There are different methods to become a French tutor and people might get this job at any age, providing they possess more fluency in French than their students. It’s definitely possible for a high school student with a certain degree of knowledge to tutor those students who are taking elementary French classes, but more often people have acquired skill in French by the college level, where they might work privately or for a university. Some tutors have an undergraduate degree in French and possibly possess a teaching credential. Alternately, the person who has grown up with French as a primary language could feel quite comfortable tutoring others at many different ages or stages of education.
As most know, teaching a foreign language requires a certain degree of fluency or comfort in that language. It’s usually not enough to have rudimentary skills, and instead the person who wants to become a French tutor must be at ease speaking and writing the language, and in finding errors common to learners. Most people begin studies in French early, perhaps in eighth or ninth grade, and lucky students will either come from a home of French speakers or will have been enrolled in French classes at a much earlier point. Earlier is better for establishing fluency.
A few people in high school find the language is easy to learn and they quickly become very good at speaking and writing it. These students might become a French tutor at the high school level, offering private tutoring to peers or participating in school tutoring programs. Private tutoring is not unattractive because it can be lucrative.
In college, students might work for school tutoring centers or offer private lessons, with the latter usually at higher pay. College students can also contact middle and high schools to offer tutoring services. The one proviso with college students is that many of them may be advancing in French studies so college tutors will need more mastery of the subject.
Many people who major in French also obtain a teaching credential. With this they can become a French tutor or teacher, and some people get master’s degrees allowing them to teach and tutor at community college levels. It doesn’t hurt to spend time with native French speakers in travel abroad programs, so that the tutor/teacher can work on mastering proper accent and increasing fluency.
Either a high school or college French teacher may also become a French tutor as a sideline or people educated to this level may find they most enjoy private tutoring as a career. Again, there may be shortcuts for the native French speaker, but many people find they have success in this career with persistent study through high school and college years. Jobs are particularly in demand in areas where French is a second or third language that is fairly commonly spoken, but isn’t not known by all members of the society.
