Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Interview – By Ella (aged 9)

Young girl screamingThe young girl lived in a cottage and today she was thinking how to impress the managers who looked completely friendly but were doing something rude with their hands which they placed over their ears as she tried to persuade them of her perfection.  Jenny was cross and she stamped her feet and shouted “I have had enough of this!”. The skinny man with thick eyebrows was smiling, the chubby male with attitude was thrilled and the woman with pointy heels said “You’re in!”. They all stood up and yelled “Welcome to Yelling school!”

Ella (aged 9)

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Hard Work Pays Off

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WHILE OTHERS ARE AT PLAY

School is well and truly under way and while some students had trouble adjusting to the new year a small group of them took it in their stride with new confidence.

This group of students was invited to attend a two week intensive tuition catch-up session during the Christmas break.  Initially they were not too happy about attending, after all it was the holidays, but we thought they would benefit from the intensive program designed to better prepare them for the new year.

Each of the students needed to move closer to being aligned to the school curriculum as they were moving into secondary education.  As it turned out most of them covered the equivalent of one year of school maths during those two weeks and all were happy to be at school understanding the maths they are being taught this year.

Every student who attended deserves a huge pat on the back for their efforts.  It never ceases to amaze me what a child will achieve when given the correct environment and opportunity.

 

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Tuition Tips – Brain Food With B Vitamins

Empty Gas TankHaving a properly fuelled student goes a long way to producing good academic results.  There are times a student will come to our tuition room tired and unmotivated.   They are slow in movement and slow in thought when the previous week they were lively, animated and full of beans.  How has such a difference come about in such a short time?

My first question to afternoon students is, “When did you last eat?”, whereas my second question is, “When did you last have a drink of water?”  Lack of food (fuel) and lack of hydration are two factors that will bring about that feeling of being tired.  Consuming water and a healthy snack before settling down to working the little grey cells will go a long way to helping a student concentrate during study time.

This week we will look at B vitamins and their role.

The chief function of B Vitamins is to act as spark plugs for the body to assist in converting glucose into energy for fuel.  They are also vitally important for the functioning of a healthy nervous system and in helping to promote relaxation in stressed individuals.   Very few vitamins are found in a packet of potato crisps and a can of coke.   A person will literally obtain more miles out of a banana than soft drinks and chips.

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Filed under Learning, Nutrition & Study, Tuition Tips, Uncategorized

HOW DO YOU CHOOSE A TUTOR?

The process of choosing a tutor can be daunting and confusing. Generally when a parent is told by a teacher their child is struggling it comes as sudden news to the parent but has been viewed as a gradual process by the teacher or various teachers. One wonders why measures were not taken sooner to halt this process.

For whatever reason your student now requires tuition so how do you choose? I have seen many one-on-one tutors who do very fine work helping the student with maths at their current level and at times this is successful. School results improve and grades come up, but this system has its limitations.

Learning maths is a progressive process building upon previous knowledge of various maths strands until eventually the student is able to solve complex problems by drawing on their various knowledge strands. If there is a hole in their knowledge strands this makes solving these complex problems more difficult. This hole may have appeared years before and not been repaired.

The tuition process you choose should be able to identify these knowledge holes and plug them. By doing this your student is armed with complete knowledge that allows them to move to the top percentage of their class.

Your tutor should be able to identify the time when your child started to have difficulties; set up a program to begin at the point of trouble; move progressively forward plugging up other holes as they are identified; monitor the student’s progress (we do ours daily); provide progressive reports (our parents receive monthly progress reports on students); and set goals that engage and reward students (this keeps them motivated).

This method takes time but produces the best long term results.

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The Wolf – by Dardo (aged 7)

Wolf_It was at night when the snow wolf jumped to snowy island.  He was looking for something to eat.  He spotted a little polar bear but it was too small to share with his family.  He decided to keep looking.

Dardo (aged 7)

Our younger students are encouraged to use their imagination while developing the fine motor skills required to write.  We do not expect them to know how to spell some of the words they wish to use, we just reassure them as they make the best attempt to sound out the word and transfer those sounds to paper.  Sometimes it requires some effort on my part to decipher the written word into the finished product above, but it is always worth the effort.

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Let’s Drink a Toast to the Australian Women’s Weekly!

History is over-looked a bit these days with such comments as “What is it good for?”; “That was then and this is now!” and “What is the point of learning old stuff?”. Our present is, and will always be built upon our past and the only way to progress forward is not to repeat what has been.

Neither are moments in history always created by great men participating in great moments. The truly fascinating past is created by ordinary people performing their jobs under sometimes extraordinary conditions. I have been following this blog as it describes wonderfully that second style of historic person, the ordinary person doing their job.

We may not all aspire to become great moments in history but it is comforting to know that history records as great moments the ordinary person doing ordinary work under extraordinary conditions. It illustrates the importance of education and commitment to doing a job well.

Lynette Finch's avatarQuills Writing Tuition

6 February 1956.

It’s time to salute to a lone voice. The Australian media were mean spirited about Antarctica.  They pushed the line that at some stage there had better be clear financial returns to justify the expense of maintaining a permanent base in such a godforsaken land.

When the Kista left Melbourne, the Right Honourable Richard Casey (the perceptibly tired and emotional Australian Minister for External Affairs) was amongst the crowd of well-wishers gathered to see them on their way. He gave a stirring farewell speech in which he stressed the scientific importance of our Antarctic project. It was essential for Australia to honour our commitment to the International Geophysical Year, he explained.

Harold Campbell, editor of Melbourne’s broadsheet The Age, covered the Minister’s statesman-like speech like this: “Results Please Mr Casey: Australia Steps Up Antarctic Development”.

So you see what I mean. For the press, Antarctica…

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Two Sensei

Two SenseiIn Japan, two sensei, one in white and the other in blue, sat down to play checkers.   Mount Fuji was in the background and they were bored because that was what they did every day.  “Let’s go fishing’, said the one in blue.  They caught two big fish and they ate them for lunch.  Instead of being bored, they were happy and full.

Dardo aged 7

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