What should I look for in an English tutor?
Why should I screen candidates?
Why do most parents/guardians look for English tutors?
When will an English tutor not last?
What will improve my child's English abilities?
My child can't read. How can I help them?
What should I look for in an English tutor?
The tutor should be punctual and reliable; they should be able to relate to the pupil; and they should know their subject well.
They should keep you informed of how they have spent each session; let you know if the pupil isn’t applying themselves; and be able to provide homework.
With tutoring, the pupil should show an improvement over time; if not, the tutor should be able to suggest what is going wrong.
A decent tutor will be able to predict whether your child will pass and, roughly, what grade they should expect.
You will usually find that full-time working teachers are booked up by October week of the school year. Retired teachers, English graduates or graduates of a teaching college may be available out there in cyberspace (I hold a teaching qualification but I’m not a registered teacher).
Parents usually contact tutors for Higher pupils:
I get all my work from word of mouth, and the website aplustutors.
You may want to advertise for a teacher yourself, but be careful …
Why should I screen candidates?
Most websites do not have any form of screening process for people who put themselves forward as tutors. You might ask for photographic id before you leave a strange adult alone with your child.
If they claim to have a teaching qualification you can ask to see proof. It will either be a teaching degree or a Post-Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) if they trained in Scotland.
Use your own judgement and that of your child.
Most children in Primary 6 and older will be able to tell you if:
a) the tutor is no use
b) the tutor behaves in a way that seems wrong to them
After the visit, ask your child how it went.
Why do most parents/guardians look for English tutors?
Many pupils will be more interested in maths, sciences, languages or practical subjects rather than reading and writing; yet a lot of college and university courses require a pass in English.
On the other hand, many people look for English tutors if their children have somehow turned out to be either less academic or less ambitious than they themselves are. Note that I don’t use the words ‘intelligent’ or ‘talented’ here.
Some pupils have a special learning needs, including dyslexia, dyspraxia, or impaired vision or hearing.
When will an English tutor not last?
It may be a waste of time looking for a tutor for pupils who are not yet in Standard Grade / Intermediate / Higher.
Children who have not acquired an interest in English need to have a goal in sight. A tutor is less likely to inspire your child to start liking English than, say, the sports section of your newspaper or a good book.
What will improve my child’s English abilities?
Give them fun things to read. Get them a subscription for a computer games, cars, fashion, music or hobbies magazine – ask at your local newsagent for the popular titles.
Let them use the internet. Leave newspapers lying around.
Take them to the library. Buy them graphic novels (comic books) – beware of adult content in some of them. Try Judge Dredd, Hellboy, Batman or the Sandman series.
Teenagers lose interest in sports, mobile phones and computer games at least some of the time, so get them something to read for that long train journey. Many schools give up one English period per week for reading so find out what books they are checking out from the school library. Perhaps offer them an alternative if they are allowed to bring their own books in.
You might want to get into the habit of helping them with essays and homework assignments. Even if you aren’t so interested in English yourself, you will probably be able to spot poor spelling or bad sentences -
sentences which go on too long and have no punctuation the new sentence starts without any full stops or anything
Point these out!
Using a word processor is a good habit for your child to get into – not only will it teach them to type and save them time redrafting essays by hand: on Word a red line appears for spelling mistakes and a green line appears for grammatical mistakes. This will help their writing abilities.
My child can’t read. How can I help them?
Try Toe by Toe by Keda and Harry Cowling. It’s a reading course contained in a single book which gives children daily lists of words to read aloud. It can help increase your child’s reading age in a short space of time.