Throwback Thursday: Timeless Tips for Finding a Good Tutor

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Beijingkids has been an essential family resource for Beijing international families since 2006. And just as kids grow up in the blink of an eye, Beijing has grown and changed almost beyond recognition in that time. In Throwback Thursday we jump in the time machine, traveling through our 14 year-strong blog archives to dig out the most entertaining, fascinating, and thought-provoking stories for your reading pleasure. Ready? Let’s go…

Despite the many local businesses striving to offer summer camps – keep an eye on our curated Family Friendly Events listings as they are announced – due to last month’s resurgence in COVID-19 cases, the options for keeping kids entertained over summer are few and far between. As a result, many parents will be enrolling their kids in supplementary English language courses, whether in person or remotely via Zoom and other programs.

This week’s Throwback Thursday comes from the 2011 archives and discusses the ‘unqualified English teacher conundrum’, in which in an effort to keep up with the demand for teachers, Chinese schools would hire teachers on appearance alone with scant regard for any qualifications or training.  The 2011 article talks about such teachers who bragged about teaching hungover and swearing at their young students when nobody else was around, as well as schools who flat-out lied about their teacher’s nationalities just to please parents.

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Thankfully, things have changed a lot in the last 9 years and the requirements for being hired as an ESL teacher – especially in tier-one cities like Beijing – are much more stringent. However, there are still a few unscrupulous schools and training centers floating around, so it still pays to be vigilant when looking for a school for a tutor for your child. The 2011 article included some very helpful tips for weeding out the good from the bad, which are still very helpful in 2020.

Tips for seeking a language teacher for your child:

1. Don’t rely strictly on brand names.
 Ask for – and check – references on specific teachers from other students and parents of students in the class. Your child’s experience is heavily dependent not just on the school you choose, but the teacher you end up with. You’ll find many schools have an uneven mix of qualified and unqualified teachers.

2. Ignore skin color.
Native speakers come in all colors and nationalities. Someone from the Philippines, Kenya, Singapore, Jamaica can be as capable an English teacher – or even more capable – than a Caucasian from the US or the UK. In fact, Caucasian teachers are more likely to be getting by on the color of their skin alone, whereas a non-Caucasian will not be given the benefit of the doubt – they will have to perform.

3. Look for stability.
Generally, the longer someone has taught in the same place, the higher quality of the candidate. Furthermore, having a teacher leave during a course of study can be disruptive.

4. Non-native speakers can be good teachers too.
Having a teacher who’s been through what your child is going through can actually be an advantage, as they understand more intuitively the difficulties a non-native speaker will face.

5. Look for a training program.
Find out if the school offers training for their teachers, and verify this information with the teacher him/herself.

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Photos: Unsplash, Pexels

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