TESOL Charity Work
Teaching House strives to play a positive role in the community and aims to use its expertise in English language teacher training to benefit others.To achieve this, Teaching House runs three continuous programs; we provide free English-language classes to those who otherwise might not be able to attend classes; we offer TESOL consultancy for other providers of free English-language classes to assist in improving the quality of their instruction: and, to off-set our paper use, we donate money to an environmental foundation whose mission is to save forested lands in the United States.In addition to our continuous programs, Teaching House offers an annual grant (the Teaching House Education Grant) to an educational program that inspires us. The grant is designed to help a school or organization realize a project or program that they would otherwise not be able to do. We are especially keen to support programs that involve English language students.
Continuous Programs:
Free English Classes
CELTA courses are designed around providing students with hands-on experience teaching in a language classroom. As such, for each course we organize a minimum of two different levels of language classes to cater to different language abilities. These classes are free for language learners and, in many cities, are the only free English language classes available. As such, these classes are very much appreciated by the students, and the enthusiasm of our attending language students is something our trainee teachers benefit greatly from.Please follow the link for more information about our free English language classes.
Free TESOL Consultancy
Teaching House believes strongly in the essential role that English language education plays in helping new immigrants to the United States assimilate. Helping individuals improve their English skills allows them to play a positive role in their communities and improve their quality of life. As such, we provide consultancy at no charge to any provider of free English language classes and are happy to hear from anyone who would like to collaborate with us in providing free English language classes.
Please email us at info@teachinghouse.group for more information.
Arbor Day Foundation
We know that as a teaching center we consume a lot of paper, which takes away from the precious resources of our planet. It’s for this reason that each year we make a donation to the Arbor Day Foundation to help offset the amount of paper that we use in our office and classrooms.
Established in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation is one of the oldest foundations of its type and is the largest non-profit dedicated solely to planting trees. The Foundation is responsible each year for the planting of millions of trees and fostering nature and education programs designed to preserve our shrinking forest lands.
Follow this link for more information about the Arbor Day Foundation.
Teaching House Education Grant:
2014-16 Recipients
Since 2014 Teaching House has been offering CELTA scholarships to individuals demonstrating an outstanding committment to English teaching in their local community. If you would like to apply or would like to nominate someone to receive a scholarship please contact us via email for further details on how to apply.
2013 Recipient
3 Mariposas Montessori (3MM) is a Montessori primary school in Cabarete, Dominican Republic, that provides free education to 50% of its student population, who are Dominicans and Haitians in financial need. The remaining 50% of the population are a mix of Canadians, French, Germans, Americans, and Austrians, to name a few. In 2013, Teaching House met with Sarah Ross, the founder of 3MM, in Cabarete and toured the school, which was built from the ground up by Sarah and her husband in their former house.
Because quality education at the primary school level is virtually nonexistent in the Dominican Republic, Teaching House wanted to help give the opportunity for more Dominican and Haitian students in the community to attend. Which is why Teaching House donated $3,000 to 3MM to fund student scholarships.
2012 Recipient
The Moth is a non-profit organization that puts on “Story Slam” events all over the United States whereby speakers get up on stage and tell a true story without notes in under five minutes. They got their start in New York City and as they grew in popularity, they opened up coaching and events to help underprivileged high school students formulate a story and learn how to tell it in public.
Teaching House believes in storytelling as a motivating way to learn English communication, particularly for English language learners. We’ve been known to use Moth stories in the English language classroom and we support The Moth’s mission to include New York City students who wouldn’t have access to The Moth otherwise. Which is why The Moth received the 2012 TH Education Grant.
2011 Recipient
Two Dominican English language students, Jerkis Rivas and Ellio Martinez, were each the recipient of a $2,000 college book scholarship to help support them in their continuing studies as they graduated from Kingsbridge International High School and went on to university.
In 2011, a number of studies were published showing that of the ESL students who graduated from high school in New York City and went on to university, 85% of them would never graduate college.
In 2013, Jerkis graduated from Nursing School and will begin work as a registered nurse. Ellio was unable to complete his degree because he needed to go back to work to help support his mother, but he is looking to return to college and finish his degree at some point in the near future.
2010 Recipient
Tim Ross, the History and ESL Teacher at Kingsbridge International High School was awarded the Teaching House grant in 2010 to fund his after-school project “Making The Band: Hip-Hop at Kingsbridge.”
Mr. Ross explained his motivation for wanting to combine teaching English language and Hip-Hop by saying, “Throughout the year, I noticed that some students who were frequently cutting class or skipping their writing assignments could often be seen writing and performing their own rap music in their free time. So I sought the help of teaching artist Latonia Phipps, a talented actor/playwright/teaching artist, to design and facilitate a three-month course in writing and producing a rap album and performing the music before a live audience. Latonia inspired the students to search within themselves to write from their hearts about the topics that affected them. She used a variety of methods to generate ideas for the music, including freewriting, group collaboration, and journal-writing field trips to a local park.
The result was that students created quality works of music, even tackling challenging themes such as global politics and domestic violence. In the end, the students were extremely proud of their debut CD entitled Cambiando el Mundo (Changing the World). They performed the music on two occasions upon the projects’ completion, much to the delight of their audiences.”
2009 Recipient
Laura Berson, an English language teacher at Brooklyn International High School, was the recipient of the Teaching House grant in 2009 to fund a Social Justice Expo that her students put together, inviting other schools to attend. Students researched and prepared presentations on issues related to Social Justice as a way of learning about the issues in English and also learning how to present their projects in English to an audience.
The Expo was held at NYU Kimmell Center in Washington Square, New York, and was a huge success with student presenters at about 32 different tables. Brooklyn International High School manned 10 of the Social Justice tables with projects about not only fair trade, but child labor and sweatshops as well, and the other 12 tables had presenters attending from other neighboring schools who volunteered to participate.
2008 Recipient
Teaching House’s first Educational Grant went to fund a project taught in the English language classroom by Tasha Hacker, who was teaching ESL and English Language Arts at Kingsbridge International High School.
The money went towards purchasing 17 digital voice recorders, which the students used to record interviews either in English or in their native language. The students studied interviews and transcriptions and learned techniques for editing an interview down to a written oral history.
A collection of 99 oral histories were published in a book the 11th grade class entitled “Walk in our Shoes,” which contained stories told by students’ family members about emigrating to the United States and what challenges they faced in making a new life for themselves and their families in the United States.
If you’re interested in obtaining a copy of “Walk in our Shoes,” the book can be bought for $9.50 here.
If you have an education program and would like to apply for the annual Teaching House Education Grant, please email us at info@teachinghouse.com
