Comparing English Enrichment Programmes

[ppnqq]

dondon:

Hi Mommies,


Does anyone know any good home tutor for Primary English and Math in the East?

I'm also looking for one but in the North instead. TIA.

[Jasmine85]

frm what I gather TAS is gd for creative writing, MindStretchers for overall english.


Can anyone give a quick idea of what are their teachers like? gd qualifications? Can parents pick which teacher they prefer? tks.

[hquek]

Jasmine85:

frm what I gather TAS is gd for creative writing, MindStretchers for overall english.


Can anyone give a quick idea of what are their teachers like? gd qualifications? Can parents pick which teacher they prefer? tks.

My kid is in TAS, I have no clue about mindstretchers. Based on what I see, they do cover grammar, vocab and other stuff in their classes - it's not just creative writing.

Teachers are generally young and enthusiastic - 5-10 min before class starts and most children are inside already. As a sign of their enthusiasm, my kid's class has never ever ended on time, they are usually 5-15 mins late - this is a change from some other classes where teacher always end 5 min before time.

I understand from past conversation with the school that the teachers are all uni grads - if this is impt, you may want to verify this part. Teachers are always on hand to provide feedback to parents after classes - and they do drill down to the specifics when highlighting the strengths/problems the child has.

Parents can only select timeslots - the teacher is fixed for that slot. More than 8 kids (I think), there will be an assistant teacher in the classroom.

[Jasmine85]

hquek:

Jasmine85:

frm what I gather TAS is gd for creative writing, MindStretchers for overall english.


Can anyone give a quick idea of what are their teachers like? gd qualifications? Can parents pick which teacher they prefer? tks.

My kid is in TAS, I have no clue about mindstretchers. Based on what I see, they do cover grammar, vocab and other stuff in their classes - it's not just creative writing.

Teachers are generally young and enthusiastic - 5-10 min before class starts and most children are inside already. As a sign of their enthusiasm, my kid's class has never ever ended on time, they are usually 5-15 mins late - this is a change from some other classes where teacher always end 5 min before time.

I understand from past conversation with the school that the teachers are all uni grads - if this is impt, you may want to verify this part. Teachers are always on hand to provide feedback to parents after classes - and they do drill down to the specifics when highlighting the strengths/problems the child has.

Parents can only select timeslots - the teacher is fixed for that slot. More than 8 kids (I think), there will be an assistant teacher in the classroom.

Thks hquek It good that the teachers are uni grads! Can you tell me if they have teaching qualification also? How long do classes last? Thks

[Jasmine85]

hquek:

Jasmine85:

frm what I gather TAS is gd for creative writing, MindStretchers for overall english.


Can anyone give a quick idea of what are their teachers like? gd qualifications? Can parents pick which teacher they prefer? tks.

My kid is in TAS, I have no clue about mindstretchers. Based on what I see, they do cover grammar, vocab and other stuff in their classes - it's not just creative writing.

Teachers are generally young and enthusiastic - 5-10 min before class starts and most children are inside already. As a sign of their enthusiasm, my kid's class has never ever ended on time, they are usually 5-15 mins late - this is a change from some other classes where teacher always end 5 min before time.


I understand from past conversation with the school that the teachers are all uni grads - if this is impt, you may want to verify this part. Teachers are always on hand to provide feedback to parents after classes - and they do drill down to the specifics when highlighting the strengths/problems the child has.

Parents can only select timeslots - the teacher is fixed for that slot. More than 8 kids (I think), there will be an assistant teacher in the classroom.

Thks hquek! It good that the teachers are uni grads! Can you tell me if they have teaching qualification also? How long do classes last? Thks

[hquek]

Jasmine85:

Thks hquek! It good that the teachers are uni grads! Can you tell me if they have teaching qualification also? How long do classes last? Thks

I am not sure if they have teaching qualifications (don't think so else they should be older after serving bond etc) - you can actually call TAS to find out, I'm sure they will share such information.

Classes are 2hours long, for their regular classes, I think they stagger the next class a bit becos there is always time for parents to 'nab' the teacher and ask about their kids and each parent can take 3-5 min (seems long if you are waiting for her to finish).

btw, a bit more on other aspects of english covered. I see my kid learning dictation and spelling almost every week. They also have mcqs, cloze passages; I see my kid writing out grammar rules. Classes are generally quite interactive as they have quizzes and such. FYI, my child only in P1 but he's being exposed to higher level work (and loving it).

[Herbie]

i hv read a post by tas under the english creative writing thread by tas in response to a query on their teacher n the replay was their teachers has passion in teaching but no info whether they r uni grad…

[hquek]

Herbie:

i hv read a post by tas under the english creative writing thread by tas in response to a query on their teacher n the replay was their teachers has passion in teaching but no info whether they r uni grad..

That was from when I was enquiring about them, the lady I spoke with told me the teachers are all uni grads.

I don't place much emphasis on paper qualifications - if one can't impart knowledge, phd also no point. It was more the enthusiasm I saw when my kid went for their trial class and how they were responsive to ksp parents queries that made me sign up for their classes.

I would say to parents who are thinking about signing up - go see for yourself. I can say a million things but that will be from MY perspective. They give a free trial and this trial is with their regular class. If your child goes there, have fun and learn things; then you know it's good. If a child goes there and feels he's sinking all the time, then the parent should go and find something more suitable.

[Herbie]

I concur with yr comment. There shld be chemistry btw the child and teacher. My concern is compo component… can the teacher mark the compo if they aren’t trained teacher especially for Upper Primary level?


I am not against TAS… They are good as they are willing to share and answer parents queries on english language.

[hquek]

Herbie:

My concern is compo component.. can the teacher mark the compo if they aren't trained teacher especially for Upper Primary level?


I am not against TAS.. They are good as they are willing to share and answer parents queries on english language.

It's good to voice out your thoughts - be it for and against. Gives us things to ponder. Got your point about if not NIE trained, maybe marking skills not quite there.

I see 3 classes going on at the timing my DS1 attends - young, med, older. The founder (I reckon it's her) is taking the P5/6 class and I understand that she is an ex-teacher. So that should assuage concerns about quality of marking for older kids.

But in any case, talk to the school directly with your concerns/requirements. I can only offer what my 2 eyes see - a lot is guess work based on what DS1 brings home. And actually I did see a parent pull out his kid from TAS - they were processing his refund when I was there. Pulling out is not so great news for me, but there are probably 1001 reasons why: the positive I saw in it is that TAS is not 'ngeow' about giving refunds to parents if they are pulling out - I'm sure there are schools that hem and haw when parents don't want to continue.