Newcomer families to Canada often seek out extra afterschool help for their children so they can succeed in their new academic curriculum. As a parent, this may be the first time you are considering hiring a private tutor for your child. This article will help you not only with the process of finding a tutor, but the process of selecting a tutor.
The most likely school subjects that parents will hire private tutors for are:
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English as a Second Language (ESL)
Language Arts
French
History, and
Social studies.
Your child may need more support completing long writing assignments for Language Arts, history, and social studies especially. Canadian schools are particular about using proper citations and submitting bibliographies in English. The tutor should help your child develop their research skills.
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Some parents may be open to trial sessions with several different tutors before settling on one that will be long-term. A long-term private tutor will typically work with a student for one to three years. After that, the student will move up the academic ladder. At that point, it may be necessary to find a different tutor more suited for the student’s age group.
Parents must consider many factors when seeking a good tutor. This person will become your child’s instructor, mentor, and friend. And, you will have to work closely with the tutor to provide your child with the absolute best education. Here are five important factors to consider:
1. Tutoring Centres Versus Freelance Tutors
Afterschool tutoring centres such as Oxford Learning and Kumon are popping up everywhere in Canada. There is a great demand for them. They have the advantage of being a social centre where students can interact with each other, and parents can converse while their children are in class. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, this advantage does not currently apply to most of these centres. Most classes offered by these centres are now conducted online.
Another major disadvantage of tutoring centres is that they often ask parents to pay for several sessions rather than by the lesson. For example, you may have to pay for ten sessions in advance.
If you prefer to pay by the lesson, it’s more convenient to find a freelance tutor on a site like Kijiji or through word-of-mouth. This way, you can negotiate the time and the hourly wage directly with the tutor rather than through the centre.
Parents should consider local tutors unless the hourly wage you pay covers extra expenses a tutor may incur such as:
travel expenses, or
part of their Wi-Fi for online tutoring.
Keep in mind that after-school tutors are often graduate students or teachers looking to earn extra income outside of their regular working hours. So their availability may change. Or, they may occasionally need to cancel due to conflicts with their regular jobs or other commitments.
Parents must remain flexible. However, the tutor is responsible for giving ample warning if they cannot attend a session. A private tutor who frequently cancels sessions is not reliable enough to provide your child with consistent support. In this case, it’s wise to explore hiring a different tutor.
3. Experience and Credentials
Parents should seek out tutors that have experience working with their child’s age group. Here is one mistake parents often make: they focus too much on a tutor’s academic background and degrees. As a teacher myself, I can confirm that a person’s store of knowledge isn’t enough to qualify them as an effective instructor.
Any educator must also be prepared to face the unique challenges of working with young students who are impatient, frustrated, shy, unconfident, easily distracted, etc. They must know how to properly handle certain situations, such as when a child feels overwhelmed by their schoolwork and starts getting upset. I recommend parents consider tutors who have also done childcare jobs in the past, such as babysitting and camp counselling. Intelligence combined with life experiences and common sense produces the best tutors.
4. Personality and Teaching Style
Some private tutors are upbeat and fun. They make every lesson a game for the student. Some private tutors are strict and no-nonsense. They will focus more on instilling discipline in the student, to prepare for the tough, competitive future ahead of them. And, some tutors fall somewhere in between. To find the right tutor for your child, do trial one-hour sessions with several different tutors. After each session, ask your child the following questions:
Did you feel comfortable with this tutor?
Did this tutor listen to you and let you ask them questions?
What did you learn during this session?
Would you like to work with this tutor again?
Take notes and keep track of your child’s responses. After trying out several tutors, choose the one who best connected with your child and complemented your child’s personality. Make sure your child is involved in the selection process.
5. Off-Hours Work and Respecting Boundaries of Private Tutors
As previously stated, many private tutors do after-school teaching for extra income, on top of another job. So it’s important that parents respect this. Avoid making demands on the tutors that are outside of the tutor’s work margin. For example, parents should not call or email their child’s tutor late at night to ask them questions about their child’s homework or progress. Tutors who feel that their student’s parents do not respect their personal boundaries will end the working relationship. Your child could lose a good tutor this way. So always be mindful of your level of courtesy towards their hired instructors.
Parents want their children to receive the best educational help. And, they also want their child’s homework and study time to be as productive as possible. This contributes to your child leading a balanced and less stressful life. Choosing the right tutor to achieve these goals is a major decision that takes consideration, experimentation, and open-mindedness. Combining these three elements, you’ll find the right private tutor for your child.
For more information, tools, and free webinars about living in Canada visit our Settling in Canada resource page. We’ll help you to settle in Canada successfully!
Emily R. Zarevich is an English/ESL teacher and writer from Burlington, Ontario, Canada. She has been published previously in Understorey Magazine,Living Education Journal. and Wild Roof Journal. She will soon be published in Dreamers Creative Writing.
These popular book series will prepare your children to meet the requirements of Canada’s Language Arts curriculum. Canada is famous for its excellent education system, and it produces generation after generation of eager bookworms.
These five well-known and well-loved book series will get your child, and yourself started on a grand learning adventure.
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As an English and English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher who works primarily with children, one of the first questions parents always ask me is, “What should my child be reading at home?” Experience has taught me to have good booklists ready to give to parents, so they can head to the library with their kids right away.
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Newcomer students must develop a habit of reading. There is a strong focus in Canadian classrooms on critical and analytical thinking skills. And the best and most sure-fire way to develop these skills is to read first-rate books.
Children’s Book Reading Tips
Sometimes it’s a challenge to get your child interested in reading. As a parent, you must get involved in your child’s reading process.
Give your child support and encouragement.
After your child reads some chapters of a book, sit down with them and casually discuss the book’s good and bad parts.
Urge your child to share their opinions on subjects such as a character’s choices, or an author’s writing style.
Show them how to look up unfamiliar words in a paper or online dictionary as well.
By practicing at home, your child will be able to talk about their reading experiences in class. Their teacher will be very impressed!
Reading these popular book series will also bring your children closer to their classmates, as it is likely that their classmates are indulging in these books too. Talking about books is a great starting point for new friendships!
1. Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
Parents often hesitate about this series. It’s understandable. The jokes can be gross and immature, and often the plots do not make sense. But for a young reader, Pilkey’s silly humour and outrageous storylines can often be just the thing to draw them into the world of books.
They can move on to more serious literature later. But, for now, let them read Captain Underpants. The series follows George Beard and Harold Hutchins, two creative best friends who make comic books together. A string of events results in one of their comic book heroes, Captain Underpants, becoming real, and the boys have many exciting adventures with their superpowered creation.
DreamWorks has made this book series into a film. Netflix has also produced a funny cartoon series. Use these as a reward.For example,if your child reads all twelve of the books, then they can watch the movie and the cartoon.
2.A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
Here is another popular book series that Netflix has faithfully adapted. A Series of Unfortunate Events follows the—obviously—unfortunate trials and tribulations of the three Baudelaire children.
The Baudelaires, heirs to an enormous fortune, are being pursued wherever they go by the greedy and monstrous Count Olaf, who is determined to get his hands on them, and their money, at any cost. This series has a wide range of intriguing—and outright bizarre—characters, settings, and plotlines. Your child will be hooked fast.
3.Goosebumps by R. L. Stine
The series tagline says it all: “Readers beware, you’re in for a scare!” And there are over sixty different “scares” for a horror-loving reader to choose from. It is recommended that your child should be at least ten years old before they start reading these books, which sometimes have frightening and disturbing content. But once they get started, they won’t be able to stop. They will be pulled into a thrilling world of ghosts, monsters, evil ventriloquist dolls, haunted amusement parks, and even time travel! R.L. Stine has written something for everyone.
Parents should be aware of the fact that these books do not always have happy endings. These types of books are known as “cautionary tales,” and are meant to teach children tough life lessons. The child protagonists in the books often make terrible mistakes and face gruesome consequences. Discuss these consequences with your child, to see what they’ve learned from these stories.
4.The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Perfect for a fantasy lover, C.S. Lewis The Chronicles of Narnia transports readers into a magical world of evil witches, talking animals, dragons, sea voyagers, and Aslan, the wise lion king who oversees it all. This popular book series is also perfect for introducing your child to the concept of “world-building” in fiction. C.S. Lewis is famous for his skill in creating an entirely make-believe world, populated by make-believe people and creatures.
However, this make-believe world has some very real problems, such as family conflicts, battles for political power, war, freedom, famine, death, and the passage of time. So parents should prepare to have some mature conversations with their children about the topics in the books.
5.Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
This book series has recently had a big resurge in popularity, thanks to its successful Netflix adaptation “Anne.” This tale of a brave, talkative, and intelligent orphan girl who is adopted into a rural Prince Edward Island community is a beloved Canadian classic.
The selling point of this series is the protagonist herself, Anne Shirley. Anne is whip-smart, resourceful, optimistic, and devoted to her family and friends. She is also ambitious and looks to the future, instead of dwelling on her difficult past. She is not only one of Canada’s biggest cultural icons, but also a role model for children in troubled times. Her story is still relatable, even more than a century after it was published.
This series uses more complicated and advanced language. At this point, your child should already be an intermediate reader and have the skills to look up and absorb new words. Make yourself available to help your child take on new ideas, but also applaud their efforts to do research on their own.
Reading is essential to developing a child’s mind, and with a steady reading schedule, and lots of praise, your child will become an accomplished reader. And maybe, one day, they will be an accomplished writer too, with their own bestselling book series!
Corinna Frattini is the content marketing strategist at Prepare for Canada and contributes articles related to working in Canada. With a background in human resources and leadership development, her articles focus on what Canadian employers seek and how newcomers can continue their careers in Canada.
Emily R. Zarevich is an English/ESL teacher and writer from Burlington, Ontario, Canada. She has been published previously in Understorey Magazine,Living Education Journal. and Wild Roof Journal. She will soon be published in Dreamers Creative Writing.
