TutionCentre SG has a network of over 20,000 private tutors across Singapore. Personalised online and in-person English home tuition lessons offered by our English home tutors assist students in enhancing their English proficiency.
What is the necessity of engaging a private English tutor to learn English?
The effectiveness of English home tuition is evident in several ways. There are various benefits that private home tuition can offer to enhance your child’s English language skills:
1. Achieve significant improvement in their English grades in a shorter period.
Learning English involves various aspects, from listening to writing. Personalised home tuition is effective because the tutor can pinpoint your child’s weaknesses and use more suitable teaching methods. For example, if your child already understands grammar rules well, more time can be spent expanding their vocabulary to achieve higher scores. This optimises and speeds up your child’s learning process compared to a tuition centre environment.
2. Create a secure and safe space for learning English.
Suppose your child is having difficulty with spoken communication, such as pronunciation, or experiencing anxiety and reluctance to speak in a group due to language barriers. In that case, private English tutoring can provide comfort and support for being in your home. Witness your child thrive as they gain confidence in speaking English or conquer their hesitation to ask questions while guided by our skilled and understanding English instructors.
3. Tailored resources and materials.
With no standard English textbook available, experienced English tutors can select beneficial resources for your child. These may include sample essays or compositions, past exam papers, oral exercises, and high-quality school materials to help your child gain an advantage over their peers. For advanced English assessments like General Paper or IBDP English, tutors can provide materials to enhance students’ general knowledge and awareness of current affairs.
4. Arrange tutoring sessions at times that work best for you and reduce travel time.
With a personal tutor, you can arrange classes to fit your timetable and benefit from flexible and tailored lessons. You can also use the time you would have spent commuting to a tutoring centre for more rewarding activities.
5. The ability to choose a suitable English tutor for your child is crucial.
Unlike subjects such as Math and Science, learning a language like English demands active participation and consistent effort from the student in their daily life if they aim to achieve fluency quickly. This involves using the language regularly through speaking, reading, watching the news, and practising writing. Parents should carefully choose an English tutor who can connect with their child, considering that each student has a unique personality and varying motivational factors. Unlike a tutoring centre with limited options, parents can select a tutor who is the best fit for their child through private English tuition.
6. Private English tutors offer personalised instruction that static online resources may lack.
Through one-on-one lessons, students can make significant progress in achieving English fluency. Lessons can be tailored to focus on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, writing, reading comprehension, speaking practice, and more. Learning English with a tutor from TCS has several benefits.
7. Learn at your own pace.
Each individual learns a new language at their unique speed, and some commence learning from the basics without prior knowledge of the language they aim to master. One person might possess strong abilities in English grammar but struggle with pronunciation, while another might excel in spoken English but face difficulties with reading and writing. The instructor typically progresses to new material in a group setting once most of the class has grasped the current lesson. Conversely, in private one-on-one English courses, your instructor tailors the pace of learning to your comfort level and can adapt teaching strategies to suit your needs.
Challenges that students often encounter when learning English
As a result of our decade-long experience recommending English home tutors to parents and students, we have gained insight into the specific issues students encounter when studying English and the challenges parents face in choosing a qualified English tuition tutor.
- Enunciating English words and syllables
- Difficulty inferring meanings from comprehension passages, often due to poor English literacy skills
- Trouble comprehending and effectively answering comprehension questions
- Difficulty with essay writing due to a lack of ideas, inadequate language usage, or a lack of writing techniques
- Inability to provide well-structured answers, affecting the ability to achieve higher marks
- Limited vocabulary resulting in poor comprehension of exam questions, incorrect responses, and a failure to improve language marks in writing
- Obstacles students may face when learning English.
- Struggles with memorising fundamental grammar rules and expanding vocabulary use
- Inefficient time management resulting in unfinished papers
- Low self-confidence and lack of interest in English due to past or recurring failures
- Apprehension towards essay or composition writing due to a negative mindset
- Negligence and forgetfulness lead to grammar, sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation errors during English exams.
- Language hindrance is caused by poor oral and comprehension skills, which hinder the ability to understand communication or express oneself adequately.
Learning English can be an isolating experience for your child if they lack someone to provide motivation, confidence, and guidance throughout their learning journey until they feel comfortable with the subject. For this reason, English tutors from TCS possess a positive teaching attitude, are patient and enthusiastic, and possess strong communication skills to explain intricate grammar rules, teach writing and speaking techniques, and are sincere in guiding your child until they excel.
If your child struggles with English, do not wait until the situation worsens. Get our recommended skilled English tutors to help your child improve their skills.
English Tuition at Home: Tutor Rates
English tuition in Singapore can be affordable, offering reasonably priced options tailored to individual needs. Evaluating the pros and cons of different categories of home tutors can help you select an English tutor profile that suits your budget. The rates typically range from S$25 to S$120 per hour, depending on the tutor’s qualifications and experience level.
Tutor Categories
For simplification, we categorise our tutors into three main groups:
1. Part-Time English Home Tutors—These are private tutors who teach part-time. Most of them are student tutors: A-level graduates, Diploma students/graduates, or Undergraduates. Some university graduates and working professionals who offer tuition part-time are also included in this category. Part-time tutors are the most affordable option for home tuition in Singapore.
2. Full-Time English Home Tutors—These are private tutors who teach full-time. They may or may not be university graduates, but they usually have significantly more teaching experience than part-time tutors. They teach many students one-on-one and also work in tuition centres and teaching classes. The qualifications and experience of a full-time tutor can vary widely between individuals, and so do the tuition rates they charge.
3. MOE/IB/IGCSE School Teachers—These are former or current school teachers from MOE or private and international schools. Tutors in this category generally have the most experience and qualifications in private tutoring and, therefore, command the highest tuition rates. Engaging these teachers successfully may require paying a premium.
Why Hire an English Tutor for Your Child?
English is the predominant language globally and is the first language in Singapore. It’s crucial for enabling students to navigate their daily lives and social interactions successfully, expressing their thoughts and ideas through oral or written communication and in professional environments.
In Singapore, it is evident that a significant number of students do not possess strong proficiency in English despite being in an English-speaking country where it is widely used as an instructional language in schools. There are two reasons for this: firstly, most students in Singapore lack exposure to ideal models of Standard English, and secondly, owing to our bilingual education system and diverse cultural background, Singaporean colloquial English, also known as ‘Singlish,’ has become a defining feature of English in Singapore.
While there is nothing wrong with using Singlish in informal settings, the issue arises when children cannot differentiate between internationally acceptable standard English and Singlish. Furthermore, it becomes problematic when they integrate Singlish into formal English assessments such as compositions or essays.
In addition, as students progress into higher education institutions in Singapore, such as junior colleges, polytechnics, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP), or local/foreign universities, their English exam grades will carry significant weight in determining their eligibility for their desired courses or faculties. A strong command of English is essential for university admission.
Private English tutoring can offer personalised attention for your child, providing an expert role model to correct English errors, closely monitor progress, guide learning without providing immediate solutions, and offer strong support as your child navigates the education system and grows into a more confident, articulate English user.
The English Language in Every Level
When we examine the English language teaching framework and goals of schools, we will find that at the Pri and Sec levels, students need to acquire specific skills, including listening, speaking, reading, comprehension, and writing.
During this stage, students will develop linguistic and literacy skills, such as grammar, vocabulary, and contextual language usage, through a variety of texts, including stories and nonfiction articles.
As your child advances to secondary education, the English language learning will progress to a more advanced level, including speaking, writing, and presenting. This means confidently and coherently presenting ideas, arguments, or thoughts based on a given purpose, context, and audience, whether in a speech or written format such as essays or summaries.
At this stage, advanced English skills such as idea generation, selection, and organisation, as well as developing and expressing ideas, revision, and editing become important. Students are also expected to possess advanced knowledge of grammar and vocabulary usage.
At Junior Colleges, whether your child chooses the General Paper H1 course or the English Language and Linguistics (ELL) H2 course, the focus now is on developing a critical and creative thinking process to effectively construct well-reasoned, informed, and insightful personal pieces such as essays addressing issues that are significant locally, regionally, and globally. In addition, ELL students are expected to gain an understanding of English language usage in various social and geographical contexts and demonstrate advanced skills in communication and information related to English linguistics, assessed through analysis, adaptive writing, and commentaries.
The IB English Curriculum and IB English Language and Literature Syllabus Assessment Model are categorised into the Standard Level and the more advanced Higher Level. This course differs from other subjects in the IB curriculum due to its high level of flexibility, resulting in the absence of a structured curriculum.
Teachers have the flexibility to select works from an approved list of texts and authors, and students will write essays incorporating their interpretations, critical analyses, and reactions to the literary texts studied. In addition to engaging with various texts, students must enhance their English language skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, presenting, and performing.
So, what are the essential critical skills needed to excel in English? We have compiled a list for your reference:
At primary and secondary levels, it is important to understand English visual information presented in different formats, such as images, videos, and diagrams, in order to grasp the message through context, connections, interpretation, and inference. For instance, this skill is crucial for understanding visual content in primary school exams.
- Reading and comprehension skills involve accurately understanding and interpreting the meaning of text.
- It is essential to be able to draw conclusions and respond critically based on the implied meaning behind the text, requiring language skills to articulate thoughts, ideas, and opinions.
- Effective speaking and communication involve fluency in English, proper pronunciation, and choosing the right words to achieve specific purposes (e.g., describing a picture, sharing an experience, or participating in a group discussion).
- Writing, with precise spelling and sentence structure, is crucial.
- Being able to generate, select, organise, develop, and express ideas using the English language, particularly in writing compositions, is important.
- Proofreading, reviewing, and editing one’s writing is a necessary skill.
- Excellent grammar skills are important at the word, phrase, and sentence levels.
- A wide-ranging vocabulary is important for demonstrating a rich use of the English language in listening, reading, speaking, writing, and presenting.
Levels Beyond Secondary
- Acquiring research skills to collect pertinent information and concepts regarding important societal or global issues, literary texts, and their contexts.
- Demonstrating critical thinking and analytical capabilities to recognise relationships and connections within English language material, whether conflicting or non-conflicting.
- Synthesising, assessing, generating, and formulating perceptive ideas, arguments, or conclusions from a broad spectrum of English language materials. Additionally, possessing proficient English language proficiency to articulate them coherently, lucidly, and organizedly in written form.
- Analysing, formulating, and composing essays centred on local and global issues spanning different fields. Comprehension Aptitude (comprehend, elucidate, infer, appraise, summarise) Synthesising, interpreting, and crafting personal responses.
- Grasp, comprehend, and construe various texts, works, and literary expressions and forms. Analysing and evaluating both non-literary and literary works. Communicate articulately, rationally, and argumentatively, both orally and in written form.
It is important to understand that spending time solely in the classroom is insufficient to attain high English scores. In order for students to perform exceptionally well in all aspects of English assessments, they must be fully immersed in the language not only within the confines of the classroom but also in their home environment and during social interactions. Additionally, students need to dedicate a considerable amount of time to applying and practicing what they have learned to continuously enhance their oral, writing, and language usage skills.
The limited duration of lessons in the classroom means that teachers can only cover the fundamental English materials outlined in the syllabus. While this may suffice for most students to pass or earn an average grade, it is unlikely adequate for a student to excel in the subject.
Students are expected to devote personal time outside the classroom to achieve proficiency in English. This involves reading various texts, staying informed about global issues and current events, expanding vocabulary and grammar knowledge, and writing compositions. Unfortunately, most students, being children and teenagers, are not likely to take the initiative to do these activities voluntarily. They would rather spend their free time on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, or gaming.
This is particularly challenging for students who are already struggling with English and find completing English assignments stressful and unpleasant.
Imagine if your child had a companion to assist them as they navigate the complexities of English grammar rules or introduce them to new vocabulary words through engaging articles on topics of interest, such as the latest K-pop news. Someone to encourage when they feel demotivated and to help them develop discipline in keeping up with required readings and checking their work.
Only a private English tutor can offer this commitment and personalised attention.
How do you choose an English home tutor for tuition lessons?
For guiding your search, here are some key attributes you should seek in an English tutor:
1. Experience
Experience is crucial when seeking the right tutor. The ideal English tutor must have experience teaching at similar levels. Their experience ensures familiarity with the latest syllabus and exam practices.
At TCS, we only recommend tutors with experience teaching English to students at a similar level. This will enable them to achieve top academic grades quickly. You can rely on us to suggest a perfect match for your educational requirements.
2. Qualifications
Always verify the qualifications of any tutor you consider. Teachers should be trained by MOE and NIE to best assist students. Additionally, you should review the tutor’s personal English grades and academic accomplishments.
All TCS tutors are fully capable of teaching English effectively. Throughout your selection process, we will highlight each tutor’s qualifications. This will help you choose the right tutor for your needs.
3. Syllabus Familiarity
The MOE syllabus undergoes frequent updates and changes. Therefore, you need a tutor who knows these changes and can teach accordingly. Familiarity with the syllabus will bolster students’ learning as tutors can help them excel quickly.
At TCS, we comprehensively outline all the details about our tutors, including their experience and familiarity with the current syllabus. This empowers you to make an informed decision to accelerate your learning progress.
4. Additional Learning Materials
Experienced English tutors often gather their resources over time. They compile notes and content from various sources to offer the best English practice. These supplementary learning materials will enhance your English skills and proficiency.
At Tutor City, we always note in our tutor profiles if they can provide additional learning resources and materials. This helps you make an informed decision.
5. Feedback
Each student has a unique learning style. Therefore, it’s crucial to understand how a tutor will teach the student. It’s important to review feedback from previous students and clients to gauge this.
At TCS, we value your feedback. We also include feedback from previous clients of our tutors so you can better understand their teaching style. This will assist you in choosing the best tutor to witness significant improvement in your English academic performance.
Our goal is to help parents save time and energy finding an English tutor by offering user-friendly tutor-matching services through our carefully screened, professional tutors, regardless of budget and tuition location.
