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English For Your Staff
ESOL Home Tutoring
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Help former refugees and migrants learn English and join New Zealand society. Deliver language support in the learners’ own homes.
Volunteer with English Language Partners and help us provide free English lessons to former refugees and migrants. We will train you to work alongside learners, so you can provide them with the language skills and confidence necessary to integrate and participate in Kiwi life and culture.
A course for community volunteers who want to become ESOL home tutors. Once trained, tutors provide one-to-one, English-language support to adult, former refugees and migrants in New Zealand.
Dates for the next ESOL tutor training programme in your area can be found on each centre page - click below to find your nearest centre!
English Language Partners’ Certificate in ESOL Home Tutoring is a New Zealand Qualifications Authority-assured training scheme and is designed to be completed in 60 hours of part-time study.
20 hours training sessions (minimum)
14 hours independent study
26 hours preparation, tutoring and evaluation
Class times vary, and may be scheduled in the daytime, evening or weekends. A minimum of 80% attendance at training sessions is required.
Course assessment activities need to be completed before a certificate is awarded. Successful course participants earn an NZQA-approved, Level 3 Certificate in ESOL Home Tutoring
Context of volunteer tutoring
Intercultural awareness
Adults as language learners
Teaching techniques for ESOL
Identifying learner needs and setting learner goals
Planning tutoring sessions and using resources
Evaluating sessions and reporting on progress
Support learners as they settle in New Zealand
Maintain an informal one-to-one English language support programme
Assist adult language learners to develop their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills
Assist adult learners to participate in their local community
Evaluate their own and their learner’s performance
Planning tutoring sessions and using resources
Commit up to two hours per week to tutoring, for at least six months.
Establish learning goals and regularly review these with your learner.
Plan and provide an informal, one-to-one, English language support programme. Your programme will assist your learner to develop the speaking, listening, reading and writing skills necessary to perform everyday tasks.
Reflect on your own and your learner’s performance.
Help your learner understand the cultures and customs of New Zealand.
Inform your learner of events, courses or other activities offered by English Language Partners and in the wider community.
Commit to ELPNZ’s Guiding Principles, purpose, vision and values.
Complete the Certificate in ESOL Home Tutoring volunteer tutor training course
Attend a minimum of 80% of the course and complete all assessment tasks.
Participate in relevant, ongoing training (workshops, support meetings).
Keep a written record of weekly lessons and report to your centre on your learner’s progress.
Be involved in programme evaluations.
Inform the centre when you intend to stop tutoring.
Start by finding your closest centre and completing the online application form. We will be in touch to invite you to come and have a chat with us to ensure we are the best fit for your donated time. Once accepted on the course, you will attend the training and complete the first 3 assignments before we match you with a learner. We will then match you with the learner we feel is the best fit. The training will teach you what to do from here.
We are here to help! No matter what your question might be, whether it’s a grammar one, a resource or learning question, or one about how to navigate public services, we are here to support both our learners and our volunteers. Each centre also organises ongoing professional development and refresher courses throughout the year.
We run courses at different times across the country to meet volunteer availabilities. Contact your local centre for the next course close to you.
You’ll learn teaching techniques during the training that will help you get started. Your manager or coordinator can advise you and there is a local library of teaching resources available to you.
The course is 25 hours, with a few small assignments to complete as you go. It is very practical and hands on so you feel as best prepared as possible for your first steps with your learner. You will learn how to assess a learner’s needs, how to plan a lesson, where to find resources and how to use them, as well as how to approach teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking. A big component of the course is also the cultural aspect of what we do with the new Kiwis we work with.
There is a one-off charge of $40 to cover coursebook and materials costs.
All of our tutors are police checked at the time of enrolment, and learners will have been police checked as part of their immigration process.
ELP does a check of the home tutoring environment and tutors should discuss any concerns with their centre.
How real volunteers have found their experience
