As a tutor and someone who often helps people with tech stuff, I deal with people who are at a wide range of levels of knowledge.
Which is okay!! I don't think I'm a better person just because I already know how to do integrals or how to set up a new router. I'm only better in these very specific regards!
But what sucks is that it's hard to find the right way to talk!!!
If you use terms that are too technical or too complicated, it seems pretentious. If you use terms that are too simple, it seems either like you're babying the other person or like you yourself don't know what you're doing.
Wahh!!!
hollyhoppet wrote
It takes a lot of practice. I think one thing that helps is trying to develop an awareness of how much the person you're tutoring knows. This can be done by asking questions politely. Rather than phrasing them as "do you know what x is" I find it comes across as more polite to ask "how familiar are you with x?"
If they seem nervous I also like to reassure them it's ok if they don't know stuff. A nice cue to tell if they're nervous is if they take a long time to answer my questions about prerequisite knowledge. If they do that's a clear time to reassure them then and there.
This is a great opportunity for you to develop skills in reading people. Half of tutoring in my experience is learning how to read people and make sure they are comfortable. I know it's not easy if you're not used to it or like me are kind of face blind but there's a lot of stuff you can observe consciously to do it.