More than 10 years teaching Literature and Academic Writing at NIE/NTU to MOE teachers and teacher-trainees. Full-time tutor for Literature, English and GP in Sec/JC and IB programmes in last four years. Have taught students from local and international schools. Expert in multiple Literatures, including women's writing, post-colonial texts and Singapore Literature. Lessons are enjoyable, varied and effective, using latest teaching approaches. Long-term students have attained distinctions. Failing students have been successfully helped within a few months.
Lower secondary level - English Language Arts Literature Social Studies
Upper secondary level - English Language Arts Literature Social Studies
Junior college level - General Paper Knowledge & Inquiry Literature
International Baccalaureate - Extended Essay Language Arts Theory of Knowledge
Commitment / Other Details
I'm a full-time tutor and can start immediately. Tuition will be at my home in Thomson Ridge, Upper Thomson. Different rates apply for 1-on-1 and 1-on-2 tutoring. Please call to negotiate. Hours: Weekday afternoons and weekend mornings.
Rapport Building
I make it a point to have a continuing dialogue with the student over his/her progress and in identifying areas for improvement although in an encouraging and motivating manner--it's important to never let a student feel discouraged. With either solo or group tuition, I design lessons that connect to students' interests. I also often use literature texts to discuss students' attitudes and thoughts about social and cultural issues and local incidents. This develops students' ability to think and argue but also builds trust in the tutor as a mentor.
Keeping Up with Curriculum
I am an avid reader of literature and of literary criticism and also keep abreast of literary ad cultural happenings in Singapore. By maintaining an extensive network of contacts with ex-students who are now teachers in schools as well as with MOE and NIE staff, I am kept informed of changes in curriculum and developments/trends in literature pedagogy. I am also often able to access some of the best resource materials developed by local schools.
As a Good Tutor
The most important qualities of a tutor are compassion and sensitivity to students' feelings and needs. It's important to me that a student must trust me and have confidence in me rather than fear me. The tutor's authority must come from demonstrating subject knowledge and effective teaching, not from being stern and forbidding. As a literature teacher, I have three major education goals--to use Literature to teach students to think about life and society, to teach them the larger skill of analyzing texts, not just literature but anything from smses to spoken language, press reports and mass media texts, and most importantly, to give them the knowledge and develop the reading and writing skills needed to get top grades in Literature.
