Children learn not only at school or with an online tutor; they also learn from their parents. Home, after all, is the first school that your child begins his education at. Parents can contribute to their child’s progress by doing small things that can really make a difference. Considering the fact that most couples do a none-to-five job, it becomes tedious for them to find time for their children. Still, with a little effort, you can help your child grow into a responsible, smart citizen.
The following tips would surely come handy:
Read with your Child
Parents should ensure that they spend some time daily with their child reading. Start with story books and gradually switch over to books on general knowledge, history, arts, and science. You can also ask your child to read out aloud an excerpt from a story book or a newspaper article. Next comes discussing the content with your child. You can ask about the characters mentioned in the story you two just finished.
Ho Math and Chess Learning Centre Canada, BC certified math teacher Vancouver, BC, Canada www.mathandchess.com
The other day, some one suggested to me that Ho Math and Chess shall also offer SAT course, I asked why? I was told that there is a demand and also many learning centers now offer SAT courses. The reason for Ho Math and Chess also jumps on the band wagon seems to be convincing but I would prefer to look at this issue in a long term view and this prompts me to spend next few days to ponder on a topic that is just how to run a math franchised centre and be successful? If I know the answer correctly then it will also answer the perplexed question if Ho Math and Chess should offer SAT and also many other similar type of questions? (more…)
Online tutoring, as practiced by some tutors, is more of a ‘knowledge giving process’ than ‘a tutor-child interaction’. Scientifically speaking, the latter is far better than the former. Let us understand the reason for this?
Communicating is often misconstrued as the act of talking. In reality, it is the process of ‘conveying information‘ in a language that is well understood by the participants, or the people involved in communication. Suppose a Japanese person is talking to a French woman and both are using their mother tongues. Would you call it a proper communication? Yes, (to some extent) if both can understand each other’s language well. No, if the language is alien to either of them.
What I am trying to convey is that communication has to be ‘meaningful’. I would rather use incorrect language to convey my message rather than using a language that is totally foreign to the receiver. Online Math tutoring is a complex affair only when there is lack of meaningful communication between the tutor and the student. If you are an online math tutor and you are not being able to improve the child’s performance, lack of communication might be the cause.
The same goes with a tutor specializing in homework help. No one is perfect. Perfection should not be the sole aim of online tutoring. Online tutors should strive to make child understand their concepts, and not force them to learn ideas. L.S. Vygotsky has rightly opined “Communication is at the heart of child development, be it cognitive, social, emotional or behavioral”.
The Author brings over 6 years of e-learning and online tutoring experience. Having a deep understanding of pedagogy and child psychology, the writer has developed numerous strategies to improve e-learning and online tutoring for Grades K-12 and higher through various techniques that question the conventional ways of instructing.
Education, for most parents and educationalists, is more about instructing than helping children become better human beings. This reminds me of an amazing saying by Annie Sullivan “Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction”.
The English Dictionary defines ‘Instruction’ as ‘a message describing how something is to be done’. While this definition is correct in the context of providing education to children, to some extent, it does not recognize the importance of ‘guiding’ children.
Ask any child which subject does he/she fear the most? And the reply would come within a second- Math. Children, most of them, hate Math. In fact, I have seen may groups of popular social networking websites named as “Hate Math”, “Math S…..” (can’t use that word here!) and so on.
The distaste for Math among children is universal. However, there is a simple solution to making Math an interesting subject for children. Any guesses? Here is a hint- Children love to play.
