With the release of the 2008 GCE O Level Results 2 days ago, now the focus is back to the current crop of students taking their 2009 GCE O Level Examinations in 9 mths time.

Over the last 2 weeks, i have seen a surge in phonecalls and email enquiries about Chemistry Coaching by parents for their child. Many parents have confided with us on the difficulties in getting their child to Revise Regularly and having the correct mindset of Consistent Hardwork, in order to be more relax when O Levels are nearing. Many of parents are also searching for Tutors and Tuition programs to help their child to build up a strong foundation of essential concepts.

This bring me to blog about “How to Choose An Effective Tuition or Tutor“. In fact, i had made a similar post in Dec 2007 after numerous enquiry by parents on Chemistry Tuition / Coaching.

In the following, i will add on what i have discussed before on Choosing An Effective Chemistry Tutor/Coach:

1) Chemistry Competency & Life Experience

An effective tutor should possess mastery of the Chemistry Subject he is teaching to ensure that he is imparting the correct knowledge and skills to the students. For chemistry, it is even more important that any other subjects, as many students viewed Chemistry as “LAME”, “BORING”, “ABSTRACT CHEMISTRY THEORIES”, “NEED MEMORISE ALOT”, “I DONT SEEMS TO UNDERSTAND HOW CHEMISTRY THEORIES WORKS”, “I CANT SEE HOW CHEMISTRY IS USED IN EVERYDAY LIFE”, etc..

The tutor coach would be most effective if he personally have Chemistry Research or Industrial experience, so that he can translate those “abstract Chemistry Theories” into “Interesting Everyday Life occurences”. This will certainly help to increase the interest of the child which will lead to scoring academically in GCE O Level Chemistry Exams, as the child are highly motivated and intrigued to find out how each and every chemistry theories are related to things around him.

2) Coaching Experience/Credentials

Who can teach your child? EVERYONE ! Yes. Everyone that has finished GCE O Levels will claimed they can tutor your child – just because they have went through the exam before, and especially if they scored an Ace for it? But the question is, does it mean that scholars definitely are able to teach?? Not necesaary! Being A Teacher is different from being A Student. Scholars does not necessary mean that they can effectively coach your child towards academic excellence. This is contrary to many parents’ belief. (no prejudice against scholars =) .hee..i did pretty well also during school days..)

In fact, what parents should be looking at should be the Coaching Credentials / Experiences that the tutor have. Testimonials by ex-students and parents should be a good gauge if the tutor are able to assist your child.

3) Dedication & Commitment

A good tutor coach shows Dedication & Commitment in his teaching and is always willing to go the extra mile to help the students realise their maximum potential and improve their studies, by utilizing their resources and experiences.

Many a times, we have seen Part-time tutors and/or even School-Teachers (that are earning extra buck over the weekend..hmmm…does MOE knows about it i wonder?) more interested in getting a fatter pay check each month, rather then focusing what’s on their plate and doing their role well. They take up more assignments from Tuition Centres & Agencies (which are run by Businessmen) that calls them up. Unfortunately, you will only realise this only after a few sessions with the tutor. As such, you need to check with your child after each lesson what he/she has learned.

4) Open Communication

What beats open communication between the tutors and the parents (and students)? Students learned best when their teachers and/or tutors give them feedback on their progress and highlights their areas of improvements so that they are able to work on what they are not so strong in.

But we realise that many tuition centres do not have this in placed. What happened is that Tuition Centres are usually run by businessman and their main aim is to stay as profitable as possible. The person tutoring are in fact out-sourced (school teachers, undergraduates, housewife, etc) and paid on a per-lesson rate. In this case, how can you expect to have communication??

In our coaching, we highly emphasized on open communications and feedback from students and parents. We always pay attention (on individual basis even though our coaching is in seminar settings) and listen to their learning difficulties and work out strategies to help them improve their understandings.

Besides that, we also have “observers” when our Master Trainers are coaching, so that these “observers” can feedback to the trainers on their performance, and the trainers can make improvements in the next session. In this way, our coaching methodologies can only get better and better.

5) High Energy Coaching

The tutor coach must be able to deliver the learning materials and concepts in an appealing way and engages his students actively in lessons, making learning a natural and constructuve process. Only this way, students become interested in the subject and also become motivated to work hard.

In physics, we call this CONSERVATION OF ENERGY – everything in this universe is about energy, and energy is never lost, it is only transfered from one form to another form. Only when the coach has high energy in coaching, will the student have the energy to learn effectively and efficiently. In our coaching methodologies, we call it Accelerated Learning Techniques! Energy allow students to learn faster and better.

6) Good Class Management

It is important that the whole class / group are happy when they are learning. It is not just the design of the classroom that needs to be conducive, but the tutor coach must be able to have Good Class Management for effective learning. This will help the students to feel at ease and confident of themselves so that they are able to absorb the knowledge.

7) Encourage Questions To Be Asked

HAHA. Many tutors and teachers HATES THIS!   QUESTIONING from students.

I think it is because they did not learn the skills of proper managing a class / group. So whenever a students asks a question, they feel as if the students are purposely interrupting his teaching. Many are also afraid that they may not know the answers to the student’s question.

Isn’t it ironic? We have been taught since young, that Question Are Never Dumb! We also know that many great scientists and inventors are what they are known now, because of the numerous questions that they asked themselves. So by blocking questions by students, we are indirectly blocking them to maximise their potentials.

Questions MUST be asked. And if the teacher/tutor are not able to answer the questions, what they can do is to truthfully acknowledge it, that it is out of syllabus, but for benefits of knowledge, the teacher will check and tell them the next lesson. The students will be more than happy to wait for the answer. =)

I hope the above helps you (parents) to choose an effective tutor or tuition centre.

To Your Child’s Academic Success in Chemistry,

Sean Chua

Master Trainer for Chemistry

PS: If you are a tutor or teacher, i would also like to hear from you. Anything that is constuctive are always welcome.