Need recommendation for tutoring..

[glockdoc]

Howdy!

 

I moved my 12 yr old from Aksorn Pattaya to Maryvit this year and she needs some help. She was #3 in her class at Aksorn, but I expected her grades to drop.....and they did. She is making unacceptable grades in Thai, Math, Science, History, and Social Studies.  I have her in the after school program and saturday program at school, but both are providing rather weak results.  Found out last week after finally going to the office to get a parent teacher conference that her Saturday studies are not even what we signed her up for. 

 

Soooooo

 

Time to get her some quality tutoring and take her out of "extra" school.  Anybody having good results or can make any recommendations?

 

 

This is NOT a debate about Thai/private/international schools.  Trolls can go post useless, off topic responses somewhere else. If you do not have something on topic to contribute go somewhere else. 

 

Thanks in advance to those of you that take the time to help. 

 

I am posting in 2 places as some sub topics do not get much traffic. Apologies admins ?

 

 

 

[nikmar]

My 11 yr old has difficulties at school but responds well to practice time with his Mum. Can you spend some one on one time with her?

Ive stopped worrying so much about his school work to be honest, he shows interest in some other things, such as learning to cook. He s getting good at it as well. Maybe his future lies there.

[glockdoc]

Both my girls get lots of 1 on 1 time with me. I do not read/write/ and only speak a little Thai so I am little help with her school work. Regardless of what road she takes, learning to think is something I want her to master. Math and Science will provide that stable foundation, hence the desire to find above average after school tutoring. 

 

On the flip side, she has a 100 in her English class!

[DineshR]

Hello ... I have a 13 year old step son who I have been helping these past 4 years. When I first started 4 years ago, he couldn't even count, let alone add or subtract .... the school that he was in was terrible and to top it off, the teachers in the school were offering after school tutoring for additional fees ... none of that was helping ... so I took matters into my own hands and enrolled him in Kumon. Best thing I ever did for him. He improved dramatically in his math and about a year into it, I also enrolled him into the English program at Kumon. His english has also improved significantly. 

 

A couple of things to note here.

 

1. It does depend on the Kumon center you go to. I was lucky enough to sign up at one of the better centers. One of the ways you can tell is by the number of students at the center. If the center seems to be overflowing with students, more than likely it is a good center.

 

2. In the Kumon system, the student is given homework for every day of the week. I have helped my son with his homework everyday now for the past 4 years. It is a commitment in time - about 30 mins each day for math and 30 for English. But the payoff has been great.

 

I haven't been able to help him in his other subjects (because they are all in Thai) but I've noticed that as his confidence in both Math and English grew, his grades in the other subjects such as Science and Social Science also improved. Last school year, he was in grade 6 and sat for his o-net. He had to change schools because his existing school was only up to grade 6. So, he applied for 3 different secondary schools and sat for their respective entrance exams. He passed all 3 and was accepted into all 3 schools that he applied for. I attribute his performance to Kumon and the fact that he studied daily for a long 4 years. It's been gratifying to see him grow academically.

 

What is interesting is that when I first started with him, his whole family had basically written him off. But when he started passing those entrance exams, they actually would not believe that he could pass the exams.

 

It only goes to show that anyone and everyone can learn given enough effort.

 

I think my point to you is that it will take some effort and will take time to rebuild the confidence that she had in her earlier school but it is doable. Skip the after school tutorials given by teachers (who in my opinion should be giving their best during school hours - not after hours) and find a good Kumon or any other highly recommended tutorial school and complement that with tutoring at home on a daily basis.

 

Good luck !

[Scott]

As you look for assistance, a couple of things I'd advise you to keep in mind.   First, don't worry too much about the drop in grades.   If you are reasonably sure she isn't starting to lag drastically far behind, a drop in grades when changing schools isn't all that uncommon.   Her teachers may be able to give you a better idea if she needs some specific help.   In math as long as she is able to understand the concepts, she can catch up.   It's more of a problem if she has a gap in the learning, where one school has not taught something yet and the new school has finished.  

 

I would tend to focus on Math and Science to make sure she gets up to speed on those and then concentrate on the other in due course.

 

Second, make sure you are giving her as much support and encouragement as possible.   A negative self-image about her learning can be very detrimental.   In the same vein, try to set down a somewhat structured time for doing her homework and if you, the wife, or possibly a tutor can help her during this time it would be helpful.  

 

Best of luck.   

 

[bubblehead]

On 8/6/2018 at 2:32 PM, DineshR said:

Hello ... I have a 13 year old step son who I have been helping these past 4 years. When I first started 4 years ago, he couldn't even count, let alone add or subtract .... the school that he was in was terrible and to top it off, the teachers in the school were offering after school tutoring for additional fees ... none of that was helping ... so I took matters into my own hands and enrolled him in Kumon. Best thing I ever did for him. He improved dramatically in his math and about a year into it, I also enrolled him into the English program at Kumon. His english has also improved significantly. 

 

A couple of things to note here.

 

1. It does depend on the Kumon center you go to. I was lucky enough to sign up at one of the better centers. One of the ways you can tell is by the number of students at the center. If the center seems to be overflowing with students, more than likely it is a good center.

 

2. In the Kumon system, the student is given homework for every day of the week. I have helped my son with his homework everyday now for the past 4 years. It is a commitment in time - about 30 mins each day for math and 30 for English. But the payoff has been great.

 

I haven't been able to help him in his other subjects (because they are all in Thai) but I've noticed that as his confidence in both Math and English grew, his grades in the other subjects such as Science and Social Science also improved. Last school year, he was in grade 6 and sat for his o-net. He had to change schools because his existing school was only up to grade 6. So, he applied for 3 different secondary schools and sat for their respective entrance exams. He passed all 3 and was accepted into all 3 schools that he applied for. I attribute his performance to Kumon and the fact that he studied daily for a long 4 years. It's been gratifying to see him grow academically.

 

What is interesting is that when I first started with him, his whole family had basically written him off. But when he started passing those entrance exams, they actually would not believe that he could pass the exams.

 

It only goes to show that anyone and everyone can learn given enough effort.

 

I think my point to you is that it will take some effort and will take time to rebuild the confidence that she had in her earlier school but it is doable. Skip the after school tutorials given by teachers (who in my opinion should be giving their best during school hours - not after hours) and find a good Kumon or any other highly recommended tutorial school and complement that with tutoring at home on a daily basis.

 

Good luck !

I had a look at Kumon school near me. It was packed to the rafters with Thai's. They gave me a presentation on the Maths they teach and to be honest I was not very impressed.

 

It appeared to be all rote learning. You practice everyday with you tables for example and get faster. They hold competitions and give out trophies. I did not want to put my child through that nonsense.

 

He was falling behind with his Maths so instead I got a Thai teacher who is a friend of his Maths teacher at school to come every Saturday morning for an hour at a cost of 500 baht which in my opinion is a bargain.

 

She thought him all the relevant class work such as Algebra, she liaised with her friend his teacher at school so she knew where to help him. In 2 years he has improved vastly and is now in the 75% percentile range for Maths, up from the 25% percentile range previously. It is only and hour a week of his time. The rest of the weekend is his. He is now in Grade 8.

[DavisH]

On 8/13/2018 at 2:15 PM, bubblehead said:

I had a look at Kumon school near me. It was packed to the rafters with Thai's. They gave me a presentation on the Maths they teach and to be honest I was not very impressed.

 

It appeared to be all rote learning. You practice everyday with you tables for example and get faster. They hold competitions and give out trophies. I did not want to put my child through that nonsense.

 

He was falling behind with his Maths so instead I got a Thai teacher who is a friend of his Maths teacher at school to come every Saturday morning for an hour at a cost of 500 baht which in my opinion is a bargain.

 

She thought him all the relevant class work such as Algebra, she liaised with her friend his teacher at school so she knew where to help him. In 2 years he has improved vastly and is now in the 75% percentile range for Maths, up from the 25% percentile range previously. It is only and hour a week of his time. The rest of the weekend is his. He is now in Grade 8.

Kumon works well for mastering basic skills but that's about it. And a child needs to be put on this program very early, as most students have to begin at a low level. So a child could be in 8th grade but still stuck doing long division. It's much better to find a good private maths teacher who can tailor a program to meet the specific needs of an individual student. I've seen one of my students go from the bottom of a class to near the top in a year. Of course it doesn't always work that way, but there should be some improvements.