Learning to Tutor: 5 Crucial Aspects

When you start tutoring or if your experienced tutor that wants to improve your lessons, a thought through approach is essential. Here, I'll discuss five crucial aspects of effective tutoring, with practical tips and examples to help you get started.

1. Preparation: Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail
‍Good preparation is the key to successful tutoring. Take the time to review your student's subject matter and make sure you're familiar with the terminology that's being used. Create a rough lesson plan to maintain structure and focus. Anticipate possible questions and bottlenecks so you can adapt your explanation to your student's needs.

Tip: Ask your student to send photos of the course and notes in advance. Use visual tools such as a whiteboard, presentation, animations, etc. Practice any difficult explanations beforehand.

2. Individual Approach: The Key to Success
‍Each student is unique and has a different way of learning. Tailor your lesson to your student's specific needs. Take time to observe how your student learns best and tailor your lessons accordingly.

Tip: Do not decide in advance exactly which exercises you want to do, but identify the different types of exercises beforehand. This way, you can easily adjust the difficulty level to the student's understanding at that moment.‍

3. Be Honest and Transparent: Mistakes Happen to the Best
‍If you can't answer a question directly, be honest and promise to explain it later. Ensure open communication and transparency during your lessons.

Example: If you get a question that you don't know the answer to immediately, acknowledge that you don't know and explain that you'll look it up later and forward it via a voice message, for example.

4. Feedback and Homework: Indispensable for Progress
‍Feedback is very important because it keeps parents up to date with the student's progress and what they're paying for. Homework is a good control mechanism for checking whether the student has mastered the subject independently, which is necessary for a good result on a test or exam.

Tip: After each tutoring, send notes you made during the lesson along with a homework. Write a brief summary of what has been covered and describe the student's strengths and weaknesses to the parents.

5. Succession: Stay Relevant to the Student
‍Stay involved with your student and take an interest in their learning process. Being available for questions and providing feedback outside of regular lessons contributes to a positive learning experience.

Tip: After a test, send a message to ask how it went and if there are any questions. This shows that you are engaged and ready to help. Even if the student no longer needs immediate help, check how he or her is doing every few weeks.

Conclusion
‍Tutoring is more than just giving lessons for an hour when it's convenient. It's about preparing, adapting your lesson to your student, acknowledging your own mistakes, providing feedback and homework, and showing student engagement. If you want to tutor to help others, this will come naturally, but even if you're doing it purely for income, this approach is better because it allows you to spend less time bringing in new students and working on your reputation (reviews and recommendations usually come from returning customers, not one-off customers).