Volunteers
Volunteers start here!
Need volunteer hours or experience? Interested in connecting with the global community? Can't find the time to fit in volunteer hours? Try Bye Bye Anxiety!
Access to conversation practice is one of the key factors in reaching fluency in any language. With English as a global language used in news, media, and business, many students strive to reach English proficiency. Bye Bye Anxiety hopes to make that journey a little easier with the help of fluent and native-speaking volunteers that can help our students reach their full potential!
Why should I volunteer?
Make an impact on the global community without leaving your house.
Create your own flexible schedule with the ability to reschedule your hours easily.
Connect with peers from different communities and gain a different perspective on the world.
Get valuable one-on-one tutoring experience and volunteer hours with possible leadership opportunities in the future.
We can also verify your volunteer hours and give you a certificate!
What are the requirements?
Must be 13-21 years old.
You are a native speaker or fluent in English. You do not have to speak any other languages to apply!
You can commit 1 hour a week to meet with your buddy and prepare for meetings. Note that our learners know general vocabulary and can hold a simple conversation, so you do not need to create a whole lesson plan or have had teaching experience; it's purely conversation-based unless you and your learner decide otherwise.
You must turn on your video camera during the session unless we give you permission otherwise.
How do I join?
Sign up by pressing the button below and fill out the form. You can choose to have more than 1 buddy if you want more volunteer hours; 1 buddy = 1 hour/week
We will reach out to you to schedule a short 10-minute meeting so we can get to know you better, explain the next steps, and answer any questions you may have about our program.
You will be assigned a student from our program based on preferences. This may take more than 1 week depending on how many new students we receive.
You will receive your student's contact information. You are responsible for reaching out to them first and scheduling a meeting and platform (tips for this in Volunteer Materials).
Meetings should be done 2x a week for 30 minutes each, OR 1x a week for 60 minutes.
You will hold weekly meetings through video chat and discuss topics that are interesting and engaging for both of you! Topics can be personal hobbies, news, and whatever you and your student decide together.
Depending on their English goals, you can send your buddy articles and videos, so you can discuss them during the session. For an idea of different activities you could do during the session, check out the Volunteer Materials page!
How do I conduct my sessions?
Sessions can be held through any video-calling platform. Common ones include WhatsApp, Zoom, Discord, and Google Meets.
Depending on your buddy's proficiency level and their preferences, you can choose to hold a casual conversation, or challenge them by sending articles and videos that you can discuss during the meeting. However, make sure you are not providing formal lesson plans unless they ask for extra support, because they are most likely already learning that in school and come to our program to simply apply what they have already learned and have fun.
Regardless, please prepare something for every meeting whether it be a fully-fledged plan or a few discussion questions to ensure every meeting is productive (and to minimize awkward silences!).
We have more information and advice on planning your meetings in the Volunteer Materials section! Feel free to message us anytime as well.