Tools for Tutors

<< Background >>The aim of the project is to support the integration of adult immigrant learners by tutoring, digital tools and language teaching. In Finland and Estonia, the society is largely based on digitality, and it is hard to get along without basic language skills. Many immigrants don’t know enough about the training and employment possibilities and requirements in the new country of residence. The cultural and social environment in both countries is similar in many ways, and the partners have common challenges, concerning integration. Because Finnish and Estonian belong to the same language group (Finno-Ugric), the problems of language teaching can be solved together. Especially many young teachers do not yet have sufficient knowledge about the tutoring process to work effectively. The new tutoring tool and a tutors’ course are aimed to facilitate this process. The partners also have experience of former, succesful cooperation.<< Objectives >>The target groups of the project are adult immigrant learners and teachers working with them. Many newly arrived immigrants do not have suitable education needed in their new country of residence. They often lack digital and language skills, which are crucial, when applying for education or seeking jobs. Information about the new society is necessary for the newcomers, and it is often teachers' responsibility to provide this information. The tutoring teachers must get to know the background of each student, e.g. acknowledgement of prior learning, trainings absolved, skills obtained, working experience, own wishes, finding suitable trainings or studies and awareness of their requirements etc. Especially many young teachers do not have enough experience or knowledge about the tutoring process to work effectively. The new tutoring tool and a tutors’ course are aimed to facilitate this process. The project also included short courses and materials in language and digital skills. Since the target groups of both partners are somewhat different, each of them could choose, what kind of courses will serve their specific needs best.<< Implementation >>1. Kick-off meeting 2. Planning the digital tutoring tool 3. Planning the courses on language or/and digital skills 4. Preparing course materials5. Project meeting6. Testing 7. Project meeting 8.Tutoring course 9. Testing 10. Project outputs11. Dissemination 12. Evaluation13. Final meeting and report 14. Project management<< Results >>1. A digital tutoring tool, which can be found on the project web page https://toolsfortutors.eu/materials/. The material consists of the following parts:Counselling process with skilled immigrants,Language aware counselling,Culturally aware counselling,Communication styles,Digital technology as tutoring tools,Language learning exercisesThe materials (short presentations: PowerPoint slide show, video presentation etc.) support language teaching and career counselling. 2. A course curricula for a tutoring course for teachers, who work with adult immigrant students. The curricula is based on the project materials and a pilot tutoring course in Sept 2023.3. A guide about language aware methods for teachers, who work with adult immigrant students on hobby courses. The material is based on experiences, which were collected during several training sessions. The topics of the trainings were language awareness, supporting the students and promoting the use of L2 in training.All materials can also be translated and adopted to other languages and circumstances.