Countywide : Volunteer English Teachers Needed

The Central Orange County Literacy Council, one the county’s largest English tutoring organizations, is actively seeking new volunteers to assist its efforts in six cities.

The council, which offers free tutor-training classes, has 16 centers offering morning and evening assistance to adults seeking to improve their literacy or learn English as a second language.

The centers are in Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos and Santa Ana.

The organization has 320 volunteers, council publicity director and former school teacher Eunice Jones said. More community support would broaden the council’s effort to offer free literacy assistance, she added.

Last year, more than 2,000 students attended the council’s courses.

“We’re always looking for more help, especially now since we have so many students,” said Jones, who has worked with the council for 13 years.

As the county’s demographics have changed in the past decade, the demand for the council’s help has sharply increased, she said.

As the number of students has grown, the council’s services have widened. Besides the centers, classes are now sometimes available on a house-call basis, in conjunction with the Head Start program and at the Costa Mesa Job Center.

Classes, which are one-on-one or with pupil groups of four or less, are offered year-round, Jones said.

For information about class schedules and locations, or details about volunteering to tutor, call (714) 548-3120.