fiziwig Senior Member United States Joined 4788 days ago 297 posts - 618 votes ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 1 of 5 06 June 2012 at 5:24am | IP Logged |
As a native English speaker learning Spanish, I have an opportunity to work as a volunteer tutor for Spanish-speaking students of English as a second language. I thought it might be a nice way to help out in my community while also interacting on a daily basis with Spanish speakers.
My question is, has anybody here tried that, and how did it work out? How much Spanish do you suppose I would need to be of any use as an English tutor? (Or in general how much L2 would a person have to know before being able to help tutor people learning L1?)
These are students who are already enrolled in regular adult education courses in English as a Second Language, so I wouldn't be teaching, but rather, helping them understand the lessons they've already been assigned.
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atama warui Triglot Senior Member Japan Joined 4624 days ago 594 posts - 985 votes ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) Speaks: German*, English, Japanese
| Message 2 of 5 08 June 2012 at 8:42am | IP Logged |
I often help Japanese people with German. I'm conversational.. probably somewhere between B1 and 2? I can't tell.
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emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5455 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map
| Message 3 of 5 08 June 2012 at 2:44pm | IP Logged |
fiziwig wrote:
How much Spanish do you suppose I would need to be of any use as
an English tutor? (Or in general how much L2 would a person have to know before being
able to help tutor people learning L1?) |
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I've been working on my French with a tutor, and we work entirely in French (unless
we're discussing an English idiom or a faux ami). This seems to be a pretty good
strategy for a reasonably dedicated student somewhere between B1 and B2.
I've heard of a university French teacher who started with full immersion on day 1,
apparently because she didn't speak much English. Her motivated students actually did
amazingly well, but the ones who didn't want to be there crashed and burned. But I
imagine she had some specialized skills or training.
I would guess that if your own conversational skills are somewhere between B1 and B2,
you should be able to help a good number of students. That would be enough for you to
express reasonably complicated ideas on a familiar subject.
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dr sam gyup sal Groupie Korea, South Joined 4543 days ago 80 posts - 92 votes ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) Speaks: English* Studies: Korean
| Message 4 of 5 12 June 2012 at 12:07pm | IP Logged |
Yes I'm sure you will get something out of it and be able to help a lot too. How big are the groups?
I teach English at a High School in Seoul and the best thing I have done for the job is to start studying Korean. Also,
I have no doubts whatsoever that my Korean has improved a lot faster due to my job. As you can imagine it has
made everyones lives a lot easier.
There are some schools of thought that say never speak in the students native language but that is your choice I
guess.
All the best of luck
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fiziwig Senior Member United States Joined 4788 days ago 297 posts - 618 votes ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) ![](/images/pokal.2.jpg) Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 5 of 5 12 June 2012 at 6:11pm | IP Logged |
dr sam gyup sal wrote:
Yes I'm sure you will get something out of it and be able to help a lot too. How big are the groups?
All the best of luck |
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It's not groups. It's one student and one tutor. The students are taking regular classes from a certified teacher, they just need extra help outside of class.
Thanks.
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