PU students offer free tutoring in Spanish

Sessions held at Henry F. Pannell Learning Center

By: David Campbell
   Students with Princeton University’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures are now offering free tutoring to members of the community who need help with their Spanish or just want to improve their language skills.
   Children and adults are welcome to stop by the Henry F. Pannell Learning Center on Clay Street in Princeton on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon for free tutoring.
   Tutors can accommodate all levels of Spanish. Individual tutoring is available, or participants may practice their Spanish in groups if they prefer, program organizers said.
   The outreach program is being run jointly by the department under its Spanish Skills at Work program in cooperation with Community House, a service organization on the Princeton campus.
   Dr. Luisa Duarte-Silva Barry, a lecturer in the department, said Spanish Skills at Work offers students a number of community-service volunteer opportunities in which they can apply their language skills.
   Students can tutor in English as a second language through several organizations that have programs set up; translate for Spanish speakers at University Medical Center at Princeton; and participate in health fairs and screening days organized by the hospital.
   There are between 45 and 50 Princeton University students registered in the community-outreach program, which is now launching the new free community tutoring initiative at the learning center on Clay Street.
   Dr. Barry said she came up with the idea while brainstorming additional ways to connect her students with outreach opportunities in the surrounding community.
   She and Community House Director Marjorie A. Young knew there was a need for Spanish tutoring in area elementary and middle schools, Dr. Barry continued.
   The new initiative kicked off in September with free tutoring for area schoolchildren by Spanish students from the university — about 40 or more volunteers from the department are participating.
   After some adults showed up to hone their own language skills, program organizers decided to formally offer the service to anyone in the community who was interested, children and adults.
   Dr. Barry said the expanded tutoring is just now being publicized and that it is too soon to say how large the demand will be in the community at large.
   But she said the adults who have attended so far have spoken favorably of the program and have indicated they plan next time to bring their friends.
   Depending on the level of interest, she said there is a possibility the program could be expanded further to offer free tutoring on Monday evenings sometime in the future.
   
To register or for more information about free tutoring in Spanish, contact Dr. Barry at [email protected], or call Community House at (609) 258-6136.