At LitNet, we recognize that every tutor/learner pair is unique. Our approach to training combines relevant printed resources, specifically designed workshops that are also recorded and hosted on LitNet’s YouTube channel, as well as ongoing encouragement for tutors to develop their own personal approach specific to the needs of their learner. Our approach is not a formulaic one.
Outlined below is LitNet’s current approach to onboarding, welcoming, training, and supporting our corps of volunteer tutors.
**Important factors to understand when tutoring with LitNet
At LitNet, we believe in meeting needs; our learners reach out to us with a need, and we aim to provide the support they need. Therefore, we aim to match tutors and learners efficiently and productively.
We are not a language certificate program; this means there is no pressure for tutors to move the learners from point A to point B in any specific timeframe. While we value progress, we also value relationships and meeting the learner where they are in time and place.
Our approach is an on-the-job approach that starts with building trust. When trust is established, learning and teaching can start.
Step 1: Orientation
All incoming tutors start with an in-person meeting with LitNet’s Director of Tutoring. In this meeting, the Director of Tutoring introduces them to our homebase, The Susan Weintraub Tutor Resource Center in Lee, provides an overview of LitNet as an organization, and shares key elements on how tutoring at LitNet works.
At this meeting, tutors receive a folder which includes:
- LitNet’s Tutor Manual, created by experienced tutors for new tutors, is a comprehensive booklet outlining what to expect, getting started, troubleshooting, and more.
- A rubric of the Best Plus 3.0 levels, the test we use to assess every prospective learner.
- A page providing an overview of LitNet’s YouTube channel, where tutors can access recordings of LitNet’s past tutor training workshops.
- A list of recommended websites for teaching English, including steps to access Ellii, a subscription-based website with a plethora of relevant lessons for various English levels covering a variety of topics. (LitNet has a subscription and provides log-in details for tutors.)
- A questionnaire to use as a “Getting to Know You Guide” in the first session.
- A packet of worksheets to get started (assembled by one of our tutors).
- A KWL (Know/Want to Learn/Have Learned) chart and a LitNet Review Sheet with instructions on how to generate conversation in each session. (All are further elaborated on in related workshops on our YouTube channel!)
- A list of all cognates of English and Spanish.
- When tutors are paired with a learner, they receive a Tutor Resource Kit, which includes:
- Two copies (one for tutor, one for learner) of the textbook English for Everyone (level 1, 2, 3, or 4, accordingly)
- Two copies (one for tutor, one for learner) of a workbook entitled That’s Life (introductory, low beginner, high beginner, or low intermediate, accordingly)
- An Oxford picture dictionary, English/Spanish, or monolingual
- A whiteboard with eraser and marker
- A notebook for the learner to take notes.
**All of the books that learners receive are new. The learners may write in their books and keep them. We ask that tutors attempt to return their resources after a tutoring engagement has come to a close. **
Step 2: Tutors get started
During the initial orientation meeting, LitNet’s Director of Tutoring will learn more about a tutor’s general availability, preferred times, and the cities/towns where a tutor is willing and able to travel to meet a learner. Then the matching process begins. The Director of Tutoring consults the LitNet learner waitlist for learners whose availability and location match with a potential tutor. The Director of Tutoring will reach out to propose a match once a fit is determined.
Step 3: Follow-up meeting with an experienced LitNet tutor
After a new tutor-learner pair meets for the first time, each new tutor will have a meeting (usually over the phone) with an experienced LitNet tutor. The experienced tutor will check in to see how things went, answer any questions, and provide any additional support or direction as needed.
Should a tutor desire further support, we can pair them with a mentor tutor for a more regular connection. Several of our most experienced tutors (most of whom are former teachers or language professionals) are willing to be on hand for that support.
Step 4: Ongoing tutor training
At LitNet, we believe that training should be ongoing. Therefore, we provide an average of four in-person workshops each year, which all tutors are encouraged to attend. To make those workshops available to our entire pool of volunteers, we record them and house them on LitNet’s YouTube channel for easy access.
Our professional workshops are led by tutors, typically experienced tutors who are former English, language, and ESOL teachers. Often, they propose the idea of a workshop, based on their own experiences in their tutoring, or to strengthen the understanding of key concepts in language acquisition teaching. Topics for workshops emerge directly out of determined needs, issues, or desires to dig deeper that tutors and learners experience while tutoring.
An additional component of the ongoing training and tutor support that we offer includes regular Tutor Town Halls, gatherings where tutors come together in-person to meet one another, share their experiences, swap resources, and ask questions. Tutor Town Halls are also an opportunity for the Director of Tutoring to share new resources and updates from LitNet.
At LitNet, we cherish the right to be creative. We are constantly striving to find new and better resources for our tutors and learners. We believe in taking direction from both our tutors and learners to help us determine need and interest as opposed to imposing a top-down or cookie-cutter approach year after year. Every tutor-learner pair is unique and will have its own individualized goals, pace, and format.
Our workshops, scheduled Tutor Town Halls, and other LitNet community events are listed on our events calendar. New ones are added as they are planned and scheduled.
