Leah started tutoring because she wanted to give back. She found it was a great fit for her life.
Read about her experiences as a Tutoring volunteer.
Originally from Ireland, Leah moved to Sydney in 2018 to finish her masters.
Moving to Sydney from a small town in the west of Ireland, it took her a little while to settle into city living. She found that volunteering with Weave’s Tutoring Program helped her to find her feet.
Leah has done some tutoring in the past, and found it incredibly rewarding, so when she heard about the Weave’s program, she felt that it would be a good fit for her life.
Over the last 2 years, she has consistently tutored one student, with a short pause during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“Developing the relationship with the kid that I tutor has been really great,” she says. “It’s just been small incremental steps, finding the things he’s interested in and jumping on board straight away.
“I like the challenge of it as well, finding new ways to keep him learning.”
Leah appreciates that tutoring is about more than just academics. The focus on building rapport and connection with a student is just as important.
“Weave does a really good job of emphasising how important it is to develop the relationship,” she says “Learning is important, but it’s also about the relationship.”
This relationship is important, as it opens up new pathways to learning.
One day Leah’s student showed her a video online, teaching him how to say hello in French. “He was super excited about learning it,” she recalls, “and since then, I’ve taught him a little bit of French.”
“If we’re able to incubate that spark, maybe he’ll learn more French.”
Leah has found that tutoring is full of the unexpected.
“It’s really fun, it sounds like a serious volunteer role, but it’s really fun and the atmosphere is lovely.”