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.

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.

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 – There Is Only One Way To Set Goals

Many misguided people dismiss goal setting as adding no value to their lives or think it is far too complicated and only for big business. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you want to succeed in life no matter what you want to succeed at, you must set yourself goals. Think about what your children want to achieve and what you want to achieve for your children.

The same applies to home tuition in that setting goals is a critical part of developing your tuition plan and the methods you or your home tutor will use to deliver that plan. How will you know if you are progressing or going to succeed if you do not have clear goals defined?

Talk to your children and without using the words try and determine what actual goals they may have. It is an absolute must a to include these goals in the overall home tuition plan – nothing will motivate you and your child more than when he or she accomplishes the goals and aspirations written down as part of the plan.

There are many wrong ways to develop a goal statement but there is only one right way, the SMART way…

Even when goals are written if they are not specific, if they cannot be measured, they are no more effective than a wish list. When it really matters and you really want to accomplish the dreams and aspirations of yourself and your family you will want to use goal setting techniques that do really work. One that definitely works is the SMART method of setting goals. SMART=Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-Oriented.

By its very nature a goal cannot be something general. It must be very specific and detailed. The goal must answer the questions who, what, where, when, how, and why.

For example, if your goal is to find a cheaper home tutor, this is not specific enough and doesn’t meet the criteria. On the other hand if your goal is to identify a qualified home tutor within the next 6 weeks who costs 50% less than private school, this is specific.

Measurable means exactly that. Your goal must be able to be measured or quantified. In the above example, cheaper is not quantifiable, but a 50% is definitely quantifiable and can be verified.

A goal is achievable when it is realistic or feasible given your skills and resources. If you wish to find a home tutor in the next 2 hours this may well be regarded as unachievable.

Realistic refers to your goal being “reasonable”, otherwise you will have no chance of achieving it under any circumstances. This doesn’t mean that goals should not be challenging. It can be the challenges that bring out the best in us. In the context of home tuition you will know what your child is capable of and how far they can be stretched (even though they may complain at the time!).
Time oriented refers to all goals having a time span and a completion date. This is the key difference between goals and single activities. When monitoring progress it is crucial to know how close or how far away you are in achieving your goals.

Follow the smart process to determine not only the goals for yourself but to help you plan for your child’s future. It always takes a few attempts before getting to something resembling a true goal statement.

Don’t be discouraged, keep practicing. Once this little process becomes a habit, you will wonder how you managed without it.