In this section, tutors will learn how to get to know their learners and prepare for their first meeting.
The first thing you and your tutor need to do is get to know the learner. The Violence and Learning: Taking Action (VALTA) project that looked at the impact of experiences of violence on adult learners clearly showed how true this is. Through the project, literacy educators learned they sometimes need to spend the first meeting building trust and rapport with an individual. Only then can they move into a more formal assessment of a person’s abilities and performance, or write things down. For all learners with low self-confidence, whether or not they have experienced violence, it may take time to be comfortable sharing personal information.
You and your tutor, therefore, must take time asking questions and drawing out information about the learner’s experiences and interests. Look over the sample questionnaires in the handouts from Activity A to get an idea of the types of questions you can ask. It isn’t necessary to use all the questions or even to ask them in the order listed. Rather, the questionnaires are a guide to help you get to know the learner. In fact, the tutor can just ask questions that invite learners to share stories about their lives, and through those stories, learn about the specifics covered by the questionnaires. At all times, you and the tutor must remain sensitive to the learner and avoid asking questions that could make her feel uncomfortable.
As the coordinator and the one who meets the learner first, you may want to ask her quite a few of the questions. But your tutor also needs to ask some of them. The tutor can begin doing that at the first meeting with the learner. At that first meeting, both the tutor and learner are going to feel nervous, so it is a good idea for them to focus on sharing and getting to know each other.
Use creativity and imagination to design lesson plans.