Okay, so you registered as a home tutor with SmileTutor and successfully bid for a tuition assignment. Now, you’re about to begin the first lesson with your new student, but you’re a little nervous. What should you say to your new student? Will it be slightly awkward?
In the beginning of a new home tuition arrangement, one of the most important things that you can do as a home tutor is to ask the right questions. As they say, “Questions Are The Answers.” Questions will help you open up your student and get to know them better.
Opening your new tutee up not only helps you build rapport, but it allows you to accelerate the “introductions” phase and transition to actual tutoring quickly. You will make a good impression and the student will like you more, creating a good foundation for a healthy, lasting student-tutor relationship.
1. Ask about their hobbies
This is a good conversation opener and allows you to build good rapport easily. Knowing what they enjoy doing helps you to find topics to talk about when the tuition sessions gets stale. You could use this information later on to nurture the student-tutor relationship and also to motivate them. If anything, this is a good question opener to get to know the student you’ll be dealing with.
2. Ask about their favourite (and least favourite) subjects in school
Learning this information will help you to determine more about what motivates and inspires them. This will help you to develop your tuition lesson plan around their particular interests. You’ll also have a clue on what subjects that they’ll likely perform poorly at and also the reasons behind their issues with particular subjects.
3. Ask about their usual study habits
As a home tutor, it’ll be helpful to know whether your student is working hard at trying to improve themselves. Knowing their study habits will give you a better judgment of what’s working and what’s not. You may also offer helpful tips based on your own experience on how they can study better on their own. When your tutee learns to study in the right way, you’ll start to see results double!
4. Ask about their learning styles
Some students learn better by seeing, some by seeing, and some by doing it themselves. Some students learn better through storytelling, some by real-life examples, and some by theoretical explanations. Asking your student what learning style they prefer will often give you solid information on to begin the tutoring process. Having these answers will also help you to avoid making mistakes with the way you approach their studies because you will already have some ideas as to what works and what doesn’t work.
5. Ask about their enjoyment of school
Finally, as a tutor you should also ask your student what their overall feeling of school is. This could possibly help you to learn more about what is causing the student to struggle in school. You can also dig deeper in their school life to find out how you can truly help them excel not just in the tuition subject, but in their entire education.
Conclusion
By asking these questions, you will be able to build a strong relationship with your student right from the start and you can learn more about the best way to teach them. The answers that you receive will help you to determine the best course of action that you should take when it comes to their education. In fact, these questions are not only useful when you meet your new students for the first time, you could use them anytime, even if you’ve been giving home tuition to a particular student for some time.
Have more good questions to ask your new students? Share in the comments below!
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