Here’s what some of our volunteers say about their experiences.

“In mid 2019, I attended a Volunteer Expo at Dee Why RSL. Literacy Network had a stand at the Expo and after talking to some of the tutors, I was genuinely inspired by their work in the community. So much so, I immediately signed up for the next intake of tutor training. Not having any formal teaching qualifications was definitely not a hindrance. In fact, coming into the program with fresh eyes and just life experience was a positive thing.
This emphasis helped prepare me to work collaboratively with my student, the focus of the training being to always keep in mind the needs of the student and to not force or own expectations or outcomes. Understanding that the students are adults with busy and complex lives, stresses the importance of their involvement in not only setting the pace but the agenda.”JN

“I taught J for three years, and learned as much as he did. As a former teacher of Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan, now working as a cleaner on the Northern Beaches, J brought a keen mind to learning English for texting his employers, studying for citizenship and generally managing his new life speaking English on the Northern Beaches. I enjoyed his sense of humour and shrewd comments on current events, as well as his tales of life as a nomad child growing up among horses and yaks. He has moved away from Sydney now, but we still keep in touch with video calls a couple of times a year. I volunteered to teach English, and ended up with a friend.” LC

“Most weeks we read a Behind the News article, a Manly Daily article or something I have found relevant to her interests – birds, animals etc.  From this we work  on comprehension and pronunciation.  M has difficulty with the ‘er’ sound, for example ‘worship’, ‘word’. Her use of articles is still a problem in spoken English but improves with concentration. She is keen to work on phrasal verbs.” JD

“N has difficulty understanding letter names versus sounds. He does know the alphabet. He has minimal vocabulary and almost no sentence structure. So, vocab building, general conversation and word attack skills will be the focus. He is building up a dictionary based on familiar words.” GH

“I encouraged my student to write using a family photo. She talked about who was included and then wrote a sentence about each person. As I questioned her, she added more information. We identified conjunctions and ‘wh’ words for adding detail to her writing. She has committed to writing summaries of the articles we read together.” BH