Since 2011, Bruen Chapel has been a proud member of Northern Virginia’s English as a Second Language and Immigrant Ministries (ESLIM), an umbrella organization for a network of Northern Virginia churches.  The overarching ESLIM organization provides excellent support to our program by offering new and refresher teacher training, multilingual advertising, and other administrative support.  We will have classes Tuesdays from 6:45-8:45 pm from November 6th through December 18th.  Registration will be Thursday, November 1st from 6:30-8pm.

ESLIM’s mission is to “promote and support the teaching of English to adult immigrants of all nationalities in Northern Virginia and welcome their active participation in our community.”  Bruen Chapel supports this aim by offering low cost English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at least twice per year during spring and fall.  We offer beginner, intermediate, and advanced level classes to help increase the proficiency of adult students from all over the world.  Depending on student interest and volunteer availability/skills, we have also offered shorter courses to help ESL students improve in targeted areas like pronunciation and conversation.

Bruen Chapel’s English classes are an all-volunteer production.  Volunteer teachers and assistants commit to teach one night a week for approximately 10 weeks (the average length of a semester).  The table below gives a brief overview of different volunteer roles.

Role Task Time Commitment
Teacher Create lesson plans, teach the class, and communicate with co-teacher; ESLIM teacher training completion is preferred One night per week for the course of the ~10 week semester
Teacher’s assistant Assist teacher in class facilitation; coordinate specific lessons/activities Preferably one night per week for the course of the ~10 week semester
Substitute teacher Fill in for teachers On call position requested as needed
Registration Assistant Help students fill out paperwork, assess oral proficiency to determine class level, and write receipts Two hours during registration night
Greeter/classroom escort Help students find their classrooms on the first few nights of class Approximately 1.5 hours; only needed the first week of class
Snack provider Set out and clean up break time snacks and beverages

For information about our program, volunteering, or any questions, please email us at [email protected].