Help students from all over the world develop confidence in their English language skills
UTS HELPS Buddy Program
Keen to volunteer? Meet interesting people from all over the world? Maybe enhance your own language skills?
UTS Alumni are invited to volunteer for conversation practice with UTS international students through the HELPS Buddy Program and Conversations@UTS group sessions.
This is a wonderful opportunity to meet with international students on campus or online. In buddy pairs or conversation groups, you can share stories, exchange university and workplace experiences, make friends and help students from all over the world develop confidence in their English language skills.
The Buddy Program gives you the opportunity to meet with one or two international students for one hour a week English conversation practice. While helping students with their English skills, you have the chance to improve your own ability in languages that interest you.
Alternatively you could lead a Conversation Group program. Conversation volunteers meet a group of international students for a timetabled two-hour session each week at HELPS.
Buddies meet at a time that suits them. You can meet in our lovely volunteer lounge on Level 5 in UTS Building 1 (The Tower), a café of your choice, or chat via Skype. Conversation groups run day and evening in the volunteer lounge.
For more information about being a volunteer buddy, find out more here:
Interesting in getting involved? Sign up as a UTS volunteer here.
Check out this two-minute video for a step-by-step guide on how to register as a volunteer.
This video will show you how to register as a UTS HELPS volunteer on grid. You will first be asked to join a hub. You will then be asked to register as a user type. Today I will be showing you the sign up registration as a UTS student, however the registration questions are very small. If you ever run into any problems when filling out the question there are tips beside each question which you can read by hovering over the question mark icon. Fill out the helps program questions like so. All of our volunteers should be fluent in English, as being a volunteer involves helping international students develop their English speaking skills. Volunteers only looking for language exchange may find it more difficult to find a student to match them. Some volunteers prefer to meet as a group rather than meeting with just one student. They may prefer to meet two students at once. In this case it’s important to remember that you are not expected to commit more than six hours whilst volunteering in the body program.
Availability is important to filling out your profile, as this is one of the key criteria in which students choose volunteers. You can view the terms & conditions in a separate page. Read through these carefully as they outline your responsibilities as a volunteer. When completing the about you, section it is completely optional whether or not you would like to choose a profile picture. As for the headline you can keep it simple by putting something such as volunteer in the UTS helps buddy program. When completing your volunteer availability, it is essential that you only choose a maximum of two students when selecting how many students you would like to help.
Once you have applied, the HELPS team will be in touch about upcoming information sessions.
If you have any enquiries or questions, please e-mail HELPSbuddies@uts.edu.au.
