The reduction of tutorial staff at the Undergraduate Tutorial Center will leave foreign language students without a University-based option for tutorial help this semester as all foreign language tutoring positions have been eliminated.
In many cases, professors will provide extra office hours to assist students, which, according to Erin Sexton, a sophomore in political science and psychology, could be just as beneficial depending on who is teaching the classes.
“A lot of teachers are willing to provide more office hours and stuff so that should help them,” she said.
Sexton, who is taking a Russian class this semester and plans to take French in the spring, said she usually goes to her professors for help anyway, but she understands the tutors were good options for others.
Larissa Shorter, a senior in business administration, is pursuing a minor in Spanish and said the UTC helped her a lot during her first two foreign language classes.
“I’m pretty good at Spanish but the tutorial center for foreign language was amazing,” she said. “[The tutorial center] really got me through.”
Shorter said she visited the center about twice a week during her classes, and said while she has helped friends with foreign language, she always points them towards the tutorial center for help as well.
“I always refferred people to the tutorial center,” Shorter said. “It helps to study and forces you to practice.”
Shorter said the requirements for foreign language classes were an issue now that the tutors for classes are no more.
“In business you have to go up to 201 I think,” Shorter said. “If you don’t like the language it’s already a struggle to do well and without the tutorial center – that’s crazy.”
While tutors for some departments are still at the center, Shorter said foreign languages are usually classes where tutors are even more important than in others.
“You can’t study something you have no idea about and the tutorial center helps you get a grasp on that,” Shorter said. “I really can’t believe they cut it. If you’re going to have it as a requirement for a major and not offer any help for it – that doesnt make any sense.”
Emily Plonski, a junior in arts applications, is signed up for three foreign language classes this semester, and, while she hadn’t used the tutorial center before, she was considering applying to work with the center this year.
“I actually had not used [the tutors] but I was seriously considering taking tutoring class and joining the tutoring center,” Shorter said. “I thought that would be a good opportunity for on-campus employment.”
Plonski, who is signed up for two French classes and one German class this semester, said she knows people used the center, and felt that cutting the tutors wasn’t right.
“I did know a lot of people that went there really frequently,” Plonski said. “It was always really helpful – It’s BS, especially since CHASS majors have to take up to 201 or 202 for foreign languages.”
Plonski also said she wasn’t confident freshmen would catch on quickly enough to the material in foreign language classes without tutoring, and was skeptical as to whether increased office hours by professors would be able to fill the void.
“For freshmen who haven’t had any college classes and students who didn’t have foreign language in high school – they’re going to be lost,” Plonski said. “Teachers aren’t going to be able to deal with that extra load.”
