Tutors and Students

Spring is coming! And with it comes a new tutor training series from Watertown Free Public Library’s Project Literacy. If you’ve been considering becoming a volunteer tutor in our program, this training is your ticket. There are 5 mandatory training sessions, beginning March 7 and ending April 4. Just register online at http://www.watertownlib.org/catalog/page.asp?id=627   

You may also call Laura Duncan at 617-924-8797 or email her at  lduncan@watertown-ma.gov 

After the training, our new tutors will join 69 others who are currently teaching 196 students. They typically meet once a week in a public place, very often in the library itself. The library literacy collection provides workbooks and supports lessons with extra materials. Tutors guide their students through beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. Every six months they are asked to evaluate how the work is going and how they plan to move forward.

Tutors are required to commit to at least a year’s teaching in the Project Literacy program. There are many tutors, however, who have tutored between five and ten years. Laura Duncan reports that if a student-tutor match ends, the tutor often requests another student and continues on. Some tutors work with small groups of 3 to 5 students.

Tutors and students use a variety of materials from the Library’s Literacy collection. The  workbooks are color coded by level. Students also borrow books, DVDs and CDs that support the curriculum. There are pronunciation guides, citizenship materials, high interest-low vocabulary readers and specially edited newspapers.

Project Literacy will celebrate its 25^th year this April. This spring’s new batch of trained tutors will be part of a long line of hundreds of colleagues who have given their time and talents helping people in Watertown learn English.