A tutor working through Literacy Volunteers of Sussex County works with an adult who wants to improve his facility in the use of English and related skills. This person might be U.S.-born or foreign born. The tutoring is done on a confidential basis;
What Do Tutors Do?
A tutor, working through Literacy Volunteers of Sussex County, works with an adult who wants to improve his facility in the use of English, and related skills. This person might be U.S.-born or foreign born. The tutoring is done on a confidential basis; no one else needs to be told that this tutoring is taking place. The tutor and adult learner usually meet at a public place for about two hours once a week.
The material covered in those sessions varies greatly from student to student, since it depends on the student’s objectives and his current level of English knowledge. For instance, one objective for an American-born student at one time could be obtaining his driver’s license. Once that was achieved, he might have a new objective of improved ability to understand written instructions on the job. For someone born abroad, who had not previously studied English, the first objective probably would be the ability to carry on a basic conversation in English.
How can a tutor handle such varied tasks? Every prospective tutor receives about 18 hours of training: three-hour sessions once a week for six weeks. There is a library of training materials available for tutors. There are people with experience who can assist when the best approach is not clear. Most tutors are not teachers by profession. The characteristics most essential to their success are flexibility—to adapt to the student’s level of understanding--- and desire to help the student.
Both the tutor and the student have work to do between lessons. The tutor will spend several hours each week preparing for a lesson. The student will be given “homework” –exercises or reading or some other task which will fix more permanently in his mind the concepts covered during the lesson.
All of this is a factual reply to the question, “What does a tutor do?” Most tutors, if asked, would answer that question quite differently. For instance:
--I gave my student the ability to find a better job by helping him to get a
driver license
--I helped my student find a better job through his much-improved use of English
--I made it possible for my (foreign-born) student to communicate with her children’s teachers
--I helped my student become a U.S. citizen
Tutors are not paid in money. These results are their reward. Most tutors find their work quite gratifying.
