This Blog was started in June 2007 and provides peer tutors with the opportunity to communicate with me in the Learning Centre and with other tutors in the polytech. It also points you in the direction of useful resources for peer tutors and provides the basis of the peer tutor training we offer.  You will be expected to reflect on the work you are doing and participate in the suggested activities to improve your practice as a peer tutor.

Your first task as a peer tutor trainee is to create your own Blog for this course. Your blog will be the place you post your responses to readings, video’s, quizzes, tutoring sessions, etc. I will not be expecting lengthly essay’s and will prefer to see lists of ideas, suggestions and comments to show you have done the activities and thought about them.

To create a blog go to http://wordpress.com (see Link on the right of this page) and follow their simple instructions to create your blog. If you need help to do this make an appointment with me at the Learning Centre. Once your personal course Blog is created post a link to it here in the comments box.

Merry Christmas and I wish you all a safe and happy holiday season,

Regards,

Helen

The Bill Robertson Library – A good place to study! Photo by Leigh Blackall

Hello Peer Tutors! Sorry it has been a while since I last posted, I have been giving some of you time to catch up before I post the last assignment. This last assignment deals with Exam Preparation: Tips and Techniques. The California Polytechnic State University Student Academic Services has a number of very informative web pages on this topic. I have listed them here in the course wiki as well as some notes from Otago Polytechnic Learning Centre. Browse through these pages and tell me what you think is the one piece of advice that you would give someone who is heading into exams. Also comment if you find any tips and techniques you would start using yourself.

Now to the Maori perspective:

Photo by Will Bragg http://www.flickr.com/photos/william/45969431/

I would like you to briefly outline how you think the Treaty of Waitangi is relevant to education today and also research any protocols or practices you think we should be aware of when working with Maori students.

I have placed a number of short readings in the course wiki taken from the New Zealand Immigration Service booklet on the Treaty of Waitangi . You can use these readings to support your current knowledge. I would be interested in knowing about any other useful references that you find for this topic.

Have a read of them- I found the cross cultural perspective of intelligent behaviour quite interesting.  Add any comments or discussions here.

since nobody has made any suggestions as to where they wanted to go next with the training, I have made the decision for us. – For the next couple of weeks we will look at tutoring students from a different cultural background from your own.

When working with international students, like all students it is good to establish a rapport. Here are a few initial questions you may wish to ask your student to help you to do this.

• Tell me about your travels in other countries and NZ
• What are your impressions of life in NZ.?
• Why did you decide to come to Otago Polytechnic?
• Have New Zealand customs been a problem for you?
• What do you miss most about your country?

When you begin tutoring an international student, be aware that sometimes the student will become dependent on you for more than just tutoring. The student might see you as a much needed new friend, or as a source of information about not only, scholarly interests, but social interests. How would this make you feel? Would you welcome it or not? If not how would you deal with this? (comment to this blog please).
The following are tips for working with English as a Second Language (ESL) students:

• Speak clearly, naturally and avoid using slang.
• Use repetition.
• Frequently ask the student if what you are saying makes sense.
• Ask students to become the tutor and explain the concept to you.
• Use restatement to clarify the student’s response–I think you said…
• If the student does not understand you, write down what you are saying.
• If you do not understand the student, ask them to write what they are saying.
• Encourage students to read and to use their dictionaries.

Go to this page in the course wiki and post the answers to the questions in your Blog.

For those of you who are international students, do you have any suggestions or stories you could share?

Enjoy.