How To Be a Good English Home Tutor

English is deemed as the universal language and has helped people who speak different mother tongues understand each other through it. As more and more people are encouraged to learn English, there are also many standards set to make sure that speakers can communicate eloquently and effectively. Since English has gained worldwide importance, it also affected the students who are learning the subject. They may feel the pressure to perform well in the subject and demand for more lessons to enrich their understanding. This is why there is also a demand for English home tutors. Aside from gaining supplementary lessons from tutors, students also opt for tutors to help them during their English O levels and A levels, as they are important for the students to ace to get into the university of their choice.

The challenge for students

Singapore is known to have the best education system in the world. However, this doesn’t guarantee that all students will excel. More often, parents assist their children by engaging in a home tutor to help their children with additional lessons. These lessons aren’t just to review what they’ve learned already but also to help students who are struggling with their subject or topics overcome them.

Home tuition for different subjects provides great help for students especially if they are also having trouble with independent learning, time managing, or just overestimation of how much they can work on their own. Aside from this, students also have to balance their academic and social life and with the help of home tuition, they can even free up more time to use for other activities.

There is also the matter of motivation and self-confidence in students. When they see their peers doing well in the subject while they remain stagnant or having trouble, they may start to feel like they can’t improve. They will start to lose their confidence and start to believe that since they are not gifted linguistically, they also can’t succeed in the subject. Loss of motivation can be a bigger problem than not understanding the subject at all. with the help of an English home tutor, students can get back the confidence they lost through steady progress and evident improvements.

Characteristics of a good English tutor

Many aspects differentiate the average from the good. This also applies to home tuition and home tutors. With many home tutors in Singapore offering a wide range of subjects and promises to raise your children’s grades, how would parents know which home tutors would best provide for the student? We’ve gathered some of the characteristics parents should look for in a good English home tutor.

1. Ability to assess students

It’s important to understand what you are working with before diving into the work. This is why parents need to hire a home tutor that provides a thorough diagnosis of the student’s needs, weaknesses, and strengths. As an English tutor, they should be able to determine what the student can improve on and their performance in the different components of the language. For example, the tutor should be able to understand how strong the student’s vocabulary is at the beginning of the sessions, or does the student understand and use basic idioms?

These factors can be used as the baseline for the diagnosis of what the student can still work on. Additionally, tutors will be able to determine the areas that they are weak in and help them overcome those. As English mainly tackles listening, speaking, reading, and writing, it can be helpful if the tutor is able to determine which parts the student has already mastered and which they can still work on. This will help maximize the time to overcome their struggles and issues.

The assessment also isn’t completed at the very first session. As tuition goes on, there can be instances wherein other issues will come to the surface and be the actual cause of the issues with the child. As such, when tutors adapt their lessons according to the child’s learning needs and styles, it may also take some time for them to fully understand what would work best for the student.

2. Dedication and commitment

Dedication and commitment can make or break a good home tutor. Of course, credentials and academic qualifications are put into great consideration, and more often, tutors will put a lot of effort to perfect their profile. However, these alone wouldn’t be enough for them to properly assist their student.

Many can try to impart knowledge but only a few can teach. As such, only fewer can stay true to their words. Many tutors can make promises to parents in order to secure the position but it’s important for them to follow through with them. This will show their dedication to their job and their commitment to continuously help the student.

If parents are only starting to hire an English tutor for their child, they wouldn’t be able to assess dedication and commitment at first glance. This is why feedback and recommendations from the tutor’s previous students are important. They will allow the parents to know who they are dealing with and how effective of a home tutor they are. When people leave good remarks on the tutor, that means that they have shown the best service.

3. Patience

This goes hand in hand with dedication and commitment. Parents should understand that tuition can be a difficult and stressful process for students. Some students have apprehension with regard to it since they may think it’s more of a chore or they may already feel pressured enough with school. It’s important to let them understand the benefits home tuition would give them and the additional help from the home tutor.

Tutoring can be a laborious process as well for the tutor. Some students wouldn’t be as cooperative and others will outright not trust their tutors. Getting them to open up to the tutor may take some time. This is why patience is a very important factor to consider when hiring a tutor for your child.

Home tuition is a process and the results don’t show overnight. This is why tutors need to be able to help students retain their motivation throughout the journey to reach their goals. English may look easy on the surface but going deeper it can be as equally complicated as other subjects. Without the proper guidance, students can get lost in all of their terms and rules.

4. Provide constant practice

English is a language and language is dynamic. There are many subtopics in English and learning them all can be difficult for students. As such, it also changes all the time. Some rules that might not be accepted before can be used now. Writing in English also requires different rules depending on what kind of writing it will be such as academic, persuasive, narrative, etc. They all use different tones and rules when writing them. Some rules can be acceptable in narrative but may not be in academic.  Speaking is also different from writing. Students have to learn stresses, phonetics, and intonations. Mastering a language doesn’t just stop with knowing how to use it for speaking or writing, students also have to be trained for listening and reading. Additionally, they should also be able to understand colloquial terms and figures of speech to fully master using them.

With a home tutor that provides ample time to go over the student’s writing, speaking, reading, and listening skills, students will become more confident with the subject. Practice helps them go over their mistakes and correct them as well as work on their techniques for exams and reading comprehension quizzes. It will help students get better and better and show more improvement than that of their previous work.

Conclusion

In a country like Singapore, home tuition isn’t a new development instead, it’s become more of a necessity to provide students with the extra support and assistance with their studies to reach their optimum academic potential and help them reach success in the future. English has become just as important over the years with more and more speakers as the years go by. It’s understandable that students also want to excel in the subject as it can help them also in the future.

There are already many English home tutors in Singapore who are well-versed and knowledgeable on the language and subject. As mentioned, while academic qualifications are important, there are also other factors that differentiate good home tutors from others. These tutors are not only experts in the subject but also willing to teach students no matter their weaknesses and instead, focuses on helping them overcome these weaknesses. However, there is no fool-proof way to become better at something. Progress and improvement will always be a culmination of different strategies, methods, and guidance. As such, parents are also encouraged to take part in their child’s journey to academic success.

Interested in hiring an effective, reliable, and devoted expert English tutor? Check out FamilyTutor, the best home tuition in Singapore. We not only offer English subjects for our students but also more than 200 others. FamilyTutor also caters to students from pre-school and even beyond university level. Here in FamilyTutor, parents can be sure their sons and daughters are in good hands!

In need for more English Tuition content? Check our FamilyTutor’s English Tuition blog section too!

Carelle

Carelle

Carelle is a teacher who has been through the ups and downs of the teacher and learner life. She wishes for every learner to gain educational satisfaction that will help embody the people they want to be in the future.

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About FamilyTutor!

FamilyTutor is an established home tuition agency in Singapore! We match suitable home tutors for our clients not just to improve the students' academic grades, but also to build a strong rapport and meaningful relationship with the students and even the their whole family. FamilyTutor put every student in good hands!

If you need an excellent home tutor, feel free to call/WhatsApp us at +65 8777-2168! Our matching service is free!

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