Welcome to Vermont Adult Learning!

Vermont Adult Learning helps adult learners, ages 16 and older, acquire reading, writing, math, and computer skills to earn high school diplomas/GEDs. We teach English Language Learners skills to advance educationally and at work. We engage in workforce development. Our services are offered at no cost and are available in person and online.  Text VAL to 833-900-0907 or contact a Learning Center nearest to you to learn more!

Interested in remote learning? Check out VAL’s Online Learning Center (OLC) course catalog.

Note for in-person learning: We no longer require masks in our learning centers. Anyone at high risk or wishing to continue wearing a mask for other reasons is welcome to do so. We will continue to have masks available in our centers for those who need them.

Those who choose to wear a mask do so because it is a decision they have made for their health and safety. Vermont Adult Learning expects that decision to be respected. If you have concerns about your safety, please let us know so we can discuss options to address them.

Learning Matters Blog and VAL Updates

“VAL is open to us immigrants with unconditional help. I really appreciate that.” (5/5/2020) - Meet Jolana, an English Language Learning Student from Slovakia My story began many years ago. I came to the USA for the first time to see my brothers and I had no idea I would be anchored here for long. Simply, a teacher from Slovakia wanted to know the country of her favorite heroes from U.S. History and novels, such as Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, General George Patton, General Ulysses Grant, and Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer. I was looking forward to learning the art and culture of ordinary people overseas.  New York struck me with a fast pulse. Many…

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Giving Tuesday Now: 5/5/20 (4/28/2020) - Tuesday, May 5th is designated as #GivingTuesdayNow. The intention is to lend support to nonprofits in this disquieting time of the COVID-19 Pandemic. With so many Vermonters having lost their jobs, Vermont Adult Learning has seen an uptick in requests for services. We've been nimble as an agency, shifting services to the virtual realm to maintain continuity with existing students while accepting new ones. We are using cell phones, iPads, chrome books and laptops to facilitate instruction, training and academic advising. We're getting technology into the hands of students who need it. Students are progressing towards their goals. Participants are…

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Ensuring that all are counted (4/23/2020) - VAL ELL Students Complete Census Ambassador Training and are Featured in World Education Webinar As Governor Scott’s stay-at-home order was announced in mid-March and Vermont Adult Learning centers around the state had to close their doors, Fiona Cook had been making plans to teach her higher-level ELL students in Brattleboro about the upcoming census.  At around the same time, The Change Agent, a theme-based newspaper published twice yearly by the New England Literacy Resource Center, with articles written by student authors, had just released its latest issue--“Stand Up and Be Counted”--about the census.  The Change Agent’s website also offered a…

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English Language Classes in a Pandemic Era (4/15/2020) - Submitted by Leigh Smith, ESOL Teacher at VT Adult Learning's St. Albans Office      Imagine coming to a country and culture where you didn’t know anyone and, suddenly, everyone you wanted to speak with disappeared inside. Suddenly, you’re responsible for overseeing your kids’ online schoolwork during a global pandemic. You also had to learn the local protocol for physical distancing and whether to wear a mask or not.      Imagine what that would be like if you did not know the language to navigate these skills. Imagine what fear or pain is like, with no language facility to express your feelings during…

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An Unusual Spring (4/7/2020) - Lijun Huang, a student of Joy Gaine at VAL’s White River Junction Learning Center, is from Xiamen, a port city on China’s southeast coast. This year's winter, there is no legendary cold, after mid-February, the temperature gradually warmed up, until late March, there was finally a slightly bigger snow.The snow began to fall in the afternoon, it grew bigger and bigger, and the snowflakes covered the whole lawn, wrapped around the whole house, and the sidewalks and driveways were out of sight. After supper, my family took the sled to the next yard, where there was a steep slope where…

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