Home tuition – How To Be A Good Home Tutor

Do NIE-trained teachers make good tutors?

Getting NIE-trained teachers to teach in tuition centers or as private tutors seemed to be the latest trend amongst parents. But do NIE-trained teachers really make good tutors?

The tuition arena is at present still a free market – there is no licensing requirement to act as a barrier of entry for unqualified tutors. Thus, a NIE qualification is the next best thing parents and tuition centers can turn to for quality assurance.

NIE or National Institute of Education is a place for aspiring teachers to learn the necessary teaching skills before they are allowed to teach as full-time teachers in government schools. To get a NIE certification, one needs to go through one to four years of classroom training at the institute, where he or she is exposed to general topics like student psychology and digital teaching techniques and specialized topics like how best to teach the subjects that they will be teaching in school. The Initial Teacher Preparation Program also requires trainee teachers to clock certain hours of mentored practical teaching in government schools, also known as practicum, before they are fully certified to teach. A NIE-trained teacher is then bonded to teach full time at government schools for at least three years before they are allowed to leave their employment to work as private teachers.

Many parents and tuition centers think that NIE-trained teachers are the best candidates for tutor positions as they are trained to teach and they know the Ministry of Education or MOE’s requirements for the subjects to be taught. This is true to a certain extent, but we need to also consider the other side of the coin.

Current teachers are supposedly the most up-to-date with the MOE curriculum, thus they may seem to be the best tutor choice.  However, parents often failed to realize that these current teachers hold full-time jobs that are very demanding. Aside from teaching during the usual school hours, teachers had to spend significant amount of time on marking papers, preparing teaching materials, conducting remedial classes, looking after student welfare and doing administrative work. As a result, current teachers may be unable to commit to tuition assignments as much as full-time tutors, especially when nearing examination period. Thus, parents who want to reap the benefits of getting current teachers to tutor their kids also have to bear the risk of them backing out at the eleventh hour due to their heavy workloads.

Engaging ex-teachers as private tutors may be a good alternative, since these ex-teachers have the experience for and training to teach professionally and are more likely to commit. However, these teachers might not be as up-to-date with current MOE’s requirements, which make them less attractive compared to current school teachers. Some ex-teachers may have left the teaching force for so long that they may have lost their touch and are only as good as untrained experienced private tutors.

On the other hand, getting experienced private tutors to do the job may serve the same purpose, as these home tutors can bank on their tutoring experiences to develop an effective teaching method. Furthermore, MOE and schools are being increasingly transparent in their syllabus and requirements, and these are easily accessible on the Internet. The only concern is whether the parents are able to identify and engage the right tutors, which is possible with the help of tuition agencies.

Thus, while NIE-trained teachers are more qualified to teach, they do not necessarily make better tutors, and parents should always take this into consideration when engaging them as one.

Why Home Tuition is Important in Singapore’s Education System

It is very common for parents in Singapore to engage a private tutor to guide their child with their school homework.  This is because of the competitive environment that the students are facing in school to excel in their studies. Such pressure to perform well adds to the need for parents to seek external help to give their child more confidence in their revision.

In the students’ daily routine in school, they could seem to understand what was taught in school. However, a week has passed and they could have forgotten certain concepts or theories. As a student, he could be too shy to speak up in class and ask the teacher for help. Hence, his weekly tuition classes would play a part in assisting his revision. On a one to one home tuition with a private tutor, more attention will be given to the child and it will be easier for him to raise questions that he did not understand during his lessons taught in school. Consistent weekly home tuition lessons build a child’s confidence in his weaker subjects and enable him to cope better with learning new topics in school.

A home tutor is more like an informal teacher to the child as compared to his form teacher in school. Therefore, the child is more open to sharing problems he faced in school and what are the areas of the subject that he would need more coaching on. These precious time spend on tuition also eases the parents’ burden and worries as their child is now in good hands and guidance. During tuition lessons, the parents can also have some time off to rest or simply enjoy their own leisure time.

In addition, home tuition helps students to prepare ahead for their lessons before they start classes in school. This means that the tutor will be able to give an overview of a new topic and go through the key points with the student. In this way, attending classes in school will act as a form of revision for students. During examination periods, extra tuition classes act as a form of consistent revision for the child and boost his confidence in handling the examination papers.

We are very blessed to have many tuition agencies in Singapore for parents to easily seek help in guiding their children’s studies. There are many measures implemented by the government to regulate tuition agencies in order to produce home tutors that are highly qualified and committed to their tuition assignments. Through the tuition agencies’ websites, parents can get a better view of how the tuition fees of the hourly tuition classes and also the wide list of profile of home tutors that they could select for their child. Based on their own preferences and timing, they could easily list out a few suitable candidates of their choice. Some tutors even offer complementary classes for parents and students to try out before committing themselves into engaging them. Nevertheless, technology and progression have made the process of selecting a suitable tutor effectively and conveniently.

This article was wrote by a full time home tutor: Kristin Soo. She is a full time tutor. She offered home tuition for primary and secondary school students. If you are a full time tutor and wish to look for more tuition assignments, you may fill out the Home Tutor Application.

Full Time Tutor Shared Her Tutoring Experience

As the New Year starts, many anxious parents would be busy preparing their children for school like buying textbooks, school uniforms and shoes. During this period, many parents who want to give their children a head start in their studies would consider engaging a private tutor to coach their children in their school work in hopes of achieving better grades at the end of the year. However, many often ponder whether the journey in seeking better results in examinations simply stops at engaging an ace tutor.

Based on my primary school tutoring experience, education is a continuous process that involves active participation from the students, parents, school teachers and tuition teachers. Usually at the start of a school semester, students are greatly encouraged to set goals that they would like to achieve for their subjects. It is challenging on the student’s part to set realistic aims for subjects that they generally dislike or have difficulty coping with. This is when parents would come in and engage a tutor to give their child more confidence and ease any difficulty coping with this particular subject. To most of the parents, they see the need to hire a qualified and trusted tutor that could help their child in their studies. The following below shares my experience on the qualities needed to be an ace tutor.

Trust is the key ingredient in ensuring that the first lesson goes smoothly. This means that I would usually bring along my relevant certificates to reassure the parents that I am a qualified tutor and provide my contacts so that the parents can easily reach me should they have any queries after tuition lessons. Following that, I would run through briefly with the student and parent on my teaching style and allow them to share with me areas that are needed to be improved for that particular tuition subject that I will be coaching. Active communication is crucial to ensure that there is a certain level of commitment between the parents and tutor to bring out the best results in the student.

However, one must understand that tuition is a long term process and good results do not happen overnight. It involves hard work from both the tutor and student and cooperativeness from the parents. For example, parents can show their support and concern through providing the necessary assessment books for the tuition lessons, ensuring that the child does the tuition assignments diligently and being on time for lessons. This goes a long way in building a good learning environment for the child. Through interesting tuition lessons, students tend to show more interest and confidence in the subjects that they once hated most and this makes learning smoother for them in school.

As primary school children tend to be more forgetful, recall lesson is essential during tuition classes. This means that at the start of every new lesson, I would go through what was taught last lesson by providing mini recall tests. When the child is in doubt, it is the tutor’s responsibility to go the extra mile to ensure that the student fully understand and clear the doubts for that particular topic. This might involve working overtime just to coach the student on their weaker topics. Consistency is important to ensure that the student do not do last minute revision which indirectly would add more stress to them in preparing for their major examinations. Better time management eases the child’s study work load, thus creating a happier and healthier student that could produce better results during examinations. In summary, learning is a long term process and we need to be proactive as a tutor to bring out the best in our students.

This article was wrote by a full time home tutor: Kristin Soo. She is a full time tutor. She offered home tuition for primary and secondary school students. If you are a full time tutor and wish to look for more tuition assignments, you may fill out the Home Tutor Application

Reasons Why Kids Should Take Swimming Lessons

There are numerous different activities that kids can take part in, whether it’s during their down time when school is out, or it’s an after school activity throughout the year. Some of these offer great benefits, and some, such as swimming and swimming lessons, really provide innumerable benefits and advantages to the kids who take part. Take a look at this quick guide for reasons why kids should take swimming lessons.

First and foremost, as opposed to with many other sports and physical activities, swimming teaches a physical skill that can literally save your child’s life. The number of kids who accidentally drown each year is staggering, and it’s an unfortunate and preventable issue. Kids who have been taught how to swim have an amazingly higher chance of surviving situations where other children perish, and there’s no reason why you should have that kind of risk for your child.

Swimming lessons provide other benefits as well. Learning how to swim and mastering the skill takes a great deal of stamina and total body strength. Kids who swim develop leaner and stronger bodies, and in the process, they become healthier. They will have healthier hearts and lungs, less body fat and reduced risk for problems associated with that, and much more. So swimming can literally save your child’s life in dire situations, while also giving them a healthier life as well.

Swimming is a competitive sport, but it’s good natured, and it should help to teach any child about competition, about giving full effort, practicing, but also about coping with losing and disappointment. It’s very important for children to learn life lessons like these at an early stage so they are better equipped to deal with more serious situations when they inevitably arise later on in life. Swimming will help to impart mental strength and a number of positive character traits that all children can take advantage of.

Finally, don’t forget that through swimming and swimming teams, your child will be able to branch out, meet new people and find new friends with common interests. That’s always important for kids as well, and swimming is a safe and fun atmosphere where that can happen without too much effort, and your child will enjoy being able to spend time with other kids involved in the same activities.

Hopefully by now you have a better idea about why your kids should take swimming lessons. Most importantly, swimming can literally save your child’s life, and you never want to leave your kid unprotected in any situation. But from there, there are great physical and mental benefits as well, that will help your child turn into a happy and healthy adult.

An Education – Review

Social advancements of the family tree are seen as a way to propel each generation into a better way of life. Indeed, if ‘quality of life’ is the slogan then ‘An Education’ does seem to start off on the right track. With a theme of interest this movie aims to draw you into its myths and leave you feeling slightly envious of the interesting experiences of the star, Jenny Mellor (Carey Mulligan).

The scene is based in the suburb of Twickenham, London. As a teenager in the 60′s Jenny’s father aims for her to work her way into Oxford.  Indeed, it all lies in having the back up plan of education so that one could find a potential future spouse.

An Education

It seems that her sole purpose is to dedicate her life by bettering her education levels with a prominent institution. Jenny already possesses the qualities she needs to propel herself in the direction of which her father (Alfred Molina) wishes. Already she is learning things that will look good on the admission form such as the cello, and has a varying number of other interests such as French, music and Latin.  Jenny’s senses are further intrigued by the meeting of David’s two friends who are also deemed as his constant companions, Danny and Helen.

The love of music finds her meeting the charming 35 year old David (Peter Sarsgaard) who is intrigued by her captivating intelligence. Her parents are also subdued by his charm as David and Jenny spend more and more time together. He indeed opens her eyes to a different type of ‘education’ such as fancy restaurants and accesses her ears to great sounding music. In time he is even able to get consent to spend weekends away with Jenny as well as take her on a trip to Paris.

Jenny’s dreams of going to Oxford start to dissipate as she spends time with David, who clearly indicates to her that he has attended the ‘school of life’. His intrigue and interest in Jenny can be seen as some sort of a love. It is a mutualism in a sense whereby he is able to find life from her life. It is through captivating her senses and making her realize that life can be lived in many forms and education acquired through these forms that Jenny becomes spellbound.

How to Improve Your Concentration When You Are Studying

Many people are having trouble in focusing themselves while they are studying. To be able to focus when you are learning is very important. Listed below are a variety of recommendations, which will assist you to concentrate:

1. Choose a location you enjoy studying, and are free from interruptions and disturbances. Try to set up a place specified just for studying.

2. Organizing your time so that you will have sufficient time to finish your work. Create a timetable that shows what assignments you will need to attain, and when you need to complete each task.

3. What time of a day do you learn best? Try to study at the time of a day you perform best. Many of us will say that morning is the best time. Others will prefer it to be in the night time. So, do you know what is the time that you perform best?

4. Ensure that you do not feel exhausted or hungry while you’re learning. Or else, you will not have the energy you require to focus.

5. Never attempt to do several jobs at the same time. You will not be able to focus on either one very well.

6. You can try to separate big tasks into several small tasks so that you can easily finish one at a time. If you make an attempt to finish a big task at one time, you may feel stressed and will not be able to keep your concentration.

7. Take it easy. It’s difficult to focus if you are stressed. It is essential to relax when working on a task that involves attention.

8. Clear all your negative thinking. You will draw your attention away if you have personal thoughts in your mind.

9. Develop an interest in what you are learning. This can encourage yourself to focus..

Home Tuition Helps Turn Average Students to Excellent Students

Parents in Singapore are discovering how important home tuition is for their children. Each of these parents wants their child to succeed, but not all know exactly how they are going to make that happen. They try different solutions including getting their children to study more and helping their children with their homework themselves. These can work, but they do not work as well as the option of providing their children with home tuition.

Home tuition is something that can take your average student and turn them into an excellent student who excels in school. Why is this important? Well, a student who excels in school is a student who excels later in life. All parents want their child to excel in life, and that type of winning philosophy can be created through something like home tuition.

Home tuition works for everyone. For the tutor, they get the chance to do what they love, which is teaching children. For the parent, they get to know that their child is learning to excel and to learn, which will serve them well in their lives. For the child, it is highly beneficial because it will take them to the next level in their grades and that will keep them at the top of their class for years to come. When your child is at the top of their class for years to come, they will continue to do well in school and they will gain confidence. Confidence is very important for a student because with confidence comes a drive to succeed.

Home tuition will cost you some money, but isn’t that money well worth it for what you receive? Your child will become an excellent student for one thing. It is important to remember that your child will not be replacing school with home tuition. One of the most common mistakes that an individual make when thinking about home tuition is to believe it is home schooling. It is not home schooling, it is a supplement to regular schooling. This means that when your child is done at school, they come home and they meet with their tutor. The tutor then adds to what they learned, or helps your child go over what they learned so they understand it better. Yes, this is a lot of schooling for your child, but there is a reason for it. Schooling is very important for success in life and your child needs to be able to handle the challenges life brings them. In their working life, they will be working at least five days a week and for longer hours than they spend in school. If they are able to handle schooling and home tutoring on a regular basis, they will easily be able to handle the working world.

Home tutoring is one of the best things you can do for your child, and it is something that will help you and your child for years to come. It is an investment in the future and in the future of your child.

Is Home Tuition The Same as Home Schooling?

Home tuition has become a very popular form of schooling in Singapore. Even so, there is a lot of misconception that surrounds home tuition and many believe, wrongly, that it is the same as home schooling. As a result, many parents choose not to do home tuition because they do not want to take their child out of school, which they believe is what happens.

Home schooling is something that many parents choose to do because they can have almost complete control over what their child learns. In home schooling, your child is removed from school and schooled completely at home. Usually the parents will be the ones to teach the child. On the one hand, this is beneficial because it allows the child to get one-on-one training in subjects that interest them. The problem is that the parents are usually not trained as teachers, the child does not get the socialization they need and they usually learn at a slower pace than they would in school.

Home tuition is similar to home schooling in that the child learns from their home. This is good because it means that the child is learning somewhere that they are comfortable. As in home schooling, the child in home tuition also gets a lot of one-on-one time. However, this is where the similarities end. For one thing, home tuition is not a substitute for school. In fact, home tuition is done after school has been completed. Rather than be a replacement for schooling, home tuition is a supplement to schooling. Another difference is that in home tuition, the child is not taught by parents, but by a qualified and educated home tutor. This tutor could have decades of experience teaching children, and that makes them highly skilled at providing children with the best tuition as possible.

Another difference between home tuition and home schooling is that home schooling is essentially free, while home tuition can be on the expensive side depending on how skilled the tutor is. Of course, home tuition is much cheaper than putting your child in private school. Private school does have better teachers and resources, but your child still does not get much one on one time. This is why home tuition is better. It is usually quite affordable, especially when you get a tutor who works with your budget, it gives your child one on one teaching, the child is in a comfortable environment and it supplements what your child learns in school.

If you are thinking of putting your child through home tuition, you should talk to them and find out what subjects they need help in. Then, find a tutor who is going to help your child with that subject, as well as any subject that your child is interested in. Home tuition is not only about keeping your child ahead of the class or at least up-to-date with them. It is also about nurturing your child’s passions for whatever they want to learn.

Catching Up On School Work with Home Tuition

Not everyone does as well in school as their classmates. Sometimes, perhaps as a result of difficulty learning or different learning styles, a student can fall behind and become worried about how they are going to do in school. The problem is that the further a student falls behind, the more worried they get, the worse they then do in school, which causes them to fall further behind as a result. No one wants to be in this situation and when your child is in this situation, it can be a very difficult thing to go through.

For a parent, there are not many choices for when your child is falling behind in school. Sending them to private school won’t work because they are in the same situation with public school. You can put them in the classes for slower students but this can be a horrible experience for many children. So, what can you do? Well, if you really want your child to succeed and you know that they can, then all you have to do is look for a home tutor. The amazing thing with home tutors is that they know how to work with children and even if your child is falling behind in school, you will be able to get them to catch up with a qualified home tutor.

The two most important things to remember with a home tutor are that they teach one-on-one and they teach based on the student, not on the school. This last point is highly important because if the teacher teaches based on the student, rather than the school, then the student gets a curriculum that is customizable directly for them. Your child will be able to go as slow or as fast as they need to in order to learn everything related to their schooling. For example, if your child is about two weeks behind the rest of the students in their schoolwork, then a simple bit of home tutoring can get your child back up on track with everyone within a month, and possibly even excelling past their classmates within two months. This is very important because your child will regain their confidence and be ready to take on the world.

Just because your child learns slower than everyone else it is not because they are not intelligent. Remember, everyone learns differently and schools usually teach through hearing, rather than seeing or doing. There are students who can sit and listen to what a teacher says and get it all, but another student, the same level of intelligence, may not learn as well because they learn by doing. With a home tutor, your child will learn the way they need to learn in order to be successful. The home tutor will find out if your child learns through doing, seeing, or hearing and apply that learning philosophy to the learning curriculum for your child.

With a home tutor, your child goes from being behind to being ahead and they get the confidence they need to be successful in school and in life.

Helping Your Child Learn Mathematics

Research studies show that children, with parents who are actively involved in their learning, are fast learners and better students. Top of Form Therefore, helping your child learn mathematics is very useful, especially if he’s having a hard time with numbers. For most children, it is always easy to learn about the ABCs, colors and body parts, but never about mathematics. They find mathematics to be hard and boring. It’s time to change your child’s viewpoint about mathematics. Simple things like telling the time, counting of change, and dialing a phone number involves mathematics. Once you get the hang of it, mathematics is actually fun and easy to like.

The success of your child’s learning depends on your attitude towards mathematics. As parents, you have the power to influence your child in so many ways. If you show positive attitudes towards mathematics, most likely your child will feel the same. Helping your child learn mathematics does not have to impose pressure on him. There are many things that you can do to communicate mathematically with your child. One effective way to communicate with him is with the use of charts, symbols, shapes and numbers.

Helping your child learn mathematics can start at home. Integrating math language and activities into your child’s daily activities will show him how math applies in his daily life. Counting rhymes and songs are good ways to introduce simple mathematics concepts to your child. One good sample of a counting rhyme is “Ten Little Indians.” You can also introduce mathematical operations to your child by teaching him how to sort and match things according to shapes and sizes. Other essential mathematics skills that you can teach your child at home are weighing, estimating and observing.

The grocery store is also a good place to teach your child mathematics. Shopping for groceries allows your child to apply various math abilities like measurement, estimation and data collection. You can also introduce geometric principles to your child while grocery shopping by asking your child to point the objects that have the same shapes as triangles, circles and squares. You can also help enhance your child’s mental math ability by asking him to estimate the cost of the groceries.

Helping your child learn mathematics can also be done while traveling. The use of license plates is one good example. You can ask your child to determine the number on the license plate that should come first; 5 or 7, for example. Your child can also learn about the relationship between time and distance while traveling.

There are varied ways where children can explore interesting and enjoyable mathematical possibilities every day. The use of smart cards is a good way to make learning mathematics fun. In this way, your child can develop strategies on how to solve basic arithmetic problems like addition and subtraction. You can also ask your child to guess how much money you have in your hand. A guessing game is not only fun, but it can also increase your child’s awareness of numbers.

The best time to be involved in your child’s learning should start as early as elementary years. Even so parents start hired home tutor for math tuition for their child at young age.

Parental involvement shows a positive influence throughout the child’s schooling. By helping your child learn mathematics, you are not only getting involved in his learning. You are also ensuring a promising future for him.