Adult Education Intern (Unpaid)

SCOPE OF INTERN WORK:  

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), works in the United States welcomes newly arrived refugees and immigrants, supports them in their resettlement, and provides holistic services to help them build new lives in their communities.   

The Adult Education intern supports the adult education program staff to meet the educational needs of adult refugee, asylee, and immigrant populations in northern New Jersey area. We offer a variety of classes and services, including English language instruction, Cultural Orientation, Digital Literacy Program, Job and Readiness Training, and referrals to external educational opportunities. Together, these form a comprehensive multi-faceted program designed to meet the immediate and ongoing education needs of our diverse group of clients. 

RESPONSIBILITIES:  

• Assist on-site intake procedure enrollment process.  

• Support in administering pre-test and post-test of students using standardized and non-standardized tests.  

• Assist in grading and documenting telephonic or onsite pre- and post-term placement tests. 

• Assist staff and volunteer instructors and learners with daily classroom issues, including attendance, multilingual technical support, sending daily class reminders, and confirming class schedule changes. 

• Keep track of client communication and follow-up on attendance. 

• Assist staff and volunteer instructors in daily online and in-person classroom activities or serving as substitute instructor as needed.   

• Assist staff instructors for in-person classroom management and activities, including letting students into the classroom during the class time, and track attendance.  

• Support clients to enroll in other adult education programs with the community providers.  

• Use interpretation lines as needed for effective communication. 

• Perform data entries, file, and assemble information for comprehensive reports in the internal databases (ETO) and Microsoft spreadsheets.  

• Contacting clients to conduct course feedback surveys.  

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 

1. Interns will learn about refugee resettlement and refugee social services.   

2. Interns will develop administrative, digital literacy, and presentation skills.

3. Interns will learn how to interact with multicultural and limited English-speaking clients.   

REQUIREMENTS:  

• Volunteers must be based in the U.S. Interns must be based in US, must be a US citizen or have US work authorization, must be enrolled in post-secondary institution or have graduated from a post-secondary institution within last 2 years. 

• Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) certificate or degree is strongly preferred.  

• Undergraduate studies in education, humanities, social sciences, international relations, or a related field.  

• Must convey confidence, have effective communication skills, and exhibit excellent attention to detail.  

• Desired languages but not required: Spanish, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Dari/Farsi, Pashto, or Kiswahili.  

• Strong desire to help refugees rebuild their lives in New Jersey.  

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a multicultural environment.  

• Patience, understanding, flexibility, and an unceasingly positive attitude.  

• Willing to learn about IRC history, philosophy, global work, and local efforts.  

• Willing to adhere to IRC volunteer and workplace policies.  

IRC leading the way From Harm to Home.