Free Online Courses

These courses are self-paced. You can take them at any time. Each course lasts approximately 60 minutes and gives you the option of printing a certificate of completion.

Orientation to Volunteering in Literacy
Have you been asking yourself, "What can I do to make my community a better place to live?" This course can help you make that decision. You will find information about the impact of low literacy in America, how volunteers play a vital role in helping to meet the literacy needs, and how to contact a local program to explore how YOU might become involved.
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Working with Adult Literacy Learners
If you’d like to learn more about what it is like to volunteer in an adult basic literacy program, this is the course for you. These programs work with adults who are native English speakers or who speak English well enough to move into reading and writing. This course will help you learn more about the different kinds of literacy programs, the adults who attend these programs, the services they receive to help meet their educational needs, and how you can use your knowledge and experience to make an important difference in people’s lives.
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Volunteering in English Language Learner Literacy Classes
In this course, you will meet several English Language Learners (ELL), learn why they come to adult and family literacy programs, and find out how those programs are meeting their needs. You’ll also learn more about three special roles for volunteers: tutoring adults in a one-to-one or small group setting, serving as an aide to a classroom teacher, and assisting in family literacy settings.
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Family Literacy: The Intergenerational Approach to Literacy
If working with adults and families appeals to you, this course describes the “what” and “why” of comprehensive family literacy services (the model promoted by the National Center for Family Literacy). It also presents the many integral roles that volunteers can play in family literacy. At the end of the course, there are suggestions for how you can be a part of the family literacy solution.
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How Can My Organization Get Involved in Literacy
Many community organizations are interested in how they can help improve the literacy skills of adults and families in their communities. Through this course, you will learn how to work with your organization to assess its capacity and determine how it can best contribute to a partnership with a literacy organization in your area.
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Print and Video Resources

Volunteer Opportunities in Adult Literacy Programs
This document lists many opportunities for potential volunteers in the areas of instruction, awareness, program support, policy making and governance, and donation of goods and services. The information applies to both basic literacy and English-as-a-second-language programs.
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Volunteer Opportunities in Family Literacy Programs
This document lists many opportunities for potential family literacy volunteers in the areas of instruction, awareness, mentoring, program support, and professional development.
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Some Questions to Ask When Interviewing for a Volunteer Literacy Position
If you’re ready to meet with a local literacy program to learn more about volunteering, this document can help you get ready. It describes things you should think about and questions you should ask at your first meeting.
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Volunteer Stories

Find out what volunteering has meant to the three people below.

Michael Benson
As a basic literacy tutor, Michael has experienced the excitement of changing someone’s life in just a few hours a week. He says that tutoring has rewards far greater than he ever expected. 
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Paul Embry
Paul Embry is a tutor in a GED preparation class in Louisville, Kentucky, and is helping adults who want to get their high school equivalency diplomas.
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Richelle Treves
Richelle Treves volunteers in an English-as-a-second-language (ESL) class in Louisville, Kentucky. 
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Meet More People
You can also browse the personal stories of men and women who learned to read or to speak English as adults. Find out what they’re doing now and how their tutors and teachers have helped them change their lives. In this section, you can also read stories from several program managers and hear how they have used the resources on Thinkfinity.org to support their volunteers.
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Quick Facts About Adults and Literacy
This fact sheet briefly describes the scope of the literacy problem in the U.S. (from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy—NAAL) and the impact of limited literacy on the labor market, civic participation, and poverty levels.
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Literacy and English Language Learners
This factsheet includes quick facts about the growing population of English language learners, adult literacy, and children's school achievement.
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Podcasts

Volunteering in ESL Programs — The Experience of an ESL Tutor
Learn from a real tutor what it's like to work with English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students, how programs prepare volunteers, and the impact volunteers make in these programs
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Volunteering in ESL Programs — The Need, the Challenges, the Benefits of Volunteering
Learn how volunteers make real contributions to their communities and to the individuals learning to listen, speak, read, and write in English.
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Links to Useful Web Sites

2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL)
NAAL is a nationally representative assessment of literacy among adults (age 16 and older) residing in households and prisons in the United States. The 2003 NAAL is the first assessment of the nation's progress in adult literacy since the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS). This link briefly defines the four skill levels, tells how many adults are functioning at each level in the prose category (ability to read continuous text such as a news article), and lists some possible characteristics of people who fall in the Below Basic skill level.
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State & County Estimates of Low Literacy
Are you curious about the literacy rates in your local area? Would you like to compare the state you live in now with the state where you were born? Use this interactive Web tool to search for data on adult literacy rates for any state or county in the United States. Released in January 2009, it provides estimates based on the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) and the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS).
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America's Literacy Directory
This service of the National Institute for Literacy and Partners provides information about programs for adults and young adults, children, employers, and volunteers, as well as information about learning disabilities.
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ProLiteracy’s Find a Program
ProLiteracy is a private, not-for-profit international organization that champions the power of literacy to improve the lives of adults and their families, communities, and societies. ProLiteracy has more than 1,200 local member programs in the U.S. that provide services to adults through trained volunteers and/or paid teachers. Use this simple tool to find a program near you.
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National Center for Family Literacy’s Find a Program
The mission of the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) is to create a literate nation by leveraging the power of the family. This tool can help you find family literacy programs in your state or local area.
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