in the community
Given a concrete and contained opportunity lots of Canadians are keen to help immigrants integrate into the community. - Don’t burn bridges
Burnt bridges in the community are burnt for a very long time. - Gather feedback from students and where possible “employers”
- Revise & revisit
Both 8 & 9 have enabled me to offer students a far more streamlined and meaningful volunteer experience. - Assess whether or not you have achieved your goals
Any further questions, experiences to share or comments please email me .
References:
Dudley, L. (2007). Integrating Volunteering into the Adult Immigrant Second Language Experience. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 63, 4 (June), 539-561
Wong Filmore, L(1982). The Language learner as an Individual: implications of research on individual differences for the ESL teacher. in M. Clarke & J. Handscombe (Eds) on TESL 8. pp. 157-173. Washington, DC: TESL
Hyndman, R. (1993). Volunteering experiences. Unpublished Masters Thesis. University of Alberta, Edmonton.
Acknowledgments:
Thank you to all of the students who have agreed to let me use their comments & feedback in this article & presentation.