Home Tutor Scheme - Tutor Homepage

The Home Tutor Scheme office is located at the North Sydney Institute of TAFE, Room B1-16, 213 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065. Phone: (02) 9085 7262.

TUTORS Welcome on Board!

A warm welcome and a big thank you for the time, commitment, and invaluable support you have devoted to the Home Tutor Scheme (HTS).

We are extremely pleased to be able to make information and resources more readily accessible to you and hope you find our website a useful tool for tutoring.
This website has been developed as part of the support HTS provides for all our volunteer tutors. It is especially designed to facilitate your access to our teaching resources and your communication with us and other tutors. We have been working hard on compiling teaching materials to make your tutoring easier. We would appreciate any contributions from you as well. If you could send us any lesson plans or teaching materials that you have found worked well with your student, we would be happy to post them on this site.

If you would like to discuss the tutoring process or your student's progress please feel free to give us a call or make an appointment to come in and see one of our coordinators. Our coffee clubs are also a good opportunity to meet with us (see future dates in the 2012 calendar section).

You can navigate our website by following the links above. Please do not hesitate to let us know of any additional information you'd like to be included.

Best Wishes
The HTS Team

The Smith Family facilitates the Home Tutor Scheme (HTS) as an AMEP service provider, funded by the Australian Government.  The Home Tutor Scheme is a service directed towards migrants and refugees that need further assistance to develop their English language skills for successful settlement in Australia.  The Home Tutor Scheme involves training and then matching volunteer tutors with newly arrived migrants and refugees from non-English speaking backgrounds, to provide one-on-one English tuition in students' homes. A Home Tutor ensures that students do not become isolated or excluded from participating in the community due to language barriers.

The Smith Family facilitates this program throughout Northern Sydney, Illawarra, Hunter and Rural and Regional NSW.

Our Tutors
Our volunteers require no previous teaching experience as a course in Volunteer English Tutoring is provided to equip tutors with the basic skills required to teach English on a one-to-one basis. The motivations for joining the program are as varied as the tutors themselves, but common themes such as giving back to the community, getting to know other cultures and to gain personal satisfaction are a few key motivating factors for volunteers.

Our students
Our students come from diverse cultural backgrounds and have varying levels of English language competency. Students who are referred to the Home Tutor Scheme are those that are attending low-intensity English classes, or are unable to attend classes, due to family or work commitments, geographical isolation,  they are elderly or they have various barriers to learning such as illiteracy, trauma or are uncomfortable in a formal learning environment. Students' English levels and goals are assessed before the tutoring commences; this way our volunteers can tailor classes that are specific to their student's needs and assist their student in achieving their target objectives.

Training
Volunteer tutors are required to complete a comprehensive and informative online training course in Volunteer English Language Tutoring. The course is designed to run for 15 hours including a face-to-face session. It is compulsory for tutors to complete all components of the training course.

Matching
Before tutors make their first visit we contact students to do a language and learning needs assessment. As tutors travel to students' houses, we aim to match volunteers with students as close to their home or place of employment as possible. The tutor then goes on to visit their student once a week for a minimum of one hour. To ensure a continuous and optimal learning situation, we ask for a minimum six-month commitment from all our tutors.

Support for Volunteer Tutors
Our office provides support for volunteer tutors via phone, e-mail and face-to-face information sessions. We send out regular newsletters via e-mail, hold coffee club meetings and organise tutor support workshops and an annual social event to ensure both tutors and students are provided with a social forum to touch base and give feedback about the program (see the 2012 calendar for further details).

Volunteering for The Smith Family Home Tutor Scheme (HTS) requires going to the home of newly arrived migrants and refugees to teach them English for a minimum of 1 hour per week. No prior teaching experience is necessary as a free training program is provided to equip you with the skills to teach English on a one-to-one basis.

If you would like to volunteer for the HTS please phone our office on (02) 9085 7262.

The Smith Family delivers AMEP services on behalf of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. The AMEP is a Commonwealth Government program. For more information about AMEP, visit http://www.immi.gov.au/living-in-australia/help-with-english/amep/.