Am I expected to take on a social worker role if my learner needs advice on personal problems?

You may want to deal with personal problems that involve looking for information or writing letters, but situations where you lack the necessary experience or issues that revolve around personal safety are best referred to staff.

Sometimes you might want to tell your learner that you feel the issue is important and ask if she would like to talk to a staff person. She may want to write about the situation as a way to help her decide what action to take.

My learner is very passive. How do I encourage more active learning?

A passive person rarely plays any role in her own education, but feels comfortable following whatever the instructor or volunteer decides is best. She often lacks confidence to be assertive, ask questions or work independently. She may meet with you regularly, but develop few new concepts and make few decisions. You need to introduce her to the idea of goal setting and making choices. You also need to encourage active participation in lessons.

Here are some suggestions for doing that:

• Guide and facilitate, don’t direct.
• Give her choices about activities, order of activities and break time.
• Let her take responsibility for determining learning styles.
• Ask lots of open-ended questions.
• Ask for feedback.
• Ask her to bring in her own materials.
• Let her help plan the next session.

If you are working in a group setting, encourage lots of work in pairs and problem solving in groups.

Believe in your learner. A learner often arrives with poor self-esteem and fears yet more failure. Let her know that she has taken an important first step in coming to the program. Explain that it takes a lot of motivation and perseverance to set aside that fear and settle down to learn. Discuss what she has already accomplished. Build on what she can already do. As her self-esteem begins to grow, she will gradually come to believe her ideas are worthwhile. She will become more willing to trust others and to share ideas. Building trust is a very important part of helping a learner become more active.

Let your learner know that you are not perfect. If you make mistakes and admit when you don’t know things, then it will be easier for her to do the same.

What comments can I use to motivate my learner?

You need to be sincere when you comment on your learner’s work. Don’t gush. Give praise only when it is due. Be specific. Then your learner will know exactly what she has achieved.

How can I help my learner to remember information?

Your learner will have a lot of new information to remember. Thinking about and recording useful information is an important skill in itself. She may need to develop strategies for doing this. She may also want to keep copies of useful personal information.

Here are a few suggestions for her to follow:

• Keep learning materials in a binder.
• Organize the binder – have dividers to separate work.
• Keep useful word lists.
• Keep examples of personal details in the binder, for reference.
• Keep examples of completed forms in the binder.
• Keep a copy of her resume in the binder.
• Keep a list of books she has read.

Here are a few suggestions for you and your learner to follow:

• Consider her preferred learning style.
• Highlight key words.
• Make flash cards for key words.
• Have a word bank or have her create her own word book.
• Have lists of survival words and a personal vocabulary list.
• Use colour coding.
• Use rhymes or nonsense phrases (mnemonics).
• Look for word patterns and keep lists.
• Use word associations.
• Make connections.
• Practise and review.
• Look back and reread language experience stories on a regular basis.