3 Questions to Ask When Hiring a Tutor by Maria Gurevich.
Fun class vs useful class, where is the balance?
How do you know if a tutor will connect with your child? A bearded professor may be an expert in physics and lull a student to sleep in minutes with a monotonous voice. On the other hand, making students laugh and letting them write about their favourite video games creates a wonderful connection, but fails to improve grades, prepare students for high school, university or highly selective programs like IB, MACs, TOPS or Claude Watson.
When my clients are looking for recommendations, they often ask: can you please recommend someone who has experience connecting with younger kids?
After over 20 years in the business, I know that each case is different. The same tutor may connect very well with one student, and not at all with that student’s younger brother. And each connection is magical in it’s own way. I also know that most parents focus on the wrong thing when calling a potential tutor. But where is that balance between good connection and good education? And what questions should you ask a tutor to predict whether they can strike that balance?
1. Find your child’s biggest flaw and ask a tutor how they will deal with it. My daughter has a tendency to go to the washroom in the middle of a tutoring session and walk VERY SLOWLY making a detour through the rest of the house on her way back. Tell the tutor about this flaw in your first phone call, and ask how they can help. If the reply makes sense, make an appointment.
2. Ask the tutor what skills you can expect your child to develop in the next few lessons. A tutor will most likely require an assessment with your child first. But if they don’t give you a precise list of skills that most of their clients are taught in the first few sessions, I would hesitate to proceed.
3. Ask the tutor what reward system they use to reinforce the work, and how they ensure that the student stays focused during the session. Then ask if they have any way of making a reluctant child learn the material.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me privately to find out more about these and other techniques that have helped me connect with my students and help them achieve their goals.