Guidelines for Tutors of Spanish
The purpose of our Spanish tutoring program is to provide students with reinforcement, to help them become successful independent learners, and to help them develop effective study habits. Below are your responsibilities as tutors, which you are expected to follow with every student.
1. Always begin by ascertaining the student's level, class and professor . Your tutoring should logically follow from these parameters. Be aware of the difference in level between you and the student. You should not, for example, help a 102 student create advanced subjunctive structures!
2. Your aim is to reinforce, clarify and support, not to do the student's work for him or her .
3. Students must come to you with a specific question or problem area. “What tense should I be using in this sentence?” is a fair question, while “Can you just read my paper and tell me if it's okay?” is not.
4. You may not assist a student with any assignment for a grade before it is handed in for the first time.
5. If you do not know the answer to a question, or are unable to assist a student, don't make it up. Move on to the next problem.
6. When possible, use questions to make the student arrive at the answer on his or her own . Attempt to illustrate or explain instead of giving the answer. For example, incorrect past tense use on an exam is an opportunity to review the uses of the preterit and imperfect.