push!

a dilemma often faced by me while giving tuition is:

please push my kids more.

on one hand, i cannot reject what my employer says. that's the reason i was employed in the first place. to supplement the school's teaching.

on the other hand, i get the reason from my students that they have plenty of work assigned to them by school teachers already. tuition complements, it doesn't supercede.

the balancing scale is easily tipped. at the very worst, my students don't do their tuition homework. which, of course, they can do during tuition, but that defeats the purpose.

i'm not exactly in the position to comment or check if the schoolwork is really that much, or that difficult, as put forth by my students. comparing them to that from university just doesn't make any sense - the comparison isn't even logical to begin with (not apples with apples).

push - easier said than done. easier to agree than to implement.

for those who don't really know, my style to giving tuition has always been liberal. a very university-style kind of tutoring. discussion, interaction and initiative are my basic tenets.

as i've been tutored before by no less than 6 tutors since P3 all the way to J2, i understand what it's like to have a boring lesson. and there's something that can be done to involve students in learning.

you can say: you're just a tutor. why don't you wait for questions, answer them, get your pay. why bother.

it just isn't my style. frankly, if i wait for questions to come, life will be easier - but more boring.

i can't endure boredom!

plus, this method is more effective in that i don't spoonfeed. i encourage feedback and thinking, although for what i teach (maths and english) the most important thing is still practice.

come on, we're dealing with teens, not babies!

i do not mind saying that by this method i have 2 students who were previously on the line for certain subjects. after i taught them they scored no less than 1) topping the class in the subject, 2) if not the top, 2nd position and 3) many personal bests for themselves.

its simple logic. teach well, the kids will like you. they like you, they do well, the parents like you. the parents like you, they refer you.

and referrals are always better in that 1) trust is already a given and 2) negotiating is easier. so, the benefits often extend beyond just getting to keep the student.

and tuition has always been better paying than other part-time jobs. you cna even teach when you do part-time. or full-time, as it will for me 6 months down the road.

might just go into teaching as a career (after my masters, in polys). see how.

alright... that's it.