Marian
Coordinator, Southern/Rural Dutchess County
Like most of our tutors, I love to learn new things, especially if it helps my students, but we all tangle with the learning curve. Luckily there is a wealth of tutorials on video conferencing on YouTube. I have several tutors who are very comfortable with it since their work is international in scale, and they have generously helped me to navigate Zoom. Between YouTube and their tutelage I have been able to share my newly-gained knowledge with other tutors who are now comfortable with video conferencing. My colleagues have been helpful too.
One of the tutors I coordinate named Ron says, “My student is less self-conscious when we meet remotely. Also, I email her the lesson a day or two prior to our Zoom meeting, so she gets an opportunity to eyeball it in advance.”
Having resurrected an English Language class that I had been teaching this past year, my students and I are enjoying seeing each other again, and being joined by Michael X who comes to us on Zoom from Shanghai. It’s exciting to have Michael back, visiting us with first-hand news from China.
Students who do use the video-conferencing platforms are enjoying learning from tutors and visiting with distant family and friends. Some bravery, open-mindedness, and a lot of persistence is needed to grow our program in this climate. The bottom line is that we can stretch our knowledge and our program “with a little help from our friends”.
