TLC Tips

The Spanish and Portuguese Teaching and Learning Centers (TLC) have many options to help students succeed in acquiring and applying Spanish to useful situations in the classroom, in a job or career and for travel or daily living. Below are some tips to help you make the best use of the services offered in tutoring, in writing and in conversation.

Come with specific questions so that the tutor can use every minute helping you focus on a problem area.
Any practical skill is best learned by doing. Expect to practice lots before achieving proficiency in Spanish or Portuguese.
Ask the tutor to guide you through your study tactics. Using your time efficiently may be the key to improving your skills.
Expect to be shown "kinds of errors" in a composition rather than have writing "corrected" for you. The proofreading process is an important one to learn.
Try reading your own writing out loud to check for errors. Your ear may hear mistakes that your eye will not see.
The most common errors are making agreements: adjectives with nouns, verbs with subjects. Look for these first.
Remember that some mistakes are expected. (Adequate communication for your skill level is the goal, NOT perfection.)
Learning the process of planning a composition is as important as the final draft. Ask your instructor or tutor to help you hone the process: from jotting down ideas, to forming a rough outline, then a rough draft and finally a carefully proofread paragraph or paper.
Remember: Tutoring room is NOT an editing or translating service.