I have worked in a program for over 18 years that uses tutors.  We have
tutors who tutor at a site with other tutors and students, and there is a
professional educator at the site who writes the lesson plans based on the
needs of the student.  All new tutors and any returning tutor who want to
attend are given a ½ of training prior to each 2.5 hour tutoring session.
This training is above and beyond the tutors initial training and
conferences.  The site supervisor, the professional educator, creates the
lessons and helps the tutor implement the lesson.  If the site supervisor
sees that the lesson is not working or the student needs additional work,
he/she provides the necessary materials.  We have wonderful tutors who have
brought our language learners from a 2+  level to be ready to get a job or
move to a GED program, etc.  Without our tutors, we would not be able to
help the 700 students a year  we have.  While there may be some tutors who
are not as effective, the site supervisor can you usually help mitigate the
situation and everyone is learning and happy.

I love our tutors and feel that they all help in some way or another, even
if it is to just give the student someone to talk to about their problems
and goals.

 

Barbara Sabaj

bjteach at ameritech.net

 

From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Bonnie
Odiorne
Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 7:44 PM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1937] Re: better training for volunteer
tutors

 

Having initially come from academics foreign language teaching to
ESOL/Reading tutoring, then tutor trainer, trainer trainer, train the
trainers trainer, I do feel qualified to respond about this. In my own case,
I could just transfer my own academic training to this new field, and deeply
appreciate the pedagogical reflections and techniques that one rarely gets
in academic programs that are not education or teacher training. As for the
tutors and trainers I've worked with, it's run the gamut from the highly
talented to those who chose their students with great care so they'd be
successful, to those who treated our students with a great deal of cultural
bias, to those who resisted changes to the training where I tried to
incorporate adult ed/ESOL"best practices" on the grounds that we should be
grateful that they volunteer their time and should not expect any more than
that--hence the stereotypes. Unfortunately, I left LVA before it became
ProLiteracy and our affiliate became accredited (no, the events were not
connected :-) so I don't know how tutor training is playing out now that
tutors need to be re-certified and/or keep up with some kind of in-service
to stay certified. Having also seen both academic and adult ed ESOL
professionals in action, I'd say they run the same gamut on a different
scale. I've entered many new fields by learning/doing/self education, and
then academic research and development when needed. Not a bad way to stay
flexible; not a great way to stay on top of CEUs....

Cheers to all gifted teachers, volunteer and professional!!!! I don't always
put myself in the gifted category, believe me. It's always a struggle to
find the best strategy, pedagogy, balance, each and every day.

Bonnie Odiorne

 

----- Original Message ----
From: "robinschwarz1 at aol.com" <robinschwarz1 at aol.com>
To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov
Sent: Saturday, February 9, 2008 3:52:45 PM
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 1931] better training for volunteer tutors

I know that my brush is broad (it's a bad habit of mine) --and that there
are MANY competent tutors out there--somewhere.   I have heard about many at
literacy conferences, for example who have done wonders with their learners.


In my consulting work, though, I haven't encountered many who have had such
notable success with English language learners.  I am SURE the success rate
with native English speakers is MUCH higher.   All of the tutors I have made
these observations about have received between 10-30 hours of training.  It
still has not met the tutors' needs to be able to be successful with their
ESL students.  The learner I described who had much higher oral competence
than his tutor or supervisor suspected was a referral because he had not
made "any" progress during several months of tutoring--by the tutor's
report.  

The supervisor AND the tutor both told me there are students like this who "
won't be able to make any meaningful progress" and that the job of the tutor
therefore should be to  make the learners "feel comfortable with who they
are."  As what?  non-learners?   I find this an unacceptable attitude.  

What I am out to do here is to do two things:  1) Go to bat for ESOL
learners who think they are going to get help when they are assigned a
volunteer tutor and then are blamed for not making progress because the
tutor--and the program that put the tutor in the position of working with
someone s/he was not prepared to work with-- led the learner to believe
effective help was available.  

and 2) challenge the notion that we cannot expect too much of volunteer
tutors.  I think we can--and they will like it when they CAN do well in
teaching their learners.   The tutors I have worked with are sort of sadly
grateful for any little thing that will help them do a little better for
their learners.  Wouldn't it be nice to have them better prepared from the
outset so that their willingness to take time to work with someone needing
to advance education in some way does not just end up being an exercise in
frustration for all concerned???

Robin  

 

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