Back to the Days of AP Spanish
I think back to taking AP Spanish and think, “wow, where did all of that knowledge go?” I probably should have practiced… Luckily, for students of all ages who are working on their foreign language fluency, I have help! Among other subjects, Meg specializes in helping students learn and gain fluency in Spanish. She joined the TriTutoring team after teaching English to young students in Madrid, Spain. While she can apply her skills in Spanish and teaching to her tutoring sessions, there are new challenges! “By simply being surrounded by it constantly for eight hours of the day, the students were able to pick up a completely different language and be able to speak, read, and write in English, even though for some of them they were just learning to read and write in Spanish as well. I find it’s different for high schoolers. Reading Spanish articles, looking up current events from Spanish speaking countries, listening to Spanish music and podcasts, practicing writing paragraphs in all tenses, and speaking constantly is how older Spanish learners really get better.”
Our students come to us for a variety of reasons, and each tutor brings their own experiences to the session. Besides the subject matter, Meg hopes to bring confidence to students who may need that extra boost.
“I tutor because, when I was growing up, having a tutor or asking for more help often had a negative stigma around it, as if it made a statement about your intelligence. As I got older, and now work in education, I see that asking for help just means you are strong enough to know what you need and how to get it. Whether it’s learning a new language or practicing for the SATs, I have found that most students lack confidence when they first start tutoring. Being able to see them grow and gain this confidence is inspiring to me, and I love being able to be a part of their journey.”
When Meg was asked her main focus within the TriTutoring philosophy, she chose Student Effort. “It doesn’t matter if [students] lack the fundamentals or don’t understand certain strategies because, at the end of the day, if they want to try there is nothing they can’t accomplish.”