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Saturday, September 7 – training for new ESL teachers

The New ESL Teacher Training workshop will help volunteer teachers gain the skills and confidence needed to succeed in the English classroom. Designed for new teachers, this interactive workshop will teach you the fundamentals of creating good ESL lessons, how to teach English to adult learners, how to use audiovisual materials to maximize learner comprehension, and how to address common adult learner challenges. The workshop combines presentation, discussion, videos, and demonstrations to provide you with knowledge, tools, and approaches that will help you become an effective ESL teacher.

Saturday, September 14 – continuing education for experienced ESL teachers.

This refresher course is called “English Can be Fun and Games: Adding Fun to Your ESL Lessons”. The course was designed in response to a recurring question from experienced ESL teachers about how to add some fun activities to their lesson plans, with the goal of enhancing English comprehension and retention. About two-thirds of this session will consist of hands-on demonstrations of several fun ESL activities that can be adapted to all curriculum levels, which you can incorporate into your English lessons for learner practice, reviews, or assessments. New teachers are welcome.

Saturday, September 21 – training for intro-level ESL teachers

Teaching English to intro-level learners (also called beginner or literacy level) can be challenging. This course is designed for ESL teachers who teach intro-level learners and provides information, advice, and several practices that teachers can use to connect with their learners who cannot speak English. The course will demonstrate some of these practices, including opportunities for participants to take part in several of the demonstrations.


These sessions are taught by Rob Simmons, who has been a volunteer ESL teacher for over 20 years and has been training ESL teachers for over seven years. He has taught several levels of ESL curriculum, including Introduction, Level 2, and Intermediate levels. During his teacher training classes, Rob doesn’t just talk about the material, he demonstrates the concepts—and invites you to participate—so that you will understand how to incorporate the concepts into your lesson planning and classroom activities. Previous participants have appreciated how Rob’s training helped build their confidence as an English teacher.

Teachers planning to attend one or more of these 9:00 AM to noon sessions offered at several ESLIM locations should register by sending contact information, including the name of the church where they will be volunteering to [email protected]. Please specify which session(s) you  would like to attend, and you will receive an acknowledgment and additional information.

All ESLIM teachers are invited to join us for informal online chat sessions on Sunday afternoons from 2:00 to 3:00 PM. These sessions are intended to be an opportunity to meet and interact with others who share your mission to help our students improve their English. We can exchange ideas, do some problem-solving, and offer support and encouragement to each other.

The sessions are scheduled for:
Sunday, February 25
Sunday, March 3
Sunday, March 10

To receive a Zoom link and a reminder, please send your contact information to [email protected] and indicate which session(s) you would like to attend.

We invite volunteers from our member programs to join us in our teacher training sessions on Saturday, September 9, and Sunday, September 10. The Saturday session, designed to help new teachers gain the confidence needed to succeed in the classroom, will be held in-person at Centreville UMC from 9:00 AM to noon. The Sunday afternoon session from 2:00 to 4:00 PM is an opportunity for experienced teachers to learn some new strategies they can use with their students. This online session will focus on using photos and pictures to build interest and vocabulary and enhance comprehension. Both sessions will be led by Rob Simmons, an experienced ESL teacher and teacher trainer.

Don’t miss this opportunity to build your teaching skills and meet others who share your desire to help our immigrant community! Register by sending your contact information, including the session in which you are interested and the site where you will be teaching this fall to [email protected].

Lord of Life Lutheran Church will be offering free online US citizenship test preparation classes to permanent residents who are eligible for US citizenship. It is advised that students who register for this class should have at least a high beginner level of English.

These classes will meet via Zoom on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:00 to 8:45 , beginning April 13, 2023, and ending May 25, 2023.

An in-person orientation will be held on Tuesday, April 11, at 7:00 PM at Lord of Life Lutheran Church, 5114 Twinbrook Rd., in Fairfax.  Free textbooks will be distributed at that time, and a link to the class will be sent to registered students beginning the second week in March.  Class size is limited to twelve students.  The registration link is posted on this website and on Lord of Life’s webpage at https://www.lordoflifeva.org/esl

Our training for new teachers is scheduled to take place at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Fairfax on Saturday, January 7, 2023.  The session, led by Rob Simmons, begins at 9:00 am and will end at noon.  All new teachers and those who were not able to attend the fall training are welcome to attend.  To register for this training, please send your contact information, including the name of the church where you will be volunteering to  eslim.org before January 2.  Participants will be acknowledged and sent a reminder and additional details prior to the training.