Jesuit Values in Action !

Information for Adult Learners

Founded in 1992, the Loyola Community Literacy Center offers free tutoring in English to adults.  When we are tutoring in person, our tutoring center is on the Lake Shore Campus of Loyola University Chicago in Loyola Hall, 2nd Floor conference room, 1110 W. Loyola Avenue (Loyola Hall is 1/2 block east of the Loyola Red Line El stop: across Sheridan, and one-half block toward the lake along Loyola Avenue.  It is by the blue emergency phone).  We also tutor online and at present we are only tutoring online; we are not meeting in person. 

We offer only online tutoring in Fall 2024 and will do the same in Spring, 2025.  We are open for tutoring now and will close for the holidays.  Our Spring session will begin on Monday, January 27th.  Our tutoring hours for learners are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings from 7:20-9:00 pm when the university is in session.  Tutoring is by appointment.  Please email literacy@luc.edu for more information.

The LCLC offers free instruction in basic, beginning, intermediate, and advanced reading, writing, literacy, conversation, ESL, test preparation, citizenship, job skills, and GED skills to our adult neighbors in Rogers Park, Edgewater, and surrounding neighborhoods; adults from other parts of the Chicago area are also welcome. Our goal is to provide assistance to all adults who wish to improve their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills in English.  We assist both native speakers of English and emergent multi-lingual learners. 

In our 33rd year of service, the LCLC serves a highly diverse community of native-born adult learners as well as adults who were born in other countries. There is no charge for tutoring, and there are no entrance requirements, examinations, or other fees.

Our mission is to the neighborhood adults. We do not serve Loyola students who have other resources to assist them (the Writing Center and the Tutoring Center).

The LCLC is one of Loyola University Chicago's Service Learning projects, sponsored by the Department of English and the College of Arts and Sciences and also supported by the Paul Glassco Endowment. Our tutors are Loyola students, some of whom elect to earn course credit for tutoring at the Center as part of an internship. All tutors receive an orientation to the LCLC and to the practical business of tutoring adults; tutoring is supervised by on-site managers and experienced assistants. Read more.

Information for Tutors

While the Loyola Community Literacy Center offers community adults an opportunity to improve their skills, it also gives student-tutors, alumni, and Loyola volunteers the chance to serve their community and to engage with their Jesuit education, "connecting the heart with the head" (MB). The Literacy Center is "such a salient reminder of how everyone is created in God’s image and has an inherent worth and dignity that cannot be defined by socio-economic status or race. It is so neat to realize our differences, not ignore them, and see how our world is enriched and made more like the Kingdom because of its diversity in humanity" (RR).

If you are interested in volunteering and have never tutored for us before, contact us at literacy@luc.edu for information on flash orientations or come to one of our regular orientations listed below.

If you are a Loyola second-semester freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior and have completed UCWR 110 (the only pre-requisite) and are interested in tutoring for credit in the fall or spring by enrolling in English 393 or Honors 290, please follow the link to "Tutoring" and then the link to "Course Credit Tutoring" where you will find a description of the courses, the requirements, and a complete syllabus. The course, when taken for 3 credit hours, qualifies for the Core Engaged Learning-Service Learning/Internship requirement. Students engage in service, research, and reflection.  Both courses offer the same material with different requirements based only on the number of credit hours for which the student has registered. Engl 393 can be taken for 1, 2, or 3 credit hours and are open to students in any major; Honr 290 can be taken only for 3 credit hours and is offered only to students in the Interdisciplinary Honors Program.  Depending on the number of credit hours for which they are registered, students tutor one or two evenings per week and attend five or six classes per semester plus an orientation. They also complete several writing assignments.

Spring 2025 Orientations will be offered online for tutors new to the Center:

Contact us by emailing literacy@luc.edu for information on tutor orientation and our scheduled orientation days.  

Orientations will be offered online on Tuesday, January 21st, Wednesday, January 22nd, and Thursday January 23rd from 7pm to approximately 9:30 p.m.  New tutors attend one of the three sessions.  We will be emailing packets of information beforehand.

We open for tutoring in Spring on Monday, January 27th and offer tutoring MTW and Th when the university is in session.  Our tutoring hours for tutors are 7-9:30 pm.  

If you have missed our scheduled orientations but would still like to tutor for us, please email us and ask for a flash orientation.  We offer them by appointment only.  To make an appointment, please email literacy@luc.edu.   

Returning tutors should e-mail literacy@luc.edu and let us know which night/s you would like to tutor again. 

Staff

The Literacy Center is staffed by undergraduate and graduate students of Loyola University Chicago, all of whom have extensive tutoring experience at the Center.  The Director is a member of the English Department.