Melbourne High

Every other Tuesday after school, the Spanish club and the Spanish Honors Society hosted tutoring for students of all levels of Spanish in Ms. Avila’s room, room 1-215. This was a way for students who were struggling to get help from students in higher levels of Spanish like Spanish 4 and 5. Senior Maleina Olmscheid was one of these students that helped tutor. “[tutoring] gives students an opportunity to ask questions 1:1 and practice with students who also might not be fluent in Spanish, so it’s easier to connect and learn together than a classroom setting,” said Olmscheid. 

As someone who had gone through five years of Spanish, Olmscheid knew how scary it could be to learn a new language. “I remember my experience going through IB Spanish and needing help with the work and studying, so I want other students to have the opportunity to get the help I needed,” said Olmscheid. At the tutoring, Olmscheid’s role was mostly to help Spanish students prepare for their oral exams and prepare others for future years of IB Spanish. 

Another student who was not only a tutor for Spanish, but had received tutoring was senior De’Andre Burks. He was a member of the Spanish Honors Society and believed that tutoring was very beneficial to the students. “As a tutor myself, I think that other students will receive a more rounded understanding on a topic or concept that they are having difficulty with one-on-one. This allows them to ask more questions and learn different strategies to improve on their assignments or homework and be able to better on their tests and exams,” said Burks. “I encourage students to come to tutoring to get help if they need it, and don’t feel embarrassed to ask for help, because in the end it will benefit them to accomplish anything they set their minds to.” 

Burks himself had been preparing for his IB oral exam, so he received tutoring help from Olmscheid and other tutors. “For me, it was mainly prepping for the Individual Oral Presentation (IOP) in IB Spanish, as it seemed difficult at first to include all of the required verbs, connectors, and idiomatic expressions in such a short time frame,” said Burks. He found that there were many difficult things about learning the language. “The most difficult part about learning Spanish is remembering the different conjugations and pronunciations to different words, as it is important in how you phrase your sentences in order to get your message across the way you want it to. For example, this year was the first time I ever had to talk in full conversations with people, which was a bit of a challenge in the beginning since it’s more harder than it seems,” said Burks. However, at his tutoring he received help with all of these things and was prepared to do his best on his IOP. 

All in all, both the Spanish Club and Spanish Honors Society wanted all students to feel comfortable to come to them for help in order to do well in class and on their exams.