FAQs
GENERAL TUTORING QUESTIONS
Great! Let’s get going and take control of your child’s education. Your first step will be to fill out my initial inquiry form by clicking here. This form allows me to gain a little more information about your child’s situation and the obstacles that he/she is trying to overcome. If I feel that I am a good fit and can help I will send you an email with additional information about my tutoring packages as well as link to setup a phone consultation with me. I can’t wait to speak with you!
I teach two levels of international level English and you see links to them on the top of my website.
- ACADEMIC TUTORING: Many younger students need help on their reading skills and basic writing skills – I call this Academic Tutoring. Starting early has big advantages. First, it builds their confidence. Often, when a student is struggling they begin to believe the lie that they just aren’t good at English. If I can gently and persistently help them overcome this wrong idea, they will be one step closer to overcoming their difficulties with international level English forever. Click here for more information.
- SAT / IELTS / TOEFL: I work only on international test preparation for the SAT, IELTS and TOEFL. For example, on the American SAT test, 50% of it is math and my ASEAN students tend to score very highly in this area (>750) but really struggle with the other 50% which is critical reading and writing. But, unless they can score highly (>550) on the reading and writing parts, they are unlikely to enter a competitive university here in Asia or the U.S./Europe. Click here for more information.
Yes, I certainly have found lots of success for my students by doing these three steps.
ONE: My number one goal as a tutor (and teacher) is for the student not to need me any more! They have learned the material, they have confidence in their ability to perform well in it and they move on. I do not desire long-term (multiple year) students because I am not teaching “a class.” I am only finding and the filling up the gaps in their understanding. Each student is different.
TWO: I develop your student’s SKILLS in international (SAT/IELTS/TOEFEL) essay writing and critical reading. I do this without a lot of time pressure until your student is confident and masters the work.
THREE: I put the student under full time pressure for the reading and writing sections in exactly the same way of the SAT, IELTS and TOEFL tests over 4-5 classes and see their grades. If your student is at their SAT, IELTS or TOEFL goal number then they should take the test as quickly as they can.
I work with students who are 14-25 years old. But, by beginning tutoring at earlier ages, students can substantially improve their international English skills which has a tremendous effect on their self-confidence. Improving English skills and developing good study habits leads to less stress in future classes. Learn more about my academic tutoring services by clicking here.
Usually, I meet with students once per week. Sessions can be as little as 30 minutes or up to two hours. In certain situations, multiple sessions may be required each week. Two-hour sessions are ideal for SAT & IELTS preparation work.
BOTH! Most of my students and families love the convenience of online lessons because it cuts out the travel time to a location. I understand that teenage school life is full of after-school activities, so I make it easy to for your student to get the tutoring support they need without traveling. Online coaching is not only effective but also convenient! If online sessions are not for you, I also offer limited in-person lessons in Bangkok next to Ratchathewi BTS.
Online tutoring sessions are hosted via a program called Zoom which is free to the student. After an online session is scheduled, a confirmation email will be sent to the student and their parents notifying them of the lesson. Included in the email will be a link to the session. All the student needs to do is click the link and the online tutoring session begins with me. No need to create a username or download any programs.
While online tutoring is not well known in ASEAN countries (my target), China has been very active in it since 2013. See VIPKid.com as the best but not only example. The owner, Cindy Ma of Beijing, has become a billionaire as a result and has 500,000+ students and 70,000 teachers in Britain, Canada and the U.S.
I’ve taught 1,000+ hours of online tutoring sessions and believe they are equal to and mostly better than in-person tutoring. Zoom, which is the audio/visual system that I use to connect to the student, offers an extremely reliable program that allows the student and myself to complete the lesson just as if it were in an in-person class. Sometimes, a parent(s) watches the lesson sitting behind their son/daughter! One of the benefits of online lessons is the ability to record the tutoring sessions. This feature allows the student to review the lesson at any time if they have questions about concepts that were covered.
All students have the ability to reschedule the tutoring session with 24 hours notice. It is easy to do. Just log onto my website’s portal, login to your account and cancel or change the time of your tutoring session. However, a lot of time goes into preparing each tutoring class, so less than 24 hours notice of cancellation or postponement will mean that I will charge you for the missed class. I do allow for the infrequent exception to this rule if a genuine emergency happens.
ONLINE ENGLISH TUTORING QUESTIONS
Absolutely not! While I primarily help students who have gaps in their international English reading and writing skills, I also encourage students who are doing well in English to work with me so that they can get even further ahead.
Most students contact me when they are in trouble with their critical reading and writing skills in the classroom and when they close to taking the SAT, IELTS or TOEFL. To me, this is bad timing! Students who do the best in the classroom and on these three tests GET AHEAD OF THEIR STUDIES. By investing in an academic tutoring package (10 hours/20/hours/30 hours), they have tutoring classes on an ongoing (weekly?) basis. This reduces the price of tutoring but also keeps them current on their skills which makes them feel comfortable and calm.
Absolutely, yes – I do GROUP TUTORING but I limit it to a minimum of three students and a maximum of four. The important thing is that they have similar age/grade levels and the same goals.
SAT & IELTS TUTORING QUESTIONS
The SAT test is a 3 hour 50 minute test, 50% of which is math, 50% of which is English produced in the U.S. It is one of the required admissions entrance tests for U.S. universities/colleges as well as many international programs in ASEAN universities. Click here for more information.
The IELTS test is a 2 hour 45 minute test, produced in Britain with 100% of it testing English language skills – no math. It is one of the required admissions entrance tests for European universities/colleges as well as many international programs in ASEAN universities. Click here for more information.
The American SAT or the British IELTS is a required entrance test for universities and colleges in those countries. It is also a requirement to enter many international programs in ASEAN universities. Without a good SAT or IELTS score, students will have difficulty being accepted into university or receiving scholarship money.
Most ASEAN students should begin preparing for the SAT or IELTS by the end of grade 9. By this age, students have taken many of the core math and English courses. By starting early, students put themselves in a great position to learn and master the material without the pressure of a strict deadline. I strongly recommend that students work to get their best SAT or IELTS score by grade 11 because there are so many other requirements to enter top university programs (college applications, scholarship submissions, volunteer work, and individual coursework).
Google it, there are test centers in most large ASEAN cities. However, because the test site security is high (to prevent cheating) and the seats are limited, I have known students who have flown to other nearby cities & countries to take the test. It doesn’t matter WHERE you take the test.
Yes. The college or university to which you apply will generally accept the highest SAT or IELTS score when they process your entrance application so there is no penalty. But, your earlier and lower scores are 100% accessible to them. I strongly recommend not taking the SAT or IELTS more than three times.
Yes, they sometimes do. With the exception of Singapore, all other ASEAN countries have weak national education systems based on commonly accepted international education standards. For example, the PISA test is one of the oldest and most common tests of math, science and English with five of the top 10 best scoring countries here in Asia! It is given every three years.
The SAT, TOEFL, IELTS, EF and the WEF tests or surveys –which compete with the PISA test – also rank your country though with similar results. Source : https://factsmaps.com/pisa-2018-worldwide-ranking-average-score-of-mathematics-science-reading/
Thailand, for example, has a strict no-failure policy – no Thai student can ever fail! So, students can have six years of secondary school (Matayom), never really learn international math or English skills and graduate with a good GPA. But, all foreign universities know this which is why much more pressure is put on the SAT or IELTS test results because its content is at an international level and it is nearly impossible to cheat on the tests.
Even if a student is a high performer in school, this does not always mean they instantly do well on the SAT or IELTS tests. Parents need to realize that the content your student learns in their ASEAN school is very often not directly related to the test content on the SAT or IELTS. A great score on the SAT or IELTS comes from preparing well for the test which consists of a variety of English rules, essay writing, math formulas, and data interpretation questions. Both the SAT and IELTS tests are expert at causing students to choose the wrong answers. Good SAT/IELTS preparation prepares students not to fall into these traps.
