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Every day across Aotearoa, volunteers transform lives. International Volunteer Day, marked globally on 5 December, reminds us to celebrate their stories and the difference they make all year round.
This International Volunteer Day, we honour all ELP volunteers and want to showcase eight Volunteer Home Tutors from around New Zealand. Their dedication, kindness, and commitment make a lasting difference, one learner at a time.
Volunteers at ELP come from all walks of life and bring their own unique experiences to the role. Some are New Zealand-born, while others come from migrant or refugee backgrounds. Some volunteers were even once English language learners themselves and after building their skills, they are inspired to give back and support others on their learning journeys.
Dhana moved to New Zealand from Sri Lanka in 2023 and joined an ELP English for Employees class to improve her workplace English. Motivated to give back, she completed the Home Tutor training in 2025. “The free English classes and my tutor have helped me a lot here. I’m very grateful. Now I want to share what I’ve learnt and help a migrant with their English,” she says.
Dhana’s story highlights the ripple effect of volunteering: knowledge, skills, and kindness shared turn into confidence, friendships, and stronger communities.
Stephen’s volunteer story is one of building bridges between generations, cultures and life experiences. After moving from Auckland to New Plymouth in 2023, Stephen sought ways to connect with his new community and became a home tutor with ELP.
Paired with a 22-year-old Palestinian health professional, Stephen created a tailored weekly task list with short- and long-term goals across listening, reading and speaking. His learner hoped to gain the New Zealand qualifications needed for professional practice, so Stephen added role-playing for interviews and workplace scenarios.
Their bond has grown into a genuine friendship. “He’s 22, I’m 71, and none of that matters,” he says. Aware of the trauma many learners carry, he stresses empathy with boundaries. His advice: “Respect your learner’s homeland, language and culture, stay open-minded and focus on real-life communication to empower them.”
Debbie from Glenfield also highlights the practical side of tutoring. Since joining North Shore ELP in 2022, she has helped learners with English and everyday tasks, from tenancy agreements to medical centres. Her motivation comes from watching her son’s tough transition to life in Germany, giving her insight into the challenges migrants face, both practical and social.
Volunteering as a home tutor allows her to support learners beyond language, offering guidance with finances, appointments, housing, and daily life while building confidence. “Lessons don’t always go according to plan, but whatever time spent with your learner is valuable. Sometimes you are the only person they get to speak English with,” she says.
Many ELP volunteers have dedicated decades of service. Nancy is a shining example, volunteering in Hamilton for an incredible 29 years.
She takes pride in creating a safe, welcoming space where learners can speak freely about their lives, cultures and the unique challenges they face. “You can have some hilarious conversations about things. Nothing’s bad – everything is on the table,” says Nancy.
Lessons often cover practical topics that learners from migrant and refugee backgrounds find most useful. One conversation even saved a life when Nancy shared a story about a relative who had battled breast cancer.
For Nancy, tutoring English was never just about vocabulary and grammar. “Learning straight grammar was too boring for students,” she says. Instead, she developed her own casual, conversational style that builds confidence, trust and lifelong friendships.
For the past eight years, Lower Hutt volunteer Hugo has supported newcomers to Aotearoa through simple but powerful means: connection and conversation. Hugo began volunteering after he retired, motivated by the negative attitudes he was seeing toward migrants and wanting to offer something constructive. “To support an immigrant was my stand against the negativity,” he says.
His teaching approach is relaxed and relationship-focused. Rather than sitting at a table with worksheets, Hugo and his ELP learner meet each week to walk and talk. Their walks help his learner navigate everyday Kiwi life, from local issues to cultural differences while building a friendship that eases the challenges of settling in a new country.
Hugo draws on his background as a former early childhood teacher, prioritising encouragement over correction. “We don’t want to discourage. Encouraging the conversation to continue is more important than getting everything right.”
Alex, a home tutor in the Auckland Central & West region, discovered that sharing food and family time can transform tutoring into a rich cultural exchange.
She experienced this firsthand when she suggested a playdate over the school holidays so her children could meet her Afghani learner’s children, turning the visit into a joyful celebration of friendship and traditions.
They all played games together, from Memory to marbles, a favourite in Afghanistan and shared homemade dishes, teaching each other recipes and family customs. Alex says, “It was a wonderful opportunity for my learner and her family to feel a sense of community, and for my children to learn and appreciate another culture.”
The visit left everyone looking forward to the next school holidays and highlighted how spending time together can open new perspectives.
ELP volunteers do more than teach language – they often help learners apply practical skills to real-life goals. Liyang, originally from China, became a home tutor shortly after arriving in Wellington, eager to put her Master of TESOL training into practice while supporting learners from diverse backgrounds.
She was paired with a Chinese migrant who runs a family-owned restaurant. Together, they focused on practical English used in daily restaurant operations, from communicating with customers about food preferences to managing delivery orders efficiently.
A major milestone in their year together was preparing for the Licence Controller Qualification (LCQ), an essential step for her learner to become a duty manager. Liyang supported her with vocabulary, bilingual notes, flashcards, pronunciation practice, and activities connected to her passion for creating cocktails.
Their consistent effort paid off as her learner has now successfully achieved the LCQ and will soon be able to sell alcohol at her restaurant, a proud and rewarding culmination of their partnership.
Cat’s story shows that patience and persistence as a home tutor pay off. The Auckland-based teacher, originally from England, began tutoring a pre-literate Syrian learner in August 2025, inspired by her manager’s experience with ELP.
Early meetings were challenging, relying on pictures and gestures, but Cat has helped her learner make incredible progress - learning the alphabet, reading basic stories, and even gaining the confidence to chat with her neighbour over coffee. With the help of an Arabic-to-English app, their conversations now flow more easily. Cat reflects, “Stick with it even if it’s tricky - you’ll be amazed by the resilience of your learner. You are never too old to learn a new language.”
Every volunteer brings something unique - skills, experiences, and perspectives that enrich learners’ lives and strengthen our communities. On this International Volunteer Day, we extend our heartfelt thanks to all ELP volunteers for your generosity, commitment, and the incredible difference you make every day.
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