Chinese Tutoring FAQs
- Is Chinese tutoring considered as internship or a course? Do I have to fill out a contract?
- Chinese tutoring is neither a TAship nor an internship. It is a special language practice course (Chinese 197T). The course provides a unique opportunity for you to improve your own language skills by providing conversational model or by offering other appropriate assistance in listening, speaking, reading, and writing for lower level Chinese students. Meanwhile, you also gain teaching experience for a possible career in language teaching.
To take this course, you earn one unit of academic credit by successfully offering a 3-hour tutoring session each week under the supervision of the Chinese language program coordinator. You need to meet with the Chinese language program coordinator and sign a form (or you can call it a contract) prepared by the school to register for the course. - This is my first time tutoring students in Chinese. Do I have to clock in and out when I go to/leave the shift?
- Yes, you will need to keep track of the hours/days that you are assigned to provide tutoring.
- If students ask me something I don't know, how should I respond?
- In that case, refer the student to other tutors who can help or to the teachers.
- Can I use tutoring units to satisfy requirements of the major?
- The official policy from the College of Letters and Science regarding tutoring units is that courses numbered 97T, 97TC, 197T, and 197TC do not satisfy unit and course requirements for the major but you can use up to four tutoring units to satisfy the minor.
Students may only use Chinese tutoring units (CHN 197T) toward the Chinese minor, and Japanese tutoring units (JPN 197T) toward the Japanese minor.