The emotional development of our children and how it translates to Academic performance

I've been giving classes and building curriculum. Our tuition program has been reinvented and I know that our continuous improvement program has to continue. Apart from being purely academic and focusing on content of higher effectiveness, I want to take the chance to share what many of our tutors really had to do in order to transform our students into motivated learners.

The subject says it, its dealing with the emotional needs of our students. While I belong to the more old-school type of tutor, dealing out drills and cheat sheets and constantly challenging my students at their levels, I also devote time talking to the students regarding their day and their feelings. It's not counseling work, but just listening as a friend or a concerned big brother. Often, children have been taught to build our wealth, score A's and to stay ahead of the competition at all costs, but the greatest cost ends up to themselves. Increasingly, students turn up for parents-arranged tuition classes with a hefty load on their shoulders - the load that society had accumulated for everyone.

Simply lending a listening ear, albeit for just a couple of minutes, can do magic for the lessons. You can literally see the student's eyes light up as they begin to share their recent adventures and feelings, unloading their hefty societal burdens into these minutes of mindless blabber. The contents are unimportant, but paramount is the talk per se. After sharing their stories for the week, these students settle into a conducive state of mind, soaking up the lessons we've prepared for them.

In our tutor training and sharing sessions, every single tutor had experienced this - instances where it was more important to listen to a student, rather then to push through the next drill, or rush through the lesson of the day. Our emotional health is often neglected and is usually our first major barrier to learning. One way we can find out if our children are doing ok emotionally is by looking out for anti-social behaviour. You can google for it, or look at this article that may give you some symptoms to look out for. I am not saying that everyone is affected, but in this modern time and age, everyone should share so that our society can be aware of the possibilities.

Our team will continue to identify more barriers to learning and share with everyone, students, parents and other tutors. Till next time!

Teacher Jack
www.happytutors.edu.sg