Grinds/private tuition what's generally epected?.

Freiheit

Qualified as a teacher a decade ago but have rarely thought. Did maintain and improve my subject skills though,German, English and History. Was considering offering private tuition so got the German and English exam papers.

However despite having a high level of German myself I'm well out of practice in terms of exam preparation. So wasn't really sure if I'd be suitable to offering lessons.

Any thoughts on the topic? What do pupils and parents generally expect? How would you approach a new student? Ask them for their goals and try to help them achieve them?.

As an openly feminine acting gay guy too I was always a little worried about parents attitudes,inside and outside of school. Still feel this could be a problem if I wanted to return to teaching.

Thoughts?.:)

Danke

F

dambarude

Ask the students where they have difficulty, most of the time they should know. Make sure you know the exam structure and how important different aspects of the subject is. For a language like German one to one tuition gives a good chance for oral preparation, which a student wouldn't get to the same degree in class. Usually lots of 'notes' are expected, along with correction of essays for English. Grammar in German would be important, that's the cause for a lot of people getting language grinds.

But don't give grinds in something you're not sure of, you're wasting everybody's time. Make sure you're up to date before you start.

doc_17

Generally for German grinds it's the oral exam that the kids and parents want prepared for. They will expect results as they are paying for a service.

As for being openly gay it's diificult to say how differnt people would react and handle that.

doubleglaze

There are a few issues.

For one-to-one grinds with teenagers, you will need to be very careful to protect yourself from any false allegation of sexual impropriety. You'd nearly want to be giving grinds right in front of the window of a front room in a dense housing estate with other houses over-looking yours from the front. The front room lights on and curtains wide open for maximum overlooking.

You are not, in my view, adequately experienced to be giving group grinds.

Avoid giving grinds in another student's home: even if you insist the grinds are downstairs in a room which is overlooked etc., you will almost inevitably arrive some day to find that that room is unavailable and would you mind giving the grind in an upstairs bedroom or suchlike! And if you decline to give the grind until the following week - as you should - you will have wasted your time travelling to the house and find that the hour you put aside for that student is not remunerated.

A teenage student in a one-to-one grind may feel uncomfortable around anyone - male or female, straight or gay - who doesn't project a strict business-like, asexual-type image. Some teenagers are still learning to control their new raging hormones. My guess is that a female teenager would be less uncomfortable in a grinds situation with a gay teacher, whereas a male student might well feel uncomfortable. A bit similar to the manner in which female patients often prefer to go to a female GP.

I also think that your lack of teaching experience is a big negative, although you might prove useful in preparing students for the oral part of the German exam, as long as you are thoroughly familiar with the exam. I also think that, given your lack of experience, you should charge less than the going rate as you won't be as good as a good grinds teacher with years of relevant experience behind him or her. Maybe 20 or, at most, 25 euro an hour. Don't forget that that has to be declared to Revenue and that a grind can take an hour to prepare - so you might only be earning the minimum wage (and that before tax).

Freiheit

Thanks all. Yeah I've maintained a really good level of German,actually far higher now than when I done 'the dip'. Like most people trying to asess how I'll make money in the future and it's a skill which I don't use. I'll familiarise myself with the oral section in particular and check out taxation implications . Are parents able to claim tax credit's for such?.

While I'm sure a majority of parents are relatively open minded,the occasional one on radio talk shows to do with gay issues scare me. I'm not sure how common extreme phobia is but the occasional one on the radio make feel sad. I suppose the only way to know is to try.

And yeah of course I'd charge far less than the going rate.

gaeilgebeo

Firstly, I don't think your sexuality should be a factor at all. It is nobodies business, parent or student.
We have openly gay teachers in our school and it isn't an issue nor should it be.


On the grinds front, I give a lot of grinds, mostly in groups.
Now more than ever, parents are expecting a very good service and value for their hard-earned cash.
You need to know your course, marking scheme, curriculum inside-out!

There is no point saying that you will only focus on one aspect of the course, ie, the oral. Parents expect you to cover everything.

I teach a language.You will need to assess the student yourself.
Sometimes the student isn't really sure of what area they need most help in and will just say "teachers crap" or "I need help with everything".
You will need to be able to teach/advise/mark all areas of the course.

You need to be able to teach them exam technique.
You need to know the exam papers, question patterns etc. really well.

Students will expect you to provide them with your own good notes, usually more concise to what they already have.

So my advice is to be well prepared before considering grinds.

dory

doubleglaze wrote: »

There are a few issues.

For one-to-one grinds with teenagers, you will need to be very careful to protect yourself from any false allegation of sexual impropriety. You'd nearly want to be giving grinds right in front of the window of a front room in a dense housing estate with other houses over-looking yours from the front. The front room lights on and curtains wide open for maximum overlooking.

Avoid giving grinds in another student's home: even if you insist the grinds are downstairs in a room which is overlooked etc., you will almost inevitably arrive some day to find that that room is unavailable and would you mind giving the grind in an upstairs bedroom or suchlike! And if you decline to give the grind until the following week - as you should - you will have wasted your time travelling to the house and find that the hour you put aside for that student is not remunerated.

:eek: Would you suggest all that for everyone or just for gay teachers?

gaeilgebeo

dory wrote: »

:eek: Would you suggest all that for everyone or just for gay teachers?

My thoughts exactly. Shocking.

rainbowtrout

gaeilgebeo wrote: »

Firstly, I don't think your sexuality should be a factor at all. It is nobodies business, parent or student.
We have openly gay teachers in our school and it isn't an issue nor should it be.


On the grinds front, I give a lot of grinds, mostly in groups.
Now more than ever, parents are expecting a very good service and value for their hard-earned cash.
You need to know your course, marking scheme, curriculum inside-out!

There is no point saying that you will only focus on one aspect of the course, ie, the oral. Parents expect you to cover everything.

I teach a language.You will need to assess the student yourself.
Sometimes the student isn't really sure of what area they need most help in and will just say "teachers crap" or "I need help with everything".
You will need to be able to teach/advise/mark all areas of the course.

You need to be able to teach them exam technique.
You need to know the exam papers, question patterns etc. really well.

Students will expect you to provide them with your own good notes, usually more concise to what they already have.

So my advice is to be well prepared before considering grinds.

What I would also say is that if you are taking on a potential grinds student sound out what level they are at in advance, i.e. what level they are taking in school, what kind of grades they are getting, what grade they are looking to get in the LC, and if they need the language for a course they intend on doing or if it is just making up their points requirement.

In my experience of grinds (science and maths), it gave me a better idea of what I was letting myself in for from the start if I knew I was dealing with an A student who was looking to perfect their exam technique to get an A1 for Medicine or for the student who was failing maths and just wanted to pass and anything above that was a bonus.

I know a lot of people have recommended giving out notes here, maybe it's the done thing for languages. I never give out notes. Sometimes they take down notes from me which I will dictate but it would be more a short definition or something that cropped up in a question that they are unfamiliar with. The reason I don't do that is, some students are under the impression that by doing grinds the information will magically seep into their brains just by being in my presence, some students don't realise that they actually have to do work at the grind and do the questions I set during the week. Also if I gave out a bundle of notes every week I have no way of making the student learn them so I prefer them to be a bit more active in their learning.

The other thing is (from past experience) I only ever deal with parents when booking grinds, never the student. If a parent is booking it, they are probably paying for it and responsible for bringing the student to and from my house. If the student is organising the whole thing I found in the past that I could get a text 5 mins before they were due to come going 'Sorry, not coming' and that would be it. There's more reliability when a parent is involved.

gaeilgebeo

For languages, students need notes for poems/prose.
A lot of the time, they are bogged down with reams and reams of notes in a text-book and need them broken down into concise learnable notes. You have to be clear from the start that these notes need to be learned and the majority of the time, students do know this.

I spend part of the hour explaining these notes and translating them. Often the student will be so thankful that they finally grasp/understand the poem/story because it has been explained to them in such a way. They can then take the notes and apply them to an exam question.

Language students often want sample essays. The main questions they have is, "how long should it be?", "how do I develop points?" etc. Often the most helpful thing to do for them is to give them a few sample essays.

Unfortunately, Irish has always been one of them subjects that requires reams of rote learning notes due to the course being literature heavy. A lot of the time, they don't have a fantastic grasp of the language and depend on learning notes, (not ideal, but a reality), hopefully the new course will change this.

Students/Parents expect me to get a course covered in X amount of weeks. I need to have the notes typed up, bullet pointed and ready to roll. Students writing them down is not an option as the hour would be gone with not much covered.
I do a lot of group grinds in Irish and believe me, good notes a big reason for this.