International Volunteer Day - celebrating volunteering

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    • 5 December 2007

    Every year, nearly 3000 ESOL home tutor volunteers teach English to adult refugees and migrants in New Zealand.

    north shore awards - ALW 2007Tutors range from students to retired people and come from a diverse range of backgrounds.

    Many are migrants themselves, and want to help others settle. Some are able to draw on their own settlement experiences, which may include learning English as a second language. Others have worked and lived overseas. There are also those who volunteer to learn more about other cultures without leaving New Zealand.  

    “The thing they have in common is the enjoyment they get from interacting with people from different cultures,” says Claire Szabo-Larsen, CEO of ESOL Home Tutors. “It’s fantastically rewarding work. It gives them an appreciation of the challenges involved in arriving in a new country.”

    Tutors attend an initial training course of about 20 hours organised by the local coordinator. It includes sessions on cultural differences, adult learning and teaching English. There’s also a lesson given entirely in another language, to give trainee tutors an idea of what it’s like to be a new language learner. Training will begin again throughout New Zealand in early 2008.

    To find out more about becoming an ESOL Home Tutors’ volunteer see 'Teach English'.