A recent letter to the newspaper brought up the issue of whether the standards of the primary school level mathematics are realistic. Due to the fact that everyone is trying to outdo one another, student’s abilities are stretched. However, there is always a limit, especially when these students are still at a tender age. Today spoke with 11 teachers and former educators to get their views. Half of them stated that home tuition is no longer a luxury, but a necessity instead. They also mentioned that all students in the class do not have the same learning pace, therefore it isn’t possible for teachers to cater to everyone. ”We deal with a class of 40 and it is difficult to give equal attention to all. Our role is not only teaching and planning lessons,” said one of the teachers.

However, all of them did agree that ”higher ability” questions in exams are required to determine and differentiate students based on their abilities. Moreover, such questions are only a handful and not throughout the entire paper. A Ministry of Education (MOE) spokesperson stated that the syllabus is review on a regular basis and the difficulty ”has not increased over the years”. She also pointed out that the syllabus was reduced in 2001. Another teacher pointed out that parents would question school teachers when the questions given in school doesn’t match the difficulty of that in tuition centres or assessment books.

Mr Ian Tan, a reader of Today, has raised his concerns that the primary school system “has become one of irrelevant, unrealistic standards”. He also mentioned that this is the reason why students have to turn to tuition in order ”to fill the gaps that teachers sometimes struggle to fill”. ”Why are pupils being asked to solve questions of higher level logic at such a young age? Does it make them more creative in problem solving? Does it help them when they are faced with heuristic problems that even adults do not have to deal with in the workplace? No, it only leads to more rote learning of, ironically, heuristic methods,” added Mr Tan.

The MOE spokesperson revealed that a new primary mathematics syllabus will be implemented next year. However, there will only be minor changes involved. Accordingly, the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board will review the format of the examination paper before the implementation takes place. ”Care will be taken to ensure that these changes do not increase the level of difficulty of the paper,” the spokesperson said. For the full article, check it out here.

At Awesome Home Tuition, we believe that home tuition is required nowadays in our very competitive society. It is always good to start your child out in primary school, so that they will pick up a good learning habit. When you hire a home tutor, it is always important to know that the priority is assisting your child in the syllabus set by the school. It isn’t about pushing your child over the limit to do questions that are beyond their level as this can deter them and develop stress. If you are looking for Mathematics tuition for your child, check out our website. We have many tutors available to help your child excel in their studies!

Language differs from that of Mathematics and Science in the sense that it doesn’t involve any formulae. Instead, it requires consistent practice in order for anyone to excel in it. Hence, the only way one will be able to perform better in Mandarin is to actually use it more frequently. In schools, the typical timing allocated for second languages is usually no more than two hours daily. Furthermore, as we live in a multi racial society, conversations with friends are usually carried out in English. The best way to help your child improve in their language skills is through home tuition. Here are some of the benefits that home tuition has to offer compared to the traditional classroom setting.

Firstly, in schools, when it comes to reading of the textbook, the teacher has to alternate between different students. In other words, your child might not get the sufficient practice that they required. For home tuition, since it’s 1-to-1 and your child gets the full attention, there will be ample time for practice.

Secondly, with regards to writing compositions, teachers in school will definitely give assignments for your child to complete. However, not all students might be able to keep up. With guidance from a home tutor, your child will be able to understand better and learn from their mistakes. This will effectively help to improve on their writing skills.

Thirdly, for speaking wise, Mandarin isn’t used all the time in school. 90% of the classes are conducted in English and Mandarin is only used during a certain period. With a lack of conversing in the language, it might be a challenge to become well verse in it. Furthermore, not all families converse in Mandarin at home. Through home tuition, your child will have more opportunities to speak the language and gain fluency from it.

Finally, there are certain concepts to learn when answering questions and taking exams. Although they are covered in school, not all students are able to grasp it instantly. Some may have a tougher time. A home tutor bridges that gap for your child as there will be more time to clarify doubts, revise and make preparations in advance. Sign up Chinese tuition for your kids to help them score better!

Nonetheless, children are very dependent on their parents to guide them through their early stages of education (e.g. elementary and primary levels). They often let parents take charge of their academic learning and parents in turn, will often strive to provide their child with the best learning resources.

Home tuition is often a viable option, especially for parents who are not able to coach and monitor their child’s academic studies adequately. However, some parents may neglect their role in monitoring the entire home tuition process, despite all the money and time both parents and children commit. Some parents become over-reliant on the home tutor to educate their child. It is nonetheless still important for parents to remain engaged in heir child’s learning process and take note of important roles that they can play in order to make home tuition a successful experience for the child.

Communicate with your child

• Before engaging a home tutor for your child, it is good to discuss the benefits of home tuition with your child.
• Here are the following benefits you can share with your child so that the child will embrace home tuition in a positive light:

1. Home tuition can help the child cope better at school.
2. Home tutors can also help the child with difficulties in their school homework.
3. Home tuition also serves to cover additional content and practices (in guide books and assessment books) with the child.
4. Home tuition helps to monitor the child’s learning progress and ensure consistency or even improvement in the child’s academic performance.
5. The child can also ask questions readily and the home tutor can relieve his/her doubts instantly.
6. Home tutors also sometimes cover content beyond the school and adopt different teaching styles to enrich the child’s learning.
7. After each tuition lesson, parents should also communicate with the child. On one hand, parents can get feedback regarding what the child have learnt from the lesson, and on the other hand, to assess the child’s interest and attitude towards the lesson.

2. Monitor your child’s academic progress

• Parents are encouraged to monitor their child’s learning progress and homework assessments.
• Through which, parents can give home tutors feedbacks and suggestions, so that the tutors can more effectively connect with the child and help the child improve.
• For instance, some parents may require the tutor to assign homework of an easier nature, so that the child can cope independently, without supervision, and also boost their confidence in their studies. In contrast, there are also parents who will request for more assessments of a challenging nature, so that the child can practice more and be better prepared for the academic challenges in school.
• Parents should also communicate their expectations of the child’s academic performance with the tutor, so that the tutor can guide the child accordingly. Of course, the tutor will also give parents feedback on the child’s learning progress during tuition and prediction on the child’s ability to cope and do well in their tests/examinations. Thus, parents should also be receptive and be open to adjust their expectations accordingly.

3. Provide an environment ideal for your child’s learning

• Parents should provide an environment suitable for tuition and generally, for the child to study. It should be quiet, coupled with good lighting and ventilation. There should also not be other form of distractions (e.g. presence of other people, playing of radio or television).
• The child should also be equipped with all the study resources he/she needs (e.g. calculator, dictionary, stationeries, assessment books, writing pad).

4. Establish a trusting and transparent relationship with the tutor

• Parents and tutors can initiate to communicate via’ an exercise book, which serves to record the child’s homework assignments, child’s progress and tuition schedules. Through which, tutors and parents can also leave notes or reminders for each other.
• Parents should also make payment on time and inform the tutor earlier if there were to be any cancellation or changes in tuition schedule. Of course, tutors can play a part in sending parents reminder. Nonetheless, mobile text messaging and calling can also become effective tools for communication between both parties.

5.Ensure your child is ready for tuition

• Parents should always ensure that their child is at the optimal mental and physical state for tuition.
• The child should not be having tuition despite an over-loaded schedule or when undergoing intense exhaustion or stress for the day.
• The child’s mood is instrumental in determining the effectiveness of the tuition, which may otherwise create more negative impacts on the child.

Home tuition should be a meaningful and enriching tool to drive the child’s academic progress in school. Parents play a critical part in assessing their child’s academic needs and will input home tuition into their child’s curriculum accordingly. Upon engaging any home tuition service, parents should monitor the entire process to ensure that the home tuition is a beneficial and enjoyable experience for the child. Visit Awesome Home Tuition if you wish to hire a home tutor for you children

University days are on the best times to maximise your potential and plan well for your career. Based on my experience, I truly enjoyed my days studying business at a local university in Singapore. There are some steps that one can take in order to make the best out of your university course of 3 years and get the job you want when you graduate.

Firstly, be consistent and diligent in your studies. University students have a lot of independence in school and it does not really matter to the lectures should you skip any tutorials. However, attending classes regularly gives you a better understanding of the subjects that you will be taking for the final examination and helps you greatly in your revision. In addition, there would be a lot of projects and deadlines to meet for different modules that you take in school. Projects give you hands on experience and creativity when approaching a certain problem. These valuable skills go a long way in helping you in your future career. Nevertheless, when a fresh graduate seeks his first job, due to the lack of experiences, most of the employers would actually be looking at your grades in university.

Secondly, besides excelling academically, a student should also not neglect co-curriculum activities. Sports and games club are good areas that you can participate actively during your free time in school. This helps to build friendships with students from other faculty and allows a good balance of study and play. For myself, I am actively involved in my university’s editorial club as their marketing and public relations representative. Besides writing and promoting for the club, through some networking and referral, I am also able to source for advertisers to promote their products in our magazines. This helps the club to raise more funds for our activities. Through this valuable experience in school, it has added value to my future career as a teacher as I become more resourceful and organised in my work. On top of that, the university would usually invite speakers in their professional field to share their experiences with the students. I enjoy attending such seminars to better understand the career that I would like to take when I graduate. During the interview session, I am also able to ask questions that I have pertaining to the job and allow the speaker to share with us what it takes to be successful in that role.

To further add on, university days are the best time to network with professionals, lectures and friends that could in future help us with our career. Giving the lecturers a good impression of us allows them to provide us with a better testimonial when we are seeking employment upon graduation. Internships are also essential to give us more exposure to the job scope that we are interested in. From here, a student can understand how is it like for a typical day in that role and whether these jobs will eventually suite him anot. This will be a great opportunity too for the student to build contacts and perhaps work with them upon graduation.

More great Grammar.net Infographics here.

This round, let us take a further step to burrow into another set of questions asked by the parents of secondary school students. Once again, for secondary levels, parents also can be classified into two specific groups, 1 and 2 respectively.

Group 1:  Short interview session (between 10-15minutes) with some general queries to ensure you fit the bill. 

- Parents belonging to this group wants to find suitable and responsible private tutors for their secondary school teens. (Usually secondary 1 to 3)

Commonly asked questions:

• Strengths in the subject the tutee is weak in and approaches.
• Experiences in handling in specific level of students and average academic results current students obtained.
• Negotiation in the tuition fees quoted.
• Able to switch timing if students have extracurricular activities or supplementary classes. (Refers to important notes for more details)

Important notes:

• Unlike primary school tutees, secondary school tutees have packed schedules; you have to state out your stand if you are unable to change tuition timing as needed. Never agree to the request of changing if you are unable to fulfil. (Especially full time tutors and committed MOE teachers)[/list]

Often at this stage, when a change is really needed due to the changes of supplementary classes or extracurricular activities in school, and if you are unable to cater accordingly or as promised, termination of services and replacement of tutor would normally be the fateful ending.

This not only waste your past efforts and commitments showered on the tutees, parents tend to feedback to our agency thus in turn created more unwanted problems.

Group 2: Clear and strict interview session (Range from 30 to 45 minutes)

• Educated parents (usually parent also a degree holder or highly educated parents) in this group tend to be worried about their children’s academic progress and results obtained from recent tests or examinations. (IP students, secondary 1-5 students and students sitting for upcoming examinations)
• Parents prefer very detailed answers to their questions, with assurances given, your patience is needed here as uncertainty encourages the parent to ask more, but using different ways.
• Focus more on methodology and approaches to help tutee.

Commonly asked questions:

• Faculty in university or polytechnics and years of experiences. (Share more about your tuition histories when asked about experiences)
•  The approaches and techniques to help tutee base on his/her weaknesses. (Allows parent to share with you on the tutee’s weaknesses if you need more information other than what our agency coordinator provided you)
•  The committed timing requested. (Parents of this group dislike changes, whatever timing and day they given or assigned to you, usually is/are the day(s) the tutee is free from school and extracurricular activities)
• The types of materials used during lesson. (there is lesser range of secondary level guidebooks or assessment books in the market as compared to primary levels, so, parent would be happier to know you have own materials or notes for the tutee)
• Able to add on lessons when examinations approaching? (normally a week or two before examinations, parents require tutors to add on 2 or 3 extra lessons and ought to turn up for lesson the day before actual examination)[/list]

Parents of secondary level students are sensitive and they seriously wish the tutees to go into good junior colleges or polytechnics with good majors or faculties.

To them, O levels examinations is the more critical stage than PSLE as it marks the future endeavours and career paths of the tutees depending going to JC or Polytechnics.

Summing up, with a good set of phone interview techniques and good preparations for commonly asked questions helps you to promote yourself effectively and efficiently, not forgetting it is definitely an important initial stage to convince parents to use your services.

Unquestionably, it allows parents out there to have better understanding and engage you with more confidences and assurances.

In addition, check out the next article which gives you an illustration of a good, effective and persuasive phone interview.

If you want to explore some common or tricky questions that would probably be asked by the parents of primary level students, you may visit http://www.hometuitionagency.com.sg/blog/home-tutor/common-phone-interview-questions-primary-level/

More great Grammar.net Infographics here.

Have you heard of a story of 2 salesmen representing their company to sell shoes in the remote areas of Africa? The first salesman that was sent there came back with great disappointment. He reported to his boss that the people prefer to go barefooted and shoes are not required by them. On the other hand, the second salesman exclaimed that no one wears shoes in this country and they need 5,000 pairs of shoes urgently for the people. This goes to show that both salesmen looked at opportunities differently and it is a question of correct attitude. Success belongs to someone who has the right attitude in handling a difficult task. (visit http://www.theselfhealingcoach.com/2010/01/12/a-tale-of-two-shoe-salesmen/ for “A Tale of Two Shoe Salesmen”)

Based on my teaching experience, students tend to pay lesser attention on their least favourite subject as compared to their favourite. I have once taught a student who hates English the most. Every day, he would be busy practising his Mathematics questions and neglecting his most hated subject- English. No matter how hard his mum encourages him to improve his English; he made no effort to take her advice. By the time I started tutoring him on his weaker subject, he was far behind his peers in terms of his foundation and grades. To start off, I tried to make the English home tuition as interesting as possible in order to gain his genuine interest in the subject. English tuition thus involve spelling games and storytelling with role play. Many fun activities were done during our English lessons and as time goes by, he gained for confidence and interest in reading and writing. After a few months of intensive English tuition, we finally saw significant improvement in his grades for English. In no time to come, he became more proactive in learning and enjoying English tuition.

Sometimes students face challenges in coping with difficult subjects. Courageous students deal with them positively and learn from their mistakes whereas others try to escape from obstacles. There is no end to learning and every mistake that we make encourages us to perform better next time. As a student, it is important to have the correct mindset and an open heart to learn. In addition to this, hanging around with the right company is also important. We should cultivate friendships with students who think positively and excel in their studies. Being surrounded with friends who have faith and confidence indirectly help us to produce thoughts that can contribute to a creative studying environment. This will help you filled with faith attitudes.

Lastly to conclude, practise saying something positive about your studies. For example, “Great job done, I have made improve in my English grades. I will do better the next time!” With more encouragement from teachers and parents, students would feel more assured in tackling difficult subjects with a positive attitude.

To enable this article to serve as a better understanding to tutors out there, we managed to get in touch with one of our experienced senior tutor to share with us her past phone interviews with parents.

Without a doubt, different parents have different approaches to screen their private tutors so as to make sure the tutors engaged are the right and suitable ones.

In brief, according to the tutor, for primary level, parents fall into three categories. Following are the questions raised by Parent A, B and C in general.

Parent A – Straight forward type (short, detailed and clear cut)

- A typical parent in need and search of a committed tutor for his/her child to see her/him through academic year or important examinations

(Most parents of primary 2 and 4 fall into this category)

Commonly asked questions:

[list type="flag"]

• How many students you have on hand currently?
• My child is specifically weak in certain section, subject etc, can you briefly tell me how you are going to coach/guide her?
• Any negotiation in your tuition rate or fee?

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Parent B – Anxious, worried type (Sounded worried, very tactful with questions asked and answered, strict)

- Parents fall under this category urgently need full time committed tutors to help their children deal with their weaknesses and important preparations for upcoming examinations

(Primary 1 stepping stone, Primary 3 GEP & streaming examinations, Primary 5 preparation for PSLE)

Commonly asked questions:

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• How many p1, p3, p55(either one) students you have on hand?
• Do you provide own tutoring materials? (Normally, own teaching materials and notes preferred)
• How familiar are you with the topics covered in school?
• You have any experiences with GEP or PSLE students?(If so, how are their results or did they manage to get into gifted classes or express level in secondary school?)
• What faculty you took in university?(For example, if you answered you majored in Business Administration, parent tend to ask you, since you majored in that particular faculty, why didn’t you venture out to work instead?)
• Can you tell me exactly how you are going to help my child? (Must very clear and concise)
• What are the grades of the students you are teaching now and which school are they from?
• I dislike changes in timing, my child has a lot of ongoing tuitions and programmes, you sure you’re committed and fine with the timing I proposed to your tuition coordinator?

[/list]

Parent C – Extremely worried parents or parents with bad experiences with their previous tutors

- parents in this category needs your listening ear, patience and you ought and need to give them assurances and convinced them you are the right one

(PSLE, last minute flocked in parents seeking tutors’ assistance for children’s examinations in as short as 2 to 4 weeks time or with very poor results, all levels in general)

Commonly asked questions:

[list type="flag"]

• Number of students on hand and which school they are from?
• Able to add in tuition lessons as and when needed?
• Any special techniques, shortcut methods and sets of coaching to show improvements in the shortest time?
• Will you behave like my previous tutor?(Here, the parent tends to share a lot with you, so PATIENCE is the keyword)
• How familiar and well about the topics covered in examinations?
• Can tell me more about your experiences?(Tuition histories and achievements, types of students handled, results etc)
• I need a committed home tutor, so able to stick to whatever arranged as time is running short?(Assurance needed here)

[/list]

To conclude, no matter which type of parents you come across, with the reference of this guide of general questions, be well prepared before you attempt to make a call to the parent.

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• Science can help children to think in a logical way about everyday events and so solve simple problems.
• Science, and its applications in technology, are socially useful activities with which can help to improve the quality of people’s lives.
• As the world becomes increasingly more scientifically and technologically oriented, it is important that future citizens should be equipped to live in it.
• Science, well taught, can promote children’s intellectual development.
• Science can positively assist children in other subject areas, especially language and mathematics.
• Primary school is terminal for many children in many countries and this is the only opportunity they may have to explore their environment logically and systematically.
• Science in the primary school can be real fun. Children everywhere are intrigued by simple problems.

[/list](UNESCO, 1983)

Locally, Science is introduced at all Primary 3 levels and this has often posed as a challenge and concern to teachers, parents and students alike. Due to the tight curriculum time, the primary school Science curriculum often manage to cover more on content, rather than on the application of the scientific knowledge learnt in the answering of assessment questions.  Hence, some parents have resort to engaging Science home tutors to cover more extensively on the Science subject.

Besides reinforcing on the Science syllabus, Science tutors can also encourage weaker students to write extensive Science notes to help them understand and remember key concepts better, so that they can more effectively apply their scientific knowledge in their assessments. With Science tuition, children can also be exposed to more practice questions (e.g. multiple choice or open-ended), such that the child can better digest and handle Science questions often asked in varied forms, yet testing on the similar concepts.

However, many parents do not realize the importance of giving their children Science tuition, until the child is in their final examination year, when they are taking their Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). This is when the child often displays struggles in the Science subject, as the PSLE Science covers content from the Primary 3–6 levels. On top of the large amount of content that the child has to grasp, the nature of the PSLE Science questions has also become increasingly difficult. It is therefore beneficial to the children if parents can introduce Science tuition into their curriculum since the Primary 3 level.

Nonetheless, Science tuition also serves to strengthen the child’s foundation in Science, which will facilitate their learning of Science at the Secondary level. Science tutors essentially teach primary students the basic science representations and concepts, which later on help them cope with the broader understanding of the sophisticated teachings of science and technology at secondary schools.

Through Science home tuition, parents and tutors should also encourage children to look at Science not merely as a subject based on Scientific content and experiments, but as a way of discovering which can be applied to solve problems or doubts anywhere and anytime around their physical environment. It is also important for Science tutors to develop the child’s interest and appreciation towards Science, so that they can expand the following general skills:

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• acquiring knowledge and learning skills
• keen observation, questioning and exploration
• ability to devise means of getting answers to their questions
• interpreting and communicate their findings

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All these skills will not only build up their confidence as learning individuals, but also strengthen their learning capabilities in other areas/subjects and set them on a life-long learning journey.