(Un)Motivating Students in their studies today

The lack of motivation had been a bane to all students for a long time, sapping away their energies everytime they sit down in a classroom or a study table. It's a shame because it affects students of high abilities or average abilities.

The causes of such low motivation can be many, and we should discuss them aloud, as many other articles have done. If you've had such experiences as a student before, you'd have known that the feeling is not enjoyable at all.

1. Condescending Teachers

"...You will never be able to make it in life with your attitude..."
"...When you guys return next year from graduation, remember to pay <student name> a visit too..."
"...You will fail your exams and go to ITE..."

You wouldn't believe it, but many students share with us about their teachers putting them down in class. Of course, lets give teachers the benefit of doubt, since this could be completely out of context as they could have taken an excerpt from what was meant to be get them to work hard instead. I will proceed to ask the students who share with me this "so how do you feel when you heard that from your teacher?" Many just say, "I'm not going to do his/her homework anymore" or "I hate maths".

2. Pushy Parents

Concerned parents usually have a positive influence on students. Some will monitor homework, constantly remind them of the benefits of getting good grades and that's great. On the other hand if parents a lot of stress on their children, demanding that they score A* all the time. This could have an adverse effect on the student. As one article puts it "...If you lose your cool over a broken cup or a bad grade, your children may start to believe that they need to be perfect all the time..." Where such parents might think of themselves as pushing their children to be the best, they might be pushing them off the cliff instead.

3. Bad friends

You might think when friends just want to play, student's are probably in trouble with their studies. I think this is not exactly true and engaging in play and other activities can actually help forge strong and healthy friendships - contributing to the much neglected emotional support that students need. The real problem arises when friends actively tries to steer the student away from his or her responsibilities. If it nearing the national exams and a friend tries to get a student out for a study group that's fine. If it was to head off early for a CCA meeting, or to a movie and dinner, it takes everyone away from what we're really trying to do.

4. Time management

When kids just want to be adults, they want to do things that they have ownership in, like sports or dance. They devote their after-school time for these activities and end up with no energy left to follow up on their academic work. I always remind our students to treat their studies as if it were work. Adults work 8 to 5, and that's their time dedicated to making a living. Of course, other factors like discipline and other ad-hoc school activities would crop up to disrupt planned activities. In the end, students themselves need to prioritise and balance their own responsibilities to be a great adult.


Disclaimer

Please note that I make no reference to specific people and it's just a pattern that I have observed in tutoring the students. It's all for information and no offense and I will continue to do my best for the students of Happy Tutors

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

Unlearn - Learn - Relearn

The years pass quickly and we find ourselves in a repeating cycle. and I have these tips and tricks for Teachers, Tutors, and whoever is filling in these roles.

1. Approaching new topics requires taking baby steps

When we, as learners, come across new topics, we try to use our prior knowledge to understand the new information. Many a times, this leads to catastrophic results in our comprehension of these new topics. As teachers and tutors, we might find it easier to understand the background of our learners - use relevant, accurate, content from the learners prior experiences in order to introduce new topics.

2. Allowing students to make mistakes so that we can begin unlearning

In teaching & learning, we must create a safe haven for the learners to make mistakes without feeling guilt or remorse or shame. In fact, we should seek to force learners to make mistakes so that we can trace their thoughts with them and correct their thinking process. This unlearning of the erroneous thinking process is one of the most important steps so that the learner can comprehend the subject matter accurately.

3. Aim to increase the frequency of exposure to the new information.

Our minds better retain information that keeps repeating. We can have very intense drills in a short period of time to score high marks immediately, or we can recollect past lessons frequently in order to promote long term retention of information. While the latter works much better long term, we need to cater for longer time for such information processing to take place.

4. Awake but homework not done?

Many students and parents have the same worry - that the amount of homework to be done sometimes requires the sacrifice of sleep. Resulting in a sleepy condition for next day of classes at school. Is this a required trade-off?

No. It is proven that the physical and mental condition of the learner is much more important for better processing of information required during class. If a student attends class tired and mentally unavailable to listen to class, the time spent attending the class will be wasted almost entirely.  My humble advise is - do what you can for homework, but keep to strict bedtime hours.


I will continue to learn more and share more with everyone. Thank you for your time reading this
Teacher Jack

The 2017 Revolution of Happy Tutors

Many wouldn't have noticed, but we've gone through a lot of changes in 2017. There'd been a change in the core team serving our student and parent clientele with the exit of a founding partner - a huge loss to us.

Sometimes life is like that, we come together for the start of this education service, but one day down the road, we decide that our paths should diverge. Coming together and parting is but common for everyone.

It doesn't mean that we should be any less capable. There'd been a complete restructuring of the core service team. We have appointed Vice-Principal Ms Caryln Teo, and Senior Customer Support staff Ms Irene Tay from early 2017. Mr Sharif had joined the team in October when the new processes are set in place. We are all grateful for each other's dedication.

The team had been set up to provide the best education experience for the student, and the best customer service for the parents. There is the monthly reminder message at the final week of every month. Learning material used by the centre doubled within 2017 and the number of tutors had increased from 15 to 35 to cater to the additional classes that had to be opened to maintain the most effective learning for every student.

Our hiring conditions are also much more stringent than before, and our team now consists of tutors that possess not just a strong academic prowess, but with highly relevant skills that directly relate to the quality of the classes we provide. We're not school teachers because this is not a school, we're here to provide the greatest support so our kids can conquer the schooling obstacles. With each day, of training and hiring, we're having an even greater team like never before.

On top of that, there'd been infrastructure upgrades, especially at our Jurong West branch, where we have installed the digital board as a permanent fixture, replacing the whiteboard. The toilet is renovated and a dry pantry corner is allocated.

In the recent O level results released for 2017, our students had shown stellar performance. I wouldn't be spreading names or sharing messages like the other centres are doing. Would just like to say, thank you for believing in us. I have been passionate in education and people development, and nothing would satisfy me more than to being able to nurture all the students to their own great success.

Happy Tutors will continue to reinvent the way it supports education, and this shall be our lifetime mission.

www.happytutors.edu.sg

5 Factors That Contribute to Learning Sciences

I heard of many parents and students asking me, "how do we do well in Science subjects? my memory is poor and I can't remember the content that we're supposed to regurgitate in the exams.

As an passionate student in the Sciences since young, I found that incredibly difficult to answer, because there are so many factors that might affect one's learning in the Sciences. As I pondered, through the years of tutoring my students, I tried putting together a few key points so that you may help yourself or your children through the more difficult times. Save your money for other enrichment classes at Happy Tutors Learning Centre. *Winks*

Part I - Scientific Skills 

1. Making Observations (Experiential Learning)

One way to remind ourselves that many scientific discoveries come about because people were curious about why things happened as they are. While traditional societies treated these observations and phenomena with superstition, the scientific approach of making observations, measurements and hypothesizing, began to dispel the ignorance over such behavior.

Making good observations should include knowing what to measure, how to measure and why we need to measure the quantities involved. It could be an experiment on water absorption by plants; balancing loads on a lever; identifying an acid or alkali or a light reflection experiment etc. For each situation, there are factors that can lead to a different result. If possible, students should be encouraged to try and repeat (safe) experiments on their own, measuring the accuracy of their own experiment results. The reproducibility of experiments also helps to reinforce correct observation techniques.

2. Asking Questions  (Hypothesising)

"Why is the sky blue?" "Why do we hear thunder after we see lightning?" Asking questions and then answering them (before experimentation) are crucial to learning Science. Preconceived notions about how the world works often hinder our ability to fully comprehend scientific theories. I often find hearsay and housewife tales being the culprit against good scientific learning - in some situations, our misconception seem to hold water, and we would look for results to prove ourselves right. These hypotheses, however, are what we should be trying to prove WRONG, by taking them through rigourous testing and experimentation. The good scientist keeps an open mind and accepts that he can be wrong about his theories. The theories help with learning, but knowing one's own misconceptions help even more.

3. Establishing Relationships (Logical Thinking & Inference)

Scientific learning does not stop at knowing what we're told to learn. In most of the school questions we get asked about situations we are never told about but we are expected to answer them using existing knowledge, leaving most students stumped. Increasingly, as we build up on our scientific knowledge, do this - apply the same concepts over as many situations as you can think of. The scientific method will prevail and strengthen our thinking. Think about a problem > Build a hypothesis based on current understanding > Make observations to confirm and to try to overthrow the hypothesis. Ultimately, the Scientific thinking bestows a highly logical problem solving methodology that continues to be effective beyond the scope of the Sciences.


Part II - Examination Skills

1. Knowing the Scope - Contents and Related Skills

Over the years of tutoring, I find that there are only few types of questions related to each topic. As we go through various question types for each topic, we repeatedly summarise content (and experiments) and how it would apply to different question types. Think about changing various factors on your own (Use other plants instead of celery to soak up dye, use a flexible lever instead of a rigid one etc.) to expect surprises in your examinations.

2. (Not) Answering the Question

We are being tested beyond memory work;  most of my students do badly initially by blindly (mis)quoting content. Very good that you have identified the correct chapter and points being tested. This is what makes the greatest difference in exam performance. As with explaining every other scientific phenomena (or magic) - things are not always as they seem to be. In order to score everytime, we need to ask ourselves the following questions

• What (observation) is the question asking about? - Identify the specific observation.
• Why does it happen? - Quote the relevant theory using specific variables.
• Answer the question - Use the quoted theory to ANSWER THE QUESTION

This has been a long post and I hope that by sharing my experiences in the learning and teaching of science, it helps to answer the questions that I have been getting a lot, but fail miserably at answering. Feel free to write me an email or give me a call, if you have other (easier) questions regarding learning and teaching, or anything under the Sun. Thank you for reading.

Yours Sincerely,
Jack Wang
Happy Tutors Learning Centre

Surviving CNY Visitations and Endless Feasting

Loved it or hated it; the season of visiting, feasting and pleasantries came, swept through in an auspicious wave and left us with expanded waistlines! Here're 8 (how auspicious!) hot tips on enjoying the remaining CNY break and surviving future CNY seasons.Totally necessary disclaimer: This is 50% fact, 50% nonsense.

1.       Plan out your outfits.

Ever had relatives you barely know comment on your waistline and call you fat out of the blue? Well, that's right. It doesn't matter whether you're meeting strangers, acquaintances, friends or family. You absolutely need to look fabulous. Opt for outfits that compliment your body shape and size, and remember: ALWAYS remember to wear a colour that looks kind of auspicious.

2.       Plan out your transport and route.

Have you ever tried flagging down a cab during the festive season? That's a sure-fire way to practice your arm flapping stance while you try to flag down a cab for the next hour in Singapore's summer heat. Hitch a ride with your relatives. Blackmail your friends and colleagues, over past favours, into giving you free rides. Book a cab a day in advance. Better yet, just take the MRT or bus. Also, to avoid a CNY rendition of the Amazing Race, plan your route in a single direction (e.g. East to West) or in a cyclical form (from home, around Singapore and back home). It will save you a ton of money in public transport and cab fares. Trust me.

3.       Create an FAQ specially designed for relatives.

By the time you've reached the prime age of 12, you would've memorised a set of questions always asked by relatives to create remarkably brief and moderately polite questions. To avoid having to give the same repeated answers, you may opt to design and print out a few pamphlets – directly proportional to the number of relatives you have – filled with the answers to frequently asked questions.

Should you have any problems sourcing for a designer or affordable printing services, please refer to the bottom of this entry. #shameless #self #advertising

4.       Alternatively, hand them your personal biographical portfolio containing multiple charts and diagrams about your grades, jobs, salary, romantic relationships, height, weight and more.

For those who come from families with marketing and business backgrounds, you may opt for a more professional approach to this. An impressive portfolio containing your entire life history and credentials is bound to wow them. Don't forget to include glitter and sparkles for the ensuing celebration of all your achievements. All of this will have them ooo-ing and aah-ing over your presentation materials and save you from excess human contact.

5.       Don't forget all those lovely Botox injections. Smile for the relatives!

They say that it takes more facial muscles to frown than to smile. However, smiling still requires energy and there's going to be a whole lot of obligatory smiling feel free to scarf down the whole array of new year treats, candies and bak kwa. Especially the bak kwa.

6.       Wear a full protective suit to shield yourself from the impending rain of "lou hei" and "yu sheng".

Ever had a "lou hei" session? It is believed that pieces of food falling onto the table and floor is good luck, much akin to luck and money raining from the sky. The messier, the better. This is not so if you have dressed nicely for the event or put in the extra hour for makeup, or having pieces of salmon stuck in your hair. Feel free to wear a Hazmat suit to protect your outfits from this tasty rain. A cheaper alternative would be a beekeeper's suit.

7.       Hire a one-day personal financial consultant to help you to save all the money you collect from the ang paos. Don't forget those mandarin oranges!

For most of us, especially those with large extended families, we'll probably be able to rack up hundreds of dollars in red packet earnings. Rather than spend all that money, it would be wise to break it all down into savings and spending money. It's never too early to get into the habit of saving money, so put aside some of that cash. If you're not too sure on how to do this budgeting, your best financial consultants are both easily accessible AND free: your parents. Oh, and don't forget those mandarin oranges when you go visiting!

8.       Get a gym membership and hire a personal trainer with all that ang pao moolah.

Whenever people ask me how much I get for Chinese New Year, all I say is 8888 calories. Very auspicious and all in good reason. With all the visiting and eating going on, few of us are going to have the time to actually exercise and keep fit. It would be good to prepare to get back into shape after all that feasting. As they always say, one of the steps to a healthy mind is a healthy body. And no, round is not a shape.

 

Vocabulary Words:

1.       Auspicious – conducive to success; favourable

2.       Opt for – (phrasal verb) to choose

3.       Stance – a person's posture

4.       Rendition – a performance or interpretation

5.       Cyclical – occurring in cycles

6.       Proportional – corresponding

7.       Biographical – data or written work dealing with a particular person's life

8.       Obligatory – compulsory

9.       Scarf down – (phrasal verb) to devour or eat something quickly

10.   Impending – about to happen; looming ahead

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