Horror Stories - Tutors

[janice_0950]

Hi Baliam!!!

OMG! what a bad experienced you had.

Oops! mine are super small case then.
Part time tutor fr agency also cannot be trused. As they have their full time jobs cum existing student's. OMG! I speechless not. existing student's. how about mine.....allow her to covered almost a year. Why no reasonable. Cannot figure out!!! Before I wanted to fire her off. who knows she said it 1st. Sms me and get me to hire a tutor. her schedule vvv tight cannot afford 1 an hour for me. OMG! My tution just a day in a week only 1 an half hr. What a short time. She dun even bother to re-schedule her timing. And no notice and tell me off to get a tutor soon.

I found maid & tutor really hard to hire.

Oh dear, SA2 are coming soon. And I need a tutor soon....
Please help me.....:(

[janice_0950]

Madam koh, oh thanks so much of the tips!!!

not to pay advance!

[meinteel]

whitecorp:

Many tuition coordinators are pretty crafty-to seal a deal they will just randomly mix and match, sometimes lying to both parents and tutors concurrently. After all, its non of their business how sour things get once they have earned the first month's commission.


Thats why I shun them like vermin these days.

JC H2 Maths Graduate Tutor

I know right? I hate them too. I always get my own students rather than through the agency. That way, I can speak to the students and parents before confirming the tuition assignment.

That way, I know what the child is like and what are their expectations of me. They would also know what I intent to do and my expectations of the student. We take our time to negotiate the pricing, discuss the student's problem and fix a good timing for the tuition.

I feel it is better this way. I feel more comfortable.

[sunnydays2]

kitty2:

meinteel:

Balim05 said that the she paid the tutor beforehand. Its a rare case for private tuition isnt it? Most private tutors collect after a fixed number of tuition or at the end of the month. If I were you, I would have asked for refund since she is always not free.


Personally I dont believe in market rates. Before the start of the tuition, all the rates would be discussed. If the parent find it too high, or the tutor finds it too low, just reject. Once you accepted the rates, there is no point being sore about it. One is a willing buyer and the other a willing seller.

Also, everybody has to pay income tax and CPF contribution. Even small time businessman and students doing part time vacation jobs.

Reading the links Balim05 posted, it reminded me of this student I have. At the start, suppose to have one lesson a week but he cancels tuition 2-3 times a month - at the last hour. Imagine your employed asking you to take no pay leave for a week 2-3 times a month on Monday morning through a SMS.

I came across such a tutor,we were asked to pay before hand.That time i was cluless of tutor's fee.I paid her in adavnce and at the end,she was a con tutor!!!!Lately,i asked another tutor,also from forum to show me her certificates to prove that she's a graduate.She could not.

Dedicated and good tutors are hard to come by.

Just sharing.

I don't understand why do you have to pay in advance if the tutor conducts lessons at your house. Unless maybe if you go to the tutor's house for lessons.

I paid my tutor after every lesson. I used to pay her after every 8 lesson but she said that there are parents who keep changing the tuition days and times. In the end, they never keep track properly and dispute when is the 8th lesson. So now, she charges for every lesson which I think is fine for me.

Next time, just DON'T pay in advance!

[concernmother]

it is so difficult to find a responsible, good one to one tutor. When my dd was in Primary School, I engaged a home tutor (science) for her. The tutor always call in sick.


Now that she is in Sec 2, I engaged a male science tutor. Initially, my dd said that he is very good. After the third week of lesson, she seems to lose interest in tuition. Normally i will ask her for feedback about the tutor. She told me that he will show his impatience by "rubbing" his head in frustration. Sometimes he will do a silent "msk" sound. My dd does not like it at all. She said that she feels so discouraged.
If my dd is good in that subject, I will not need a tutor in the first place. Why is he so impatient? I thought tutors are supposed to give encouragement and be positive so that they can influenced the child?
What should I do? should I have a face to face talk with him? it will be very weird. I don’t know of any science tutor. what if he does not want to teach my girl?

[meinteel]

It would be good if you could try to find out the problem. You had two home tutors and both dont seem to work out. Are they really not there, or is the problem with your girl? Why the sudden change in attitude from the second tutor after three weeks of lessons?


Is your daughter paying attention during tuition? Does she revise her work before tuition? Does she do anything that has been requested by the tutor in the previous lesson?

[concernmother]

meinteel:

It would be good if you could try to find out the problem. You had two home tutors and both dont seem to work out. Are they really not there, or is the problem with your girl? Why the sudden change in attitude from the second tutor after three weeks of lessons?


Is your daughter paying attention during tuition? Does she revise her work before tuition? Does she do anything that has been requested by the tutor in the previous lesson?

I believe she does listen during lesson. I have seen her done her hw before tuition. My dd is quite slow in science and needs a lot of time to explain the concept to her. I do not know whether she is really exaggerating. The tutor has been teaching her for 2 months now and I hardly see him smile.

[meinteel]

As a tutor, I usually smile only before and after the lesson. Not sure if that scares my students but I always try to be serious during lessons.


Maybe you can raise it with the tutor. Ask him for some feedback with regards to your daughter. Try to encourage your daughter to ask questions and to clarify any doubts immediately.

I had a student who tend to nod in agreement whenever I explain something to him only to get it wrong again the next lesson. I realised that he didnt understood because I was going too fast and he didnt dare to inform me. It gets frustrating for me when I don’t seem to be able to help my students perform better in his/her studies and its the same for my friends who are tutoring now - especially when we get students who refuse to learn.

Try sharing with him what you think of your daughters learning progress and asking for his feedback. By talking to him, you will be able to find out how much he knows about your child’s learning process as well as plans to help her improve further.

If the tutor is really impatient, you might want to discuss with your daughter about changing tutors. It would be better for the long run.

[weatherbee]

Have a talk with the tutor. If things don’t improve, talk to your daughter about changing a science tutor. There are so many tutors around. I don’t know about you but I like to get full-time tutors. Tutors who depend on tuition for a living/money. I had student tutors and moe teachers tutors before. Find that they tend to call in sick, etc more often. Perhaps they don’t need the tuition income that much so that they can afford to keep cancelling lessons but I don’t want my children to miss so many lessons and become more lost in school.

[snowcloud]

[quote]Have a talk with the tutor. If things don't improve, talk to your daughter about changing a science tutor. There are so many tutors around. I don't know about you but I like to get full-time tutors. Tutors who depend on tuition for a living/money. I had student tutors and moe teachers tutors before. Find that they tend to call in sick, etc more often. Perhaps they don't need the tuition income that much so that they can afford to keep cancelling lessons but I don't want my children to miss so many lessons and become more lost in school.[/quote]
Hi,

I agreed with weatherbee about engaging full time tutor but I would like to highlight something about tutor who claim to be full time tutor. I ever work as a tuition coordinator and when tutors said they are full time tutor, I would ask them how many years of experience they had. Reason is some tutors quitted their full time job to be a tutor and hence calling themselves a full time tutor. However, they might not be able to take in enough students to substain so they will start looking for job while giving tuition. Once they found another full time job, they will tell parent they can't give tuition anymore. Hence, hope you will check on their experience instead of the title \"full time tutor\".

Hope the above helps.