Tutor:후견인

2 (d) The teacher brings multiple perspectives to the

discussion of content, including attention to learners’
personal, family, and community experiences and
cultural norms.

I have had the privilege to tutor ESL students from Korea. In Korean
schools, students are taught English in all grades. My students knew how to
read and write in English perfectly. However, they struggled with
pronunciation and conversational English. They wanted to strengthen these
skills as they had moved to the United States. In helping them learn
conversational English, I was also helping them develop confidence and
courage. I used questions that asked them personal information about their
families and experiences. But I also made it a point to share my own
experiences and personal information as well. Soon, my students were
sharing different Korean culture norms and values. I always showed respect
and appreciation for their culture, as well as thanking them for sharing such
invaluable knowledge. This opened them up to ask me questions about U.S.
American lifestyle.
Much of my time was spent encouraging them to have conversations outside
the tutoring session, as this was very scary for them at first. We made phone My tutoring experiences have
scripts for when they called the landlord or the school at which their influenced my decision to
children attended. There were times they would become so overwhelmed
become certified as an ESL
that they would hang up the phone. I encouraged them that it was a
teacher. I want to help students
learning moment. We celebrated the phone calls that lasted until goodbye. I
learn English, as well as
taught them key phrases at first such as “I am sorry, I’m not a native speaker.
Can you please repeat that slower?” I explained medical bills and certain integrate into a Western
idioms they encountered for better understanding. culture, but also help them
cultivate an appreciation for
These types of interactions went beyond the ESL curriculum and allowed
for intercultural communication and learning. But I don’t think my students their native culture, values,
would have opened up to me had I not shown a genuine interest and norms, etc. My tutoring has
appreciation for their native culture. taught me that ESL teachers
need to develop genuine
relationships with their
students, and a willingness to
truly understand a student’s
cultural background.