All About Finding & Evaluating Tutors

[Thetrees123]

janet_lee88:

i just dismissed my chinese tutor.

even after 2 years of 1-1 under her, son hasn't made much improvement...using my son as a guideline would be reliable since he is older...since he is in sec 1, i would expect him to wake up and listen more attentively in class. it wasn't an easy decision :frustrated:

远在天边，近在眼前，我的补习中心就在你对面，你却视而不见。
Janet,有空来我的补习中心坐坐，包你满载而归。

[vinegar]

similarly, I just dismissed my son’s English tutor. She is ex-moe teacher but has left her teaching job for yrs n now doing part time studies.I could sense her focus is not there.She is always rushing n expect me to start teaching new topic to my son,then she does the follow-up.

I feel it is not necessary to engage ex-moe teacher,esp if they’ve left their jobs for some times n do not aware of the current syllabus. Even I showed her the syllabus,she keeps forgetting what I’ve told her.Paying almost $90 per lesson but I am the one doing most of the teachings not worth for $$.
Now,my son back to group tuition n he is happier.

[janet88]

my daughter dislikes chinese…so i guess she is switched off during her lessons.

i told hubby i cannot guarantee him excellent results if i coach her, but if i am paying $50 every week for an F, might as well i teach myself…give me the money to buy more hair dye.

[senseimichael]

vinegar:

She is always rushing n expect me to start teaching new topic to my son,then she does the follow-up.

Huh? What is a tutor for if she's not teaching the topics?

The more I have been around this forum, the weirder the people I get to encounter!

[janet88]

it’s HARD to find a reliable tutor who can connect with the child and deliver lessons effectively…but a tutor should not be hired to coach the child in his/her school work…am i right?

[mum03]

Recently I engaged a maths tutor from an agency. The tutor used to teach in sec school, but presently she is only teaching part time in a sec sch.

It seems she as taken assignments from the agency to teach pri sch maths.
The agency recommended her for long term, as she could also teach sec maths when my DD goes to sec sch.
Tutor came by for 1st lesson. She sits at the table and just stare at my DD when she was doing her correction. When DD ask her how to go about doing the problem sums, she told her to try first. DD was staring at the problem sum for 20mins, without understanding how to do.
For 2 hrs lesson DD only manage to do about 5 sums. To top it all tutor was more concern of her personnel appearance,has there is a wall mirror in front of her, she keeps looking at it every 5 mins, and adjusting her hair and earrings. It was so distracting, my DD says if she don’t explain the concept how am I going to solve the problem.

I fired her after 2 lessons. I don’t pay her to stare at my DD.

[sleepy]

That's the reason why I still prefer tuition center, at least there's structured worksheets. And in case I'm not satisfied with teacher, can complain to center, ask them to change teacher or switch to another time slot. I did that twice :evil:


I will only hire a private tutor through word of mouth. But sadly, can't find any reliable recommendation yet.

[AdonciaTang]

janet_lee88:

my daughter dislikes chinese...so i guess she is switched off during her lessons.

i told hubby i cannot guarantee him excellent results if i coach her, but if i am paying $50 every week for an F, might as well i teach myself...give me the money to buy more hair dye.

Lol. so true. it just means the $50 is not working for her.

[AdonciaTang]

sleepy:

That's the reason why I still prefer tuition center, at least there's structured worksheets. And in case I'm not satisfied with teacher, can complain to center, ask them to change teacher or switch to another time slot. I did that twice :evil:


I will only hire a private tutor through word of mouth. But sadly, can't find any reliable recommendation yet.

Yes me too. I don trust home private tutor unless word of mouth.

At least when i send my two DS to tuition centre, I can see great improvement some more. So much better than when i use home tuition.

[janet88]

AdonciaTang:

janet_lee88:

my daughter dislikes chinese...so i guess she is switched off during her lessons.

i told hubby i cannot guarantee him excellent results if i coach her, but if i am paying $50 every week for an F, might as well i teach myself...give me the money to buy more hair dye.

Lol. so true. it just means the $50 is not working for her.

including my son, it works out to be $115 every sat, $460 every month.
it's a risk to take out chinese tuition...but i have to think of my finances if tutor is not able to help.