Child Tuition
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Originally posted by Chin Eng:
this is good! i hv learnt this after quite a period of struggling with them....and i find that when u apply baby steps they could leap further.....and also i realized back then due to me wanting to do so much (no school stuff tho) , i also stress up myself on top of the stress from their resistance and me stressing them........
Many times, we have to take baby steps and solve issues individually.
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hey splashy... steady pom pee pee... dotter in EM1... My boys get by their mother tongue lah.... older one still manage to get A for his PSLE (actually quite happily surprised). Younger one picking up. Nowadays buy I WEEKLY for them to read - one page also good. Then watch Chinese TV series - Pao Lian Deng quite good. Yesterday bought Shen Diao (Condor Heros) DVD series. At least they enjoy Wu Xia stories.
Old son doing well in Secondary school. Charting his own course, can't do much to help him in his studies. Younger one, prepping him for PSLE awreaddy (though still 2 yrs away). Working hard on pushing his science and chinese marks. Personally, low band 1 or high band 2 is good enough for me lah. Main thing is that they must not lose the desire to excel in everything or the desire to work hard. They are well aware of "beginning with the end in mind". -
Zha!Originally posted by Chin Eng:hey splashy... steady pom pee pee... dotter in EM1... My boys get by their mother tongue lah.... older one still manage to get A for his PSLE (actually quite happily surprised). Younger one picking up. Nowadays buy I WEEKLY for them to read - one page also good. Then watch Chinese TV series - Pao Lian Deng quite good. Yesterday bought Shen Diao (Condor Heros) DVD series. At least they enjoy Wu Xia stories.
Old son doing well in Secondary school. Charting his own course, can't do much to help him in his studies. Younger one, prepping him for PSLE awreaddy (though still 2 yrs away). Working hard on pushing his science and chinese marks. Personally, low band 1 or high band 2 is good enough for me lah. Main thing is that they must not lose the desire to excel in everything or the desire to work hard. They are well aware of "beginning with the end in mind".
ha ha she is only so so for chinese lah
, she was able to opt for HC cos she did well for the rest of the subjects (anyway only letting her try for the half year cos i felt i can motivate her, so beginning of this yr i took part a bit of guiding her in chinese with my half past six standard in chinese , used to be the Daddy's area for chinese, but he lack methods, just blah blah blah....like a train....)....
as long as her other subjects are not effected...
sorry dinky, don't mind me borrow your thread..
chin eng and maybe others too,
how about telling me how to make children hv confident in themselves?? my kids always looking at other children doing well in sports and they always think themselve no good....yozzz....even my dotter, always looking at other ppl good in this and that, but just cannot see she herself is good in her own ways despite me keep highlighting to them both their strength.......wonder where hv i gone wrong???
they always tell me they envy these children can get medals which makes they feel lousy of themselves....
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Chin Eng
i hope my girl will be able to chart her own studies in sec too......
i told my girl....i doubt i can help her anymore when she goes to sec, the standard will be way beyond me i think.....
even her maths at this level sometimes takes me a while to crack my brain.....gosh..... -
Its ok splash! Its good to share. If you care, you share.
Anyways, during a tuition session, I would want to go through vocab, grammar, and problem sums with him. Also I would want him to read to me a passage from a story book and discuss it with him. But most of the time it doesn't seem to work because he can take up the whole tuition session just to do the problem sums only. I can't do anything else with him because after that his attention span just switched off. And the problem sums, only manage to go through 4 or 5 because each problem sum must explain to him sentence by sentence. It seems that I can only do so much right? But I have thought maybe there is something basic he is missing out and if I can cover that during tuition, maybe I just have to give him homework and let him practice more so as to improve efficiency. What do you think? -
I thought long and hard about this question about confidence...Originally posted by a_splash:how about telling me how to make children hv confident in themselves?? my kids always looking at other children doing well in sports and they always think themselve no good....yozzz....even my dotter, always looking at other ppl good in this and that, but just cannot see she herself is good in her own ways despite me keep highlighting to them both their strength.......wonder where hv i gone wrong???
they always tell me they envy these children can get medals which makes they feel lousy of themselves....
I think we need to differentiate between confidence and whether one is introverted/extroverted. One of my sons is less extroverted that the other one, yet his confidence level is always very very high. Simply put, he is not a very chatty person like his brother, but he knows who he is and what he can do. While my extroverted son is always attempting to play catch-up with his brother.
Perhaps children need to be pointed out to the little victories that they may have during the day. Simple things like being made the group leader for class decoration, or just coming in top 10 in a test is a good affirmation that something right was done. I use the half empty/half full glass sometimes to demonstrate the perception of success. For each little victories that happened, there will always be an encouraging word and I continue to invite them to do more. I tell them the reward is the feeling of accomplishment and the satisfaction that something is done right.
Confidence is not built overnight and it does not need mighty deeds. It need little things that are done right and the appreciation one gets for it. Gradually, a child will learn to be assured of themselves as to what they are capable of doing by being a change agent. Once they know that inspite of their age (and size) they can choose to participate in steering their own lifes (or their classmates), confidence will grow.
Some kids also need to understand their own psyche, ie, what they are and what can/cannot do. In household, there will never be sportsmen, and my boys are ok with it. They will never participate actively in the schools' sports day 'cos they are not really built for competitive sports, but both of them are quite good with mind games, like chess and nowadays, Scrabble. My younger boy is getting so good that he beats the entire family sometimes. -
Originally posted by dinky1409:
Try getting him to explain to you, in his words, the problem sums instead of you telling him what it means. Cannot understand, nothing to practice. You need to address the problem of why he cannot understand.
And the problem sums, only manage to go through 4 or 5 because each problem sum must explain to him sentence by sentence. It seems that I can only do so much right? But I have thought maybe there is something [b]basic he is missing out and if I can cover that during tuition, maybe I just have to give him homework and let him practice more so as to improve efficiency. What do you think?[/b]
Do these folks speak English at home? Seems to be lacking in comprehension... having said that, P3 is a tough year. -
Despite you trying to praise them in their strengths in other areas in an attempt to boost their confidence, deep down inside they will still feel inferior in the area of sports. It is true in all balance of life, humans are created such that you win in some and you lose in some. You are good in some areas, but not so in other areas. It's good you are highlighting their strengths but the main problem may not be your kids not recognising their strengths, but instead they are concerned with what they are losing out on which in this case are the medals.Originally posted by a_splash:chin eng and maybe others too,
how about telling me how to make children hv confident in themselves?? my kids always looking at other children doing well in sports and they always think themselve no good....yozzz....even my dotter, always looking at other ppl good in this and that, but just cannot see she herself is good in her own ways despite me keep highlighting to them both their strength.......wonder where hv i gone wrong???
they always tell me they envy these children can get medals which makes they feel lousy of themselves....
Maybe if your daughter feels that way, you can ask her what she feels like to be good in. Discover her interest and talents. Together with your support and encouragement, let her pursue her interest and talent. Knowing that she has her mother behind her supporting her, who knows, she might excel in that field of interest.
Just my ramblings Hehe.. I'm not a parent so what I may say may be irrelevant.. Hehz..
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I did. I asked him to explain to me instead of me explaining to him but he would just be stumped. Or he would just repeat the sentence to me. Maybe he did understand but have trouble expressing himself and his understanding. Is that the problem? If that is, how do I rectify that? His parents make it a point for them to conversate in Eng at home.Originally posted by Chin Eng:Try getting him to explain to you, in his words, the problem sums instead of you telling him what it means. Cannot understand, nothing to practice. You need to address the problem of why he cannot understand.
Do these folks speak English at home? Seems to be lacking in comprehension... having said that, P3 is a tough year.
Actually comparing when I first came to him and now, there seems to be a slight improvement in his studies. So is it actually fine so far as he is learning and improving, or am I expecting too much from him in such a short time? -
haha.. someone else beat me to this comment! was gonna mention that in this thread ><;;Originally posted by pwnz0r:Average attention span is usually capped at 45mins. Once past the 45mins mark, then marginal returns will rapidly decline.
this thread really is very interesting =) it made me reflect on my learning experience in school as a child...
i think the parents bonding part is very true... my mom was a Secondary school A maths teacher... throughout my childhood, she was the one who always helped me with my maths... although at 20 years old now, i still count with my fingers sometimes =p for the 9 timestable.. i will always always use my fingers.. you know that trick right? when it is 2x9.. you hide your left hand 4th finger, then it's 18. when it's 3x9.. you hide your left hand's middle finger, then it's 27, etc etc... dont know if this is a popular trick... if you dont understand, i'll take some photos to explain =)
as for english.. when I was in pre-primary, i actually failed those "peter and jane" things - -;;;;; (are they still used in schools...) but now, im actually pursuing an english degree at my university - -;;;;; sometimes, it's funny how it works... i loved to read junk when i was a teenager though.. (my mom hated those sweet valley and babysitter club books)... but i think they actually helped, cuz i really enjoyed reading them...
for him, mmmm... he is just pri3... i dont really know children's books that well... but i might actually suggest comics for a start? i know some parents might oppose this.. but it's also an art.. it's communicative, there is a plot, it might actually help him understand sentence structures, it helps build imagination (readers actually have to fill in the blanks for a lot of stuff in comics).... you can try to start him on a project of cutting and pasting calvin & hobbes comic from the sunday times into a notebook... (if i remember correctly, the comic strip from each week actually flow... might have changed now.. it has been ages since i saw a sunday times since im overseas now) maybe at the end of every month, his homework is to summarize the plot (i.e. composition writing). or he can choose to change something different in what happens in the comic... (draw out and give the characters new dialogue) or reflect what he liked or disliked about the comic..
another idea is watching TV!!! lol~~~ ok, i know you see him just twice a week... cant really parent him like your child or something.. but just throwing this out since i thought of it... mmm.. well, i think for watching TV... the best is to watch something with subtitles.. i remember i often learnt a lot of english words when watching channel 8 dramas because of the subtitles =p my younger sister, she is crazy about cartoons.. by watching her dvd cartoons in different languages.. she actually picked up some japanese as well as cantonese..... lol
anyways~~~ good luck! -
Originally posted by dinky1409:
my son, in fact even my dotter who did well in math, also had problem with maths problem sums.....umm in my own view, math has its own special 'language' which some even if very good in English subject, still cannot understand or grasp..
Its ok splash! Its good to share. If you care, you share.
Anyways, during a tuition session, I would want to go through vocab, grammar, and problem sums with him. Also I would want him to read to me a passage from a story book and discuss it with him. But most of the time it doesn't seem to work because he can take up the whole tuition session just to do the problem sums only. I can't do anything else with him because after that his attention span just switched off. And the problem sums, only manage to go through 4 or 5 because each problem sum must explain to him sentence by sentence. It seems that I can only do so much right? But I have thought maybe there is something [b]basic he is missing out and if I can cover that during tuition, maybe I just have to give him homework and let him practice more so as to improve efficiency. What do you think?[/b]
during school days....i hv come across ppl good in English but cannot do their maths...and ppl good in maths but just no good in English...so i come to my own conclusion...they uses diff part of brains bah....
now they do not resist problem sums anymore, in fact my dotter always choose to solve problem sums before she do the other parts of the papers i ask her to...she now can 'see' the fun in challenge herself in math problem sums...
and just yesterday nite my son finished five maths prob without any need to be 'pushed' and even gotten all correct, putting in workings and models.....i thinks thanks to the modeling methods (which is very good to help them understand)...just only a few weeks back when he was first told to do them....he got all wrong and we had lots of tug of war and hair pulling time....then i made him sit and went thru with him with lots of 'tug of war'.....explaining with models....
my son used dislike putting any workings in problem sums....he can use mental and put the answers and for his p2 math sa2 he lost all the marks for that....answer rite but no working...cos he just don't know how to put them in writing....
like Chin Eng's word : take baby steps....i did....when he started he only needed to do from 2 to 3 questions (usually i will say 5, cos i know he will bargain ha ha) to now 5 at one go.....he will do them faster....slowly the numbers will be increased...hee hee... -
thank you Chin Eng!!!!Originally posted by Chin Eng:I thought long and hard about this question about confidence...
very good ideas and advise there....ya its not a overnite thing and i like especially about u mentioning sharing the half cup water theory....why din i think of that!!! good one again!!
ok i will from now one try to be more 'hardworking' to point out the little things they done well!
thanks!
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Its good you guys are giving advice and all, but at the end of the day, I am still only his cousin and the time I spent with him is limited. Its true that the parent factor is a very important thing, but I don't want to go up to my aunt and tell her to do things like this and that. Thats just plain disrespect. It's like I'm telling her how to raise up her child properly. Given the limited amount of time I have every week, I would want to optimise the time and make a significant difference to his studies in my capacity as a tutor. Its not just a job to me, he is my cousin and I would want him to do well. At the same time, I'm gaining experience in child psychology so as to aid me in my future parenting experiences.
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that's the problem....i ask them wat they like most to do....i always get 'don't know' from my dotter, as for my son, this monster has many ideasOriginally posted by dinky1409:Despite you trying to praise them in their strengths in other areas in an attempt to boost their confidence, deep down inside they will still feel inferior in the area of sports. It is true in all balance of life, humans are created such that you win in some and you lose in some. You are good in some areas, but not so in other areas. It's good you are highlighting their strengths but the main problem may not be your kids not recognising their strengths, but instead they are concerned with what they are losing out on which in this case are the medals.
Maybe if your daughter feels that way, you can ask her what she feels like to be good in. Discover her interest and talents. Together with your support and encouragement, let her pursue her interest and talent. Knowing that she has her mother behind her supporting her, who knows, she might excel in that field of interest.
Just my ramblings Hehe.. I'm not a parent so what I may say may be irrelevant.. Hehz.. such as play games on the computer otherwise game boy...errrr which i prefer to keep to a minimum...
and oh....my dotter likes the netball cca she join alot but rec'd big blow when after three yrs of netball she was not pick to join school team...and usually if they don't get picked to join school team by P5, out they go....but due to her so keen in netball, the teacher put her with the beginners (P3) she was so sad and cried in school....was moody for days....poor mummy here got so worried....anyway managed to get her out of her sadness...encouraged her to join another cca (hopefully she can find new interest), she insisted to continue the netball saying still got chance....aiyo....to wat i see, how to?? the training is back to simple stuff and how the teacher is going to judge she can be opted to school team again with the beginners?? next yr p6, don't think she has much time....but since she is happily playing away even tho with beginner...i let her make her choice.....
i wanted to do something for her in this area since she likes it so much but how to?? i called up the netball club at kallang they hv training session for this age but its not convenient for me to bring her there every saturday....
anyway she seems fine now...so i just let it be bah....anyway i think its good also that she learn to cope with setback, its a good skill too....... -
comic is how my son pick up reading....pokemon comic....now he is working towards 'earning' it...Originally posted by aznpridegirl217:for him, mmmm... he is just pri3... i dont really know children's books that well... but i might actually suggest comics for a start? i know some parents might oppose this.. but it's also an art.. it's communicative, there is a plot, it might actually help him understand sentence structures, it helps build imagination (readers actually have to fill in the blanks for a lot of stuff in comics).... you can try to start him on a project of cutting and pasting calvin & hobbes comic from the sunday times into a notebook... (if i remember correctly, the comic strip from each week actually flow... might have changed now.. it has been ages since i saw a sunday times since im overseas now) maybe at the end of every month, his homework is to summarize the plot (i.e. composition writing). or he can choose to change something different in what happens in the comic... (draw out and give the characters new dialogue) or reflect what he liked or disliked about the comic..
he is starting to read one or two enid bryton's book now.....before he only likes books with lots of colorful pix.... -
its really so nice of you to take interest in your cousin's studies!!Originally posted by dinky1409:Its good you guys are giving advice and all, but at the end of the day, I am still only his cousin and the time I spent with him is limited. Its true that the parent factor is a very important thing, but I don't want to go up to my aunt and tell her to do things like this and that. Thats just plain disrespect. It's like I'm telling her how to raise up her child properly. Given the limited amount of time I have every week, I would want to optimise the time and make a significant difference to his studies in my capacity as a tutor. Its not just a job to me, he is my cousin and I would want him to do well. At the same time, I'm gaining experience in child psychology so as to aid me in my future parenting experiences.
ya...that is definitely limits u can do....
takes time too......one at a time.....
my son is struggling to memorise his timestable....he uses his fingers, by adding....but still not bad lah, can add quite fast ha ha...tho still much slower than totalling memorising the timestable itself.....
all the best! -
Is he able to hold a conversation?Originally posted by dinky1409:I did. I asked him to explain to me instead of me explaining to him but he would just be stumped. Or he would just repeat the sentence to me. Maybe he did understand but have trouble expressing himself and his understanding. Is that the problem? If that is, how do I rectify that? His parents make it a point for them to conversate in Eng at home.
Actually comparing when I first came to him and now, there seems to be a slight improvement in his studies. So is it actually fine so far as he is learning and improving, or am I expecting too much from him in such a short time?
How about getting him to circle the important elements in the problem sum? My son does that (I am sure I didn't teach him this technique), it helps the child to focus on what is being asked. Obviously, if he circles words like "is" or "the" instead of "apples", "more than", "9" or whatever numbers in the problem, then there is a problem. And yeah, we use to have lots of problem with less than and more than.... sometimes he would blurt out a number that is not even in the question.... phui! vomit blood.
Any improvement is good. Like I said - baby steps..... -
Totally! I fully agreed. Learning from failures. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Try asking her taking up other sports? Hockey is good..Originally posted by a_splash:anyway she seems fine now...so i just let it be bah....anyway i think its good also that she learn to cope with setback, its a good skill too....... -
Comics are great!
We've got the up to date collection of the original Pokemon series (vol 22 already I think)
My boys also luv Foxtrot, Dilbert, Calvin and Hobbes.
The issue about reading is: parents should not dictate what their children should read. Parents should check on what kind of books these children like and go from there. -
Hmm, my cousin would just trial and error when I ask him what should he do in a particular sentence, "plus" "minus" "divide" "times". I mean obviously it has to be among these 4 but he just 'hantam'. How to prevent that? He is more concerned in finishing the sums not understanding them..Originally posted by Chin Eng:Is he able to hold a conversation?
How about getting him to circle the important elements in the problem sum? My son does that (I am sure I didn't teach him this technique), it helps the child to focus on what is being asked. Obviously, if he circles words like "is" or "the" instead of "apples", "more than", "9" or whatever numbers in the problem, then there is a problem. And yeah, we use to have lots of problem with less than and more than.... sometimes he would blurt out a number that is not even in the question.... phui! vomit blood.
Any improvement is good. Like I said - baby steps..... -
Color can help in grabbing attention. Highlight each letter as and when with different colors randomly. U need not highlight all just randomly. U can try writing the timetables on pocket size card which he can carry around and look at. This way he can constantly remind himself of the timetable. He will be able to read it when hes waiting for the bus or in between periods. Remember dont cram the card, cramming will turn him off.
The ability to concentrate fully is said to be 1.5 hr even for an adult after some time people will start to drift its only knowing the important of what they are doing prevent them from wandering too much. A little humor during lessons does help to freshen one up. U teaches him english right? if so u can teach english after he seems to loss his attention. Engage him in an english conversation or make him write down anything interesting that happened to him. U can also bring some pictures along and make him discribe it. Along the way u can introduce to him new vocabulary. Remember to write this vocab in cards too. -
ya this concentration span thing is a problem when comes to last min thingy.. .......i had been fire-fighting and m still fire-fighting.(deal only with things they think or i think they hv prob)...no time to go thru their syllabus.....
cross my fingers....... -
Just gave him another tuiton yesterday. It went pretty good! I gave him some kind of science book with lots of information and pictures on science stuff and a model composition book I bought for him the previous tuition session. Yesterday when I come, immediately he showed me a piece of paper with some kind of a composition and some pictures on it enthusiastically. So I read it and I thought it was a big improvement on his composition but he showed that he copied it from one of the stories in the model composition book and he grinned seeing that I was tricked by him. But what exactly does this means? It seems he love reading and he read quite a lot of stories in the model composition book already. So I went through his homework, some story telling thing(composition), and went through a few problem sums with him. All along he keep wanting me to read with him the science book because he just love science. So i told him we finish up this first and this amount of problem sums. When we are done, we go down to the sofa and I read with him the science book. He agreed and we manage to finish up a number of problem sums more than usual. Then we are done, and I did as I promised and explain to him some of the stuff in the science book. Then I had to go and he was still reading the book when I left. Very much engrossed. Haiz, times like this makes me think the joys of parenthood. Hehe. Am I doing the right things so far?
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dinky,
good for u!! thumbs up!!