Paul Szmal: We're joined now by Liz Searle from Literacy Volunteers of Ontario Yates. Good morning, Liz. How are you today?
Guest: Good morning, Paul. I'm great, thank you.
Paul Szmal: We want to talk today about tutoring. It's something that we focused on before, but the need for tutors is actually more critical than it's been in a while.
Guest: Yeah, that's true. I mean, you're always really gracious and let us mention when we have a need for more, but currently we have learners on waiting lists because we need more tutors. So I really appreciate the chance to be able to talk about, you know, what's involved and encourage anyone who may be interested in learning more about it.
Paul Szmal: And the waiting lists here, because of that, the existing tutors that you have are actually paired up with multiple people now, right?
Guest: We do have several tutors who are working with more than one learner and some that are working in small groups. So we're trying to maximize the impact of the tutors we do have with us, but we still are trying to, you know, shorten these wait lists and get all of our learners served as quickly as we can.
Paul Szmal: Do you find sometimes that if a tutor is working with somebody on a one-to-one basis that it's more effective?
Guest: You know, I would say that that's not necessarily the case. It all depends on the individual learners. And, you know, of course we also are always looking to serve them in the most effective way. So when we do have small groups, you know, there's a reason for it. Often we might be going to their workplace and so there's two or three or four people that we can serve at one time and they all work together. So hopefully they're practicing English, you know, in between classes and things, but it really depends on the individual learner.
Paul Szmal: Let's talk about what's involved with tutoring. How deep and how involved does this get for an individual?
Guest: Yeah, that's a really good question. So just to review a few of our primary requirements. So in order to be a tutor, because we do work with adults, we require individuals to be an adult and to be at least 18 years old and have a high school diploma and the ability to get to wherever they're going to be tutoring. But other than that, there's no special background that we require. We provide training and ongoing support for our tutors. Many of our tutors do have a background in the education field, but that's not the majority of our tutors and it's certainly, you know, not a requirement. If you have a heart for literacy and have been thinking about how you can give back to the community, this is a great way to do it.
Once you're on board, we ask tutors to commit to at least a year of volunteering, and that's just because the tutor themselves as well as staff put so much effort into getting the training and coming up to speed. And then it takes a little bit of time when you're matched with a learner to develop rapport and that sort of thing. So we really appreciate it when folks can commit to at least a year. Most of our tutors stay longer than that unless, you know, something comes up in life where they have to step back.
So a year of tutoring and then we ask that folks meet weekly for an hour to an hour from one to two hours with their learner. And of course, we understand people have vacations and people get sick now and then, but just as a general rule, that's what we're looking for.
Paul Szmal: You know, I think that one-year commitment, that's key because as you said, it helps to develop a rapport and relationship with the person that you're tutoring and oftentimes that relationship can enhance the learning experience.
Guest: Oh, there's no question that that's true. Many of our tutors and learners become friends and they know what might be going on in the learner's personal life and who their kids are and where they go to school and all that kind of thing. And that's not a requirement, but it comes up in conversation, especially with our foreign language speakers who are learning English. You know, we'll ask questions about, you know, what did you do today and how old are your children? And so we learn a lot about an individual's personal life and there does get to be that personal touch and some rapport there that helps everyone relate to each other.
And that does play a large role because when a learner comes to us, we always know it takes a lot of courage for them to reach out and ask for help. And so we're always really excited to get those calls, to see those folks stop in and encourage them in their effort to improve their literacy. But once they've taken that step, we want them to feel comfortable and confident that they can do this and that we're going to be working with them, the whole way.
Paul Szmal: You mentioned, Liz, that there's a training process involved. How does that training process work? What kind of time frame are we talking about?
Guest: Yeah. So the process from the time, like someone contacts us to let us know they may be interested in tutoring and they can do that by calling an office, stopping in, or probably the most convenient way is on our website. There's an inquiry form. And so a staff person will reach out to make an appointment and they come into the office, fill out some of the paperwork. We do ask for some personal references because we're working usually one-on-one with our learners. And our staff will talk more about where that individual's interest lies in terms of working with our learners.
And then there's a brief orientation. It takes 30 to 45 minutes. It's done over Zoom. And then when they move on to the training, it's an online training module and it's self-paced. So the individual does it when they have time. Altogether, it might take 8 to 12 hours depending on how quickly you do it. So some folks zip right through it in a couple of days. It shouldn't take more than a week for anyone. And once that's done, we can start looking for a good learner match for you and get you set up with starting to work with a learner.
Paul Szmal: Liz Searle is here from Literacy Volunteers of Ontario Yates here on FLX Morning on Finger Lakes Newsradio. Liz, do the majority of the learners, are they falling in the learning English category? Or do you have people that are also just looking to brush up on other things?
Guest: Yeah, so we have both. We refer to them as our native English speakers. So those are folks who grew up here. Many of them are looking for help preparing for GED exams so they can get their high school equivalency diploma. Or they might be looking to improve just some general literacy. And so we work with those folks. But right now, I would say about 70% of our learners are foreign language speakers who are approaching us to learn English. And that includes speaking, comprehension, pronunciation, as well as reading and writing. And every year, there are some of these learners who are usually a little more advanced who also want help preparing for their U.S. citizenship exam. So we help with that as well.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and that can be a pretty daunting thing to look at. If you remember back maybe when you were in middle school or high school, and you took a foreign language like French, German, or Spanish, and you had to learn all the verb tenses and that kind of stuff and everything. The reverse is true for someone who speaks their native language who's trying to learn English.
Guest: Yeah, and English is not an easy straightforward language to learn. There's all of, you know, all of these exceptions. And when you get into different sayings that we hear every day that don't mean what the words technically strictly mean, it can be a real challenge for these learners. So that's all the kind of thing that we work with them on.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, yeah. Some of the English phrases, the literal translations are sometimes a mile away from what we're actually talking about, so.
Guest: Exactly, yes.
Paul Szmal: So once a tutor goes through the program, then you look to pair them up with someone who has a particular need. Then how long is the average tutoring program with that person last, or does it just kind of depend on what their learning curve is?
Guest: Yeah, the latter. It's really, really unique to the individual. It depends on where they're starting, because we have some folks that come to us that are pretty advanced and just need help with a few little things, and then they're on their way. And we have folks that come to us and maybe they don't know any English and they're starting from scratch. So it really depends on the individual where they start, if they have any challenges, because we see learners with learning challenges and that kind of thing. So it just depends on the individual for sure.
Paul Szmal: And I want to reiterate what you mentioned a couple of minutes ago, Liz, which is, if you have teaching experience, that's certainly helpful. It's not a requirement.
Guest: Absolutely not. You know, our tutors are usually, when I talk to them, they're individuals that love reading. They're individuals that have a really strong grasp on the impact of literacy. We've talked before about some of those statistics, and the fact that having low literacy impacts almost every area of your life, from your ability to earn income to your ability to stay healthy and read your medication instructions. And it's just far-reaching into every area of life. So these individuals really understand that, and they want to give back. So those are the key traits that we look for in people wanting to tutor with us.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and in a world that is now dominated by digital technology and social media, that makes that need for literacy and comprehension even more critical, even if sometimes the stuff you read is, well, not the most enjoyable thing, shall we say.
Guest: Right, exactly. That's exactly correct.
Paul Szmal: Now, if someone wants to get in touch with you, Liz, and get the process started on becoming a tutor, you mentioned the calling or visiting the office or hitting the website. Why don't we roll through that one more time for everyone?
Guest: Sure. So we have office locations in Canandaigua and Peñan. We also have a staff person in the library at Geneva a few hours a week. So you can stop in to talk to them or call any of the offices. The best way to get information about our specific location and phone numbers is on our website, which is the initials for our organization, LVOY.org. And on the website, there's also an inquiry form that you can fill out, and it just comes right to us, and we'll reach out to set up a time to talk.
Paul Szmal: Now, let's give a little sneak preview here, because there is a special milestone that's going to be celebrated for Literacy Volunteers of Ontario Yates in 2027.
Guest: Yeah, we're really excited. 2027 is going to be the agency's 60th anniversary. So we're knee-deep in planning all sorts of events and activities to celebrate that next year, and I will be sure to be talking to you about those as they come along.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, we'll just kind of file that in the back of our heads for now. Liz, as always, we appreciate having you on board and sharing.
Guest: Thank you so much. Thanks, Paul.
