Difficult times call for creativity!

I am sure that you will be able to relate to one of the struggles we have been experiencing in the volunteer adult literacy arena – increased demand and fewer resources to train volunteer tutors quickly enough. Recently there has been much discussion surrounding volunteer tutor training. There are many literacy groups discussing how many hours sufficiently prepares a new volunteer; do you train before or after the tutor starts tutoring; should you train on a single curriculum or incorporate realia and a sampling of tools; and what type of follow-up program should you have for your volunteer tutor team? As we decide what makes sense and serves our community best there might be a few immediate gratification options out there for us! Do I have your attention?

Self-paced learning sites…Of course! They are not appropriate for all of our adult learners but they may offer just what you and the learners need. Let’s consider the pros and cons:

Pros –

· Provides immediate access to literacy learning for programs with a waiting list;

· Offers additional learning opportunities for dedicated learners craving more than the face-to-face tutoring can offer;

· Offers an alternative approach for those learners who enjoy using the computer;

· Ensures learning doesn’t stop when a tutor goes on vacation or is temporarily unavailable or even if the learner is unavailable – they can study on their own from home!

Cons –

· Learners must have access to a computer and, if using the library, the computer must be in a location that the learner can practice speaking skills (if that is their goal);

· Learners need to have basic computer skills;

· Not very effective if the learner has very limited English skills or needs direct guidance or direction;

· May have to consider having a tutor available to assist learners when/if they get ‘stuck’.

Here are a few websites that we think are excellent resources:

USALearns
http://USALearns.org
U.S. Department of Education just launched U.S.A. Learns, a free Web site to help immigrants learn English. This site is an easily accessible Internet learning tool providing instructional materials developed to teach basic English skills and help adults improve their English proficiency.

Activities for ESoL Learners
http://a4esl.org/
This site has over 1,000 quizzes, exercises and puzzles to help you study English as a Second Language.

Pumarosa - English for Spanish Learners
http://www.pumarosa.com
This website is designed for Spanish-speaking learners. It has beginner and intermediate levels. It has grammar lessons that are visual as well as auditory. The words are written as well as said if you have speakers. It offers the Spanish version too.

ESL Desk - Learn English as a Second Language
http://www.esldesk.com/
A site for ESL students who want to learn English online. "I am not an ESL teacher or a professional linguist. In fact, English is my second language and I am still learning it." quote from site manager.

Dave's ESL Cafe
http://www.eslcafe.com
Resources for you as a tutor and interesting learning opportunities for the learners. Links include: idioms; tip of the day; phrasal verbs; quizzes; slang; and much more. Learner friendly!

ESL Resource Center
http://www.eslus.com/eslcenter.htm
A website for learners and teachers of English. FREE ENGLISH - ESL LESSONS. This may also be good for beginner or low-intermediate basic literacy learners.

English Daily
http://www.englishdaily626.com/
Links to Idioms; common mistakes in English; English Grammar; American English slang; TOEFL Vocabulary...and more.

Workforce Education LAB
http://slincs.coe.utk.edu/gtelab/
The LAB collects and distributes high-quality learning activities that focus on the basic skills and knowledge adults need to be effective in the 21st Century workplace. Learner friendly!

Visual Dictionary Online
http://visual.merriam-webster.com/index.php
From Merriam-Webster and QA International, an interactive dictionary with an innovative approach that will help ESL students to learn English in a visual and accessible way. A quick glance at the index is all it takes to connect words with images. Or students can explore the 15 major themes to access more than 6,000 images and see words like never before. Additional features include a Game of the Week, played by associating words with images, and audio pronunciations spoken by real voices.

English Club
http://www.englishclub.com/index.htm
A FREE site to help you learn English or teach English as a second language. You'll find everything from lessons for students to jobs for teachers, including interactive pages such as forums, games, quizzes, chat, help and penpals.

Many Things
http://www.manythings.org/
A fun study site for learners of English as a Second Language. Word games, puzzles, quizzes, exercises, slang, proverbs and much more.

Livemocha: learn languages...
http://www.livemocha.com/
Community--Livemocha is the first-of-its-kind online language-learning community. Lessons -- Fun and interactive lessons that move at the right pace for you. Motivation -- Track your progress and reach your goals with Livemocha tools. Interesting perspective -- online, chat room, peer interaction...might be just right for some of the learners!

English Exercises
http://www.edhelper.com/language/language.html?gclid=CO_3vfbAr4UCFQxrNAodrV44vA
More than 200 online quizzes, organized by themes and topics (reading, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, parts of speech, punctuation, & other language skills), allow learners to get instant feedback and keep a running tally of their scores.

So there you have it…quite a few choices that should engage and satisfy many different learners with a multitude of goals! We have found that directing learners to these websites has been extremely useful and enabled us to provide extra learning activities as well as provide a stop gap measure for those locations with waiting lists and/or snowbird tutors.

I hope you find it as useful.