BACKGROUND: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. At work in over 40 countries and 24 U.S. cities to restore safety, dignity and hope, the IRC leads the way from harm to home. The IRC in Atlanta office was established in 1979 and has resettled over 27,000 refugees from 67 countries into the Greater Atlanta area. As the largest refugee resettlement agency in Georgia, the IRC in Atlanta resettles an average of 250 refugees into Georgia annually and provides additional services and assistance to another 2,500 refugees, immigrants and asylees.

SCOPE OF VIRTUAL ESL ADULT EDUCATION INTERN WORK: The IRC’s Virtual ESL Adult Education Intern assists refugee and immigrant adults in virtual ESL classes to develop the language skills critical for success. The classes aim to build vocabulary and communication skills, convey skills necessary for the American workforce, and impart information about integral life skills and systems so that clients can be successful and productive members of their communities, that they can be civically engaged, and so that they can pursue career pathways of their choice. These classes meet regularly throughout the week, Mondays through Fridays, and offer instruction to adult students at varying levels of English proficiencies, from Basic and Beginning ESL to Advanced. Often multiple levels will be represented within a single class and interns and other class assistants permit the utilization of multiple breakout rooms to separate students by their proficiency level. Instruction is focused on developing literacy, comprehension, and confidence to apply towards real world situations including dealing with housing issues, shopping, the K-12 public school system, public transportation, employment, healthcare, and other daily life skills.

Adult Education interns work under class lead instructors and other IRC Adult Education staff to effectively engage with prospective and current immigrant and refugee clients. This can include a variety of ongoing activities such as:

a) Recruitment and Outreach: providing information about programming, schedule, and expectations around education services.

b) Intake and Orientation: working with clients individually (generally in breakout rooms) to complete enrollment documents, to discuss goals, and schedule a formal proficiency level assessment

c) Classroom Support: assisting lead instructors with logistics and breakout room assignments and leading instruction within those breakout spaces.

d) Retention and Follow-up: conferencing with, surveying, and reconnecting with past participants, assessing goals and identifying appropriate referrals

RESPONSIBILITIES:

· Assist instructor in developing and implementing multi-level comprehension and literacy activities.

· Assist instructor in virtual classroom activities including leading small groups and teaching specific components of the curriculum.

· Supporting the Adult Education program in recruitment and outreach, intake and orientation, classroom support, and retention and follow-up activities.

· Support program activities by researching new curriculum content and preparing educational materials as requested by instructor.

Qualifications

Interns must have

· Strong communication skills: communication between instructors and fellow class assistants before, during, and after classes, and communication with adult Education language learners during classes via technology.

· Able to connect to virtual weekly classes with webcam video and audio.

· Availability for at least 9 hours of class time per week. Throughout weekly programming, priority need is from noon to 4:30pm, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

· An interest in or experience with teaching in generally and teaching ESL specifically.

· An interest in working closely with a diverse population of adults.

· Comfortability in working with a variable number of students (individually and in groups) and in working with students at variable levels of English proficiency.

· Comfortability in adapting learning activities with limited notice and assisting with technical troubleshooting as needed.

Check with your Internship Coordinator BEFORE accepting to determine how you might do this internship for credit.

For more information, please contact VolunteerATL@Rescue.org. To learn more about us, please visit the IRC website at www.Rescue.org/Atlanta