SAVTE

Volunteers

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The organisation has a long history of successfully attracting volunteers from all walks of life, without whom SAVTE would not be able to run. The project provides volunteering opportunities for people to be involved citywide. We are always pleased to hear from anyone interested in volunteering, so contact us if you would like to find out more.

SAVTE Volunteers on the Training Course at the Scotia Works.

November '06.

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Support.

Once training is completed, references and CRB check have been received and a placement has been organised, SAVTE volunteers can expect ongoing support. The staff at SAVTE are available during office hours to give advice, regular review meetings are organised with the volunteer to check on progress and workshops are organised to help volunteers in areas such as grammar and basic literacy. Volunteers can borrow teaching resources from the Scotia Works and can chat with each other online using the message board. We also arrange socials, which give volunteers the opportunity to get together and catch up.

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Teaching Resources.

SAVTE have a well stocked resource library at the Scotia Work, including books, worksheets, games and audio cassettes, which volunteers can access during office hours. There is also an abundance of excellent teaching resources online. A list of useful links to sites which provide free resources can be found below.

www.talent.ac.uk The talent web site is the one stop shop for Skills for Life teachers across the UK, if you are looking for resources, You do need to register your details and create a password to access resources, but once that is done you will find this an invaluable site.

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/readwriteplus/Order_Publications As it says on the tin, you can order publications from this site - and a lot of them are free. Examples of useful publications include the ESOL core Curriculum and the Skills for Life ESOL Learner materials.

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/readwriteplus/ESOL You can download relevant sections of the ESOL Core Curriculum from here.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/index.shtml This is the British Council website and has some interesting resources and useful tips and lesson plans, particularly for higher level learners.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/teachers/default.stm Teacher resources from newsround. A great place to start if you want to look at current affairs, although some adoption may be required.

http://bogglesworldesl.com/ ESL teaching resources, games and lesson plans. Particularly useful for interactive activities.

http://www.englishbanana.com/ All sorts of resources; worksheets, grammar, photos and even podcasts.

http://www.geocities.com/frankie_meehan/ Some great reading texts with comprehension exercise. I like the one about the woman who slept for 30 years.

http://www.onestopenglish.com/ Free materials to download plus lesson ideas, games and competitions and professional support.

http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/Health/ Picture stories for ESOL learners around the subject of health. A good way to generate discussion.

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/ This is a primary school website, but a lot of the grammar worksheets in the English section are helpful and can be meade relevant with a bit of tweaking.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/ BBC Skillswise enables adults to improve reading, writing and number skills. Level one literacy and numeracy resources - worksheets, quizzes, etc Can be very useful for higher level ESOL learners as well.

http://www.tefl.com/ If you fancy leaving Sheffield for more exotic climes, have a look at the jobs on the site.

And if you still haven't found what you looking for, there are plenty more sites on the web, or you could go Blue Peter style and make your own.

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Message Board.

Coming soon!!

The message board is an opportunity for volunteers to talk to each other; share ideas, resources and lesson plans, solve problems, organise a get-together,or just keep in touch. Please use the board - it's there as a support network for all volunteers, but please remember that it is in the public domain and comments should be written with this in mind.

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Newsletters

SAVTE produce newsletters about three times a year to keep volunteers up to date. We are always grateful for any contributions from volunteers, so if there are any budding journalists out there or anyone who has some information they would like to pass on, let us know and we will try to include it in the next newsletter.