Unfortunately, due to disruptions in their home country, many refugees have had little or no schooling.  Other refugees find that their educational qualifications are not recognised in Australia, and have to begin again.  Older children in particular are at a major disadvantage, as often their classmates are more advanced at many school subjects and classroom sizes mean that students do not receive as much individual attention as they need.  Although teachers do their best to provide support for these students, ESL (English as a Second Language) assistance is also limited.

VoRTCS tutors visit their refugee family once a week to help with English needs, spoken and written, with life skills and community participation needs, to complement their formal learning at school, TAFE or university work, or just basic conversation or life skills. They also help the family adjust to life in Australia and by learning how to navigate Australian society, to become more self sufficient.

A typical tutoring session consists of the tutors assisting family members with English conversation, reading and writing, with correspondence, with advice on some community issue such as accommodation or schooling, with school or TAFE homework. Tutors generally assist the parents and based on the needs and priorities of the family. Tutors also answer questions on Australian life, such as explaining how to negotiate shopping, how to visit the doctor. Where families have queries that the tutors are unable to help with, we assist our tutors to link the family to another organisation who are specialists and can assist.  

For many members of our families, particularly adults and very young children, the tutoring session may be the only opportunity each week that the person has to practice their English.  And we encourage tutors to make the session fun, by including activities such as games with their students which can also be very beneficial for learning, or by sharing information about each other through conversation.

Please note that it is a requirement under Queensland law that all VoRTCS volunteers hold a current blue card before they begin tutoring.  This is also a key element of our child protection system, along with the requirement that tutors may never visit their VoRTCS family without another VoRTCS tutor present.  If you do not currently hold a blue card, we will assist with the application.