Your child is failing in a subject, and you want to provide him with professional help? You need to look for a tutor – but not just any tutor. In the following article, we provide some practical tips to help you find the perfect person.
Tutoring may be needed at different levels of a child’s education. The most common is help in learning English, Polish or mathematics, but also in specialized subjects. How do you get down to searching for the perfect tutor? People from recommendations – whether from family or friends – work well. You can then learn a lot about such a person and verify whether his teaching has been successful.
In addition, look at Facebook groups, many teachers advertise there. On the portal you can check the comments section – which teachers are recommended – or ask a question yourself on the group if someone can point out a reliable tutor. There are also a lot of listings on other portals, including OLX.
Never skip reading reviews of tutors, as they are really a mine of knowledge. If, for example, you notice that the negative ones are far more numerous than the positive ones, a warning light should immediately go on.
The next step is to assess the experience of the tutor. In this case, the more experience, the better. Why? A tutor who has already worked with children for at least a few years, knows various techniques for effective learning and can help them overcome obstacles and understand more difficult material. This is especially important if not standard tutoring is involved, but those preparing for eighth-grade exams, matriculation exams or language certification.
Here, too, a little tip: it is worth hiring a tutor who is also an examiner. He or she will certainly pass on a lot of valuable tips and suggest how to solve particular tasks.
However, a tutor does not have to work at school to transmit his knowledge well. The most important thing is that he should have a degree in the subject and practical experience. How does this relate to reality? A simple example – English is often taught by native speakers, that is, not teachers, but native speakers of English.
A woman’s intuition is worth a lot, and if after a few minutes of conversation – whether on the phone or face to face – something doesn’t suit you in the personality of a private teacher, you feel that this is not it, don’t decide to cooperate. You know your child best and are in a position to judge whether the person will suit him or not. Tutoring costs several tens of zlotys per hour, and it is better to choose the right person with whom your child will catch a common language. In addition, arrange a trial lesson to see how such classes look like and how the tutor gets along with the child. Or maybe a good idea with an older student would be online lessons?
Sometimes the search for a tutor takes quite a long time, but don’t be discouraged. Just do your best by trial and error to find a competent person with whom your child will build a good relationship and will be eager to learn.
main photo: unsplash.com/Green Chameleon
