Singapore Expats

Do you or are you willing to pay for tuition fees via Zoom lessons? I personally think it's a bit of waste of money. There's a lack of interaction and too much people talking at the same time.

^ Agree with this, unless of course it's a one-to-one session!

It really depends it is not black and white, blanket yes or no.

Somethings work very well, obviously not sports but language classes for example. But need to know how to do it. Shorter sessions might help a bit. Like my son gets Chinese conversation group 3 times a week 45min-1h each session instead of the earlier one longer session. It's a small group max 4 kids and reasonably priced as they can now source teachers remotely from China. That's been working ok.

Some other ones that work are the ones where there's a material activity pack shared to do at your own time and then a shorter call to go through and catch up. Still works ok.

Of course things are not the same but it's also a bit part of supporting the ones you want to still have business around after this thing is over. Many of the teaching staff at tutoring centers are freelancers paid per courses or hours delivered.

You're probably right that it really depends. I'm just leery about Zoom lessons in general though. I've seen them conducted and they can be disrupted often and quite easily too, unless the class is small and the students cooperative. I'm just wondering if there are any tuition centres that offer digital lessons in other formats--perhaps pre-recorded video lessons rather than live Zoom sessions?

Let me add a bit more based on own and friends experiences. Actually for some kids, yes it's individual, we have found that the online small group tuition works better than the regular classroom onsite. Yes we tried because couldn't attend onsite but depending on kids attention span and interest seems that about 50% do better in small group online than in regular ones. Got though one friend whose son absolutely could not focus on the online and was just disturbing others.
But in my son's case likely to gonna continue for Chinese online version even after this annoying CB is over. He likes it and seems to get more focus on shorter repeated sessions over the week.

So really it depends.

ProvenPracticalFlexible wrote: ↑

Sat, 23 May 2020 4:05 pm

Let me add a bit more based on own and friends experiences. Actually for some kids, yes it's individual, we have found that the online small group tuition works better than the regular classroom onsite. Yes we tried because couldn't attend onsite but depending on kids attention span and interest seems that about 50% do better in small group online than in regular ones. Got though one friend whose son absolutely could not focus on the online and was just disturbing others.
But in my son's case likely to gonna continue for Chinese online version even after this annoying CB is over. He likes it and seems to get more focus on shorter repeated sessions over the week.

So really it depends.

agree, kids all learn differently.
My friend recommended me a psychometric game designed to discover kids learning styles, and it helped us notice that group sessions (only possible on Zoom now) were better for my son due to him being more social type of learner. And he really enjoyed the game.
Can PM me for more details

My kid does it. For a discount.

A discount should be given. However, with the right tools, it can be reasonably effective.
A lot depends on the competence of the company, the teacher, the class sizes and the appropriate software being provided.

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PNGMK wrote: ↑

Mon, 31 May 2021 9:50 pm

My kid does it. For a discount.

That is very reasonable.
I refused to do zoom with the tutors cos they didn't offer a discount..

From our experience, it has worked ok, we estimate 80-90% effective compared to in-person. The problem is, tutors willing to give a discount are in the minority (especially those that are in demand). More commonly, they are willing to provide extra time at no cost. But it depends on the tutor. The popular ones would rather walk… because they can easily fill your slot with full fee paying students.

abbby wrote: ↑

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 12:08 pm

PNGMK wrote: ↑

Mon, 31 May 2021 9:50 pm

My kid does it. For a discount.

That is very reasonable.
I refused to do zoom with the tutors cos they didn't offer a discount..

Think about it from the tutors perspective. How are they supposed to make a living if they subsidize all the fees?

malcontent wrote: ↑

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 10:08 pm

From our experience, it has worked ok, we estimate 80-90% effective compared to in-person. The problem is, tutors willing to give a discount are in the minority (especially those that are in demand). More commonly, they are willing to provide extra time at no cost. But it depends on the tutor. The popular ones would rather walk… because they can easily fill your slot with full fee paying students.

My thoughts exactly. Barely any tutors offer discounts, this is their livelihood and its unreasonable to expect them to shortchange themselves.

jwoods1864 wrote: ↑

Mon, 31 May 2021 10:36 pm

A discount should be given. However, with the right tools, it can be reasonably effective.
A lot depends on the competence of the company, the teacher, the class sizes and the appropriate software being provided.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Exactly. It’s not so much about the platform as it is the teacher and the lesson plan. If enough effort is put into making sure the lesson runs smoothly, it will be no different from conducting it in person.

Lisafuller wrote: ↑

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 11:40 pm

abbby wrote: ↑

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 12:08 pm

PNGMK wrote: ↑

Mon, 31 May 2021 9:50 pm

My kid does it. For a discount.

That is very reasonable.
I refused to do zoom with the tutors cos they didn't offer a discount..

Think about it from the tutors perspective. How are they supposed to make a living if they subsidize all the fees?

True, but if they are saving on their time and transport costs to and fro, so continuing to charge the same fee can be quite a substantial bonus, they can make an even better living than before. And, TBH, they seemed to be doing pretty good already.

malcontent wrote: ↑

Thu, 23 Sep 2021 1:27 am

Lisafuller wrote: ↑

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 11:40 pm

abbby wrote: ↑

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 12:08 pm

That is very reasonable.
I refused to do zoom with the tutors cos they didn't offer a discount..

Think about it from the tutors perspective. How are they supposed to make a living if they subsidize all the fees?

True, but if they are saving on their time and transport costs to and fro, so continuing to charge the same fee can be quite a substantial bonus, they can make an even better living than before. And, TBH, they seemed to be doing pretty good already.

Fair enough. The group I had in mind were the smaller private tutors, those not affiliated with any center who rely entirely on fees to make a living.