private tuition

[BeContented]

atutor2001:

BeContented:

Am very curious.....when choosing the home tutors for Maths. Do you only look at those with Maths Qualification eg. Uni/Undergrads from which faculty? Must major in Maths?

Experience is the most important. Math tutor must be able to teach more than 1 method i.e. model or algebra or.... Must be flexible to adopt the appropriate method depending on the kids' inclination. Math tutor must be able to group questions and solving methods into types. Then the kid can look at each question in a different light i.e. recognising the type, rather than trying to solve heuristically.


I think those are the basic requirements.

Hi atutor2001, thanks for the info. Those are actually skills that one may not be able to sift out ....only time will tell.

Maybe I should clarify....
I do not intend to hire any Maths teacher, am just purely curious how do parents hire a home tutor these days. Besides referral, I see a lot of those 'agents'/'tutor-matching' etc.... So do parents actually ask to see the certs of all these Maths tutors? And what kind of qualifications do they go for? Only Maths graduate? Do parents choose Maths grad over Engr grad or as long as major/studied Maths?

Personally I know of some Engr grads and DH is one too. In my case, once in a blue moon, DH will 出马 (take over and enlighten us) when he sees that the kids and myself are stuck....and when he explains, I'll go uuuuoooo and arrrrrr :love: together with the kids. But I must emphasize....the ability to simplify, use good examples to present clearly is a skill......not all has it. But imo, in general Engineers tend to be pretty good in conceptual thinking.

PS : No, DH is not a tutor...the Engr friends I know are not too.
DH is toooooo lazy to even coach the kids much, which to me is a real pity cos' DH can teach concept really well (somehow he has the skill since our JC days, classmates would flock to him whenever they need further explanation)
Well, I just thought I'll share my view on Engr's strength for parent's consideration

[Mdm Koh]

Herbie:

Some planning is certainly required prior to tutoring the kid.

However, this tutor tat we had does not do that.
She comes to my place empty handed.
She verbally explain the terminology to my kid and expect the child
to copy down her explanation.
And the poor kid has a hard time trying to take down notes.

If the kid writes too slowly she complains that it affects her train of thought.
After the session, i flip thru some books and find the terms with complete explanation inside
a reference book.

Hence, i think tutor shld plan ahead before giving tuition.

The tutor is someone you know whom you approached to help, right?

And she helped your child for two sessions before requesting to be paid the next time?

Since you seem to have many complaints about her, I am just wondering why you approached her for help in the first place. :?

[Mdm Koh]

blessed777:

Herbie:

I think my kid's tutor was trying to turn the tuition into a coaching

session instead.
I hv suggested to hv tuition on alternate week for subject A and subject B
But was rejected and yet she says that my kid can ask questionss beyond Sub A and B.

There's a private tutor who suggest a parent fr her kid to hv tuition 2 x a week for the same subject instead of once a wk as the kid is weak on that subject n said that it is common for p6 kids to hv tuition 3x a week fr a weak subject ? What if a kid hv more than one weak subject :?

It depends on how weak the student is. I know of students from the PRC who have English tuition three times a week or more.

[blessed777]

Nebbermind:

blessed777:

What if a kid hv more than one weak subject :?

one word....HABIS!!

juz kidding!

U mean habis wang ? :moneyflies: :moneyflies: :moneyflies: :moneyflies:

[verykiasu2010]

Herbie:

Most of the time, the teacher jus talked randomly on

issues that are not related to the subject.

that is easy to deal with

feedback to HOD / principal and ask when the syllabus will be completed

[Herbie]

Mdm Koh:

And she helped your child for two sessions before requesting to be paid the next time?

Since you seem to have many complaints about her, I am just wondering why yo proached her for help in the first place. :?

We did not expect her 'help' to turn out as such.

[jtoh]

BeContented:

Personally I know of some Engr grads and DH is one too. In my case, once in a blue moon, DH will 出马 (take over and enlighten us) when he sees that the kids and myself are stuck....and when he explains, I'll go uuuuoooo and arrrrrr :love: together with the kids. But I must emphasize....the ability to simplify, use good examples to present clearly is a skill......not all has it. But imo, in general Engineers tend to be pretty good in conceptual thinking.

PS : No, DH is not a tutor...the Engr friends I know are not too.
DH is toooooo lazy to even coach the kids much, which to me is a real pity cos' DH can teach concept really well (somehow he has the skill since our JC days, classmates would flock to him whenever they need further explanation)
Well, I just thought I'll share my view on Engr's strength for parent's consideration

Maybe you should get your hubby to be more involved in your kids' schoolwork. Free tuition! But seriously, some people have the knack for teaching concepts or just clarifying a question without actually explaning everything. They're able to lead you in the right direction and let you see the answer. The lightbulb moment.

[BeContented]

jtoh:

BeContented:

Personally I know of some Engr grads and DH is one too. In my case, once in a blue moon, DH will 出马 (take over and enlighten us) when he sees that the kids and myself are stuck....and when he explains, I'll go uuuuoooo and arrrrrr :love: together with the kids. But I must emphasize....the ability to simplify, use good examples to present clearly is a skill......not all has it. But imo, in general Engineers tend to be pretty good in conceptual thinking.

PS : No, DH is not a tutor...the Engr friends I know are not too.
DH is toooooo lazy to even coach the kids much, which to me is a real pity cos' DH can teach concept really well (somehow he has the skill since our JC days, classmates would flock to him whenever they need further explanation)
Well, I just thought I'll share my view on Engr's strength for parent's consideration

Maybe you should get your hubby to be more involved in your kids' schoolwork. Free tuition! But seriously, some people have the knack for teaching concepts or just clarifying a question without actually explaning everything. They're able to lead you in the right direction and let you see the answer. The lightbulb moment.

I wish he would, the kids would benefit a lot but he's tired out from work and that's why I'm a SAHM...to take over the kids :skeptical: Even our friend has tried for the longest time to get him to tutor their kids ha ha. Agree, some people just have that knack. Have told him, in future if he decides to retire, he should become a part-time lecturer cos' he actually enjoys 'enlightening' people

[janet88]

My hubby is a trained engineer. So he coaches kids in math and some topics of science like magnets, energy, electrical circuits. He is actually good in science, but cannot do topics like diversity, system (wordy topics).

After 2 years coaching my son in science, I am very drained :imdrowning:
The other reason is bcos my son can't seem to break out of the 60 mark range. MCQ section which he has to hit at least 56/58 out of 60 is getting tougher.

[Fantacia]

Anyone with a good home tutor to recommend for pri 1 kid?