2008: The Year in Review

Much of 2008 was spent working with Elvin on the website. It was a busy time for some of us. Lester spent one semester studying in Ireland on an exchange programme. Adeline did her internship in the later part of the year. 

We organised two classes during the year. The first of which was the P6 maths tuition class. When the first lesson began in January, there were only two students! However, the number of students gradually grew. We had a third student in Feb, and by Mar, we had a total of nine students! I wish I could say that everything was smooth-sailing, but it was not. As the months passed, some of the students discontinued the tuition for a number of reasons. 

One such student was called Benjamin. He was a bright student and I always felt that he really didn't need tuition for maths at all. He had however, some difficulty in the topic of Rate & Speed. When I worked with the class on that topic, I could see that he was a fast learner and he improved a lot. Soon, I could see that he had no problems handling that topic, and he left shortly after that! I wasn't sad to see him go though, because I knew that he really didn't need tuition at all, and he could make better use of his time on his own.

There was another student called Raudha, who left because her mum had found a private tutor for her. It's fine with me too because different students learn differently. 

Then there were students like Grace, Natalie and Mitchell, who (I believe) left because their parents weren't seeing any improvements in their maths. It is for these students that I spend many sleepless nights wondering, what could I have done better for them? I hope they did well in their PSLE.

I eventually ended the tuition class with six students. The pictures below, were taken on the last lesson, just before they sat for their maths exam.

I was delighted to learn that Ken (extreme left in the group shot) and Alysia (second girl from the right) scored A stars for maths. And Jie Ting (extreme right) and Jaron (wearing black) scored A's. I am very happy for them and I hope that they continue to do well as they embark on secondary school life.

We also organised a second class for sec 4 additional maths in June. Unfortunately, the response for the class wasn't good and, to save on rent, we ended up changing the venue of the class to a private residence instead.

Although we are operating as a tuition agency, ultimately, we aim to establish Quality Tuitions as a tuition centre as well. The experiences gained in organising the two classes this year have proved to be valuable in providing for future classes.