Celebrating Our Women This August

The month of August is Women's Month in South Africa, and we're celebrating with enthusiasm and gratitude as we focus on our female tutors and what makes them awesome. We interviewed 5 of our top female tutors to get to know them, and their perspective on tutoring.

How do you maintain good relationships with your tutoring clients?

Communication and openness is key to maintaining a great relationship with clients. I am honest about what I went through in university and I encourage them to do better by pointing out what I could have done differently. Sometimes clients just need reassurance that they are able and they can do it.

Do you have any techniques you can share on how you help your students reach and maintain good results?

Communicate well with clients and I check up on them especially during exam time!

Do you have any other tutoring tips or advice that you'd give to other aspiring tutors?

Encourage, do not scold or boast about your achievements.

If you could send a personal message to all women, what would it be?

You are stronger than you think. If he can do it, so can you! You are awesome!

How do you maintain good relationships with your tutoring clients?

I try to make the class as informal as possible while still keeping it educational. Formal situations can sometimes be very strange and uncomfortable so I always try to make class fun and full of jokes to ensure that the student feels we have a peer-to-peer relationship. Also, I make a point to be accessible to them by always having a 2 minute chat to ask them how they are doing and what happened in their lives since I last saw them. This also sets the tone for the class because it immediately gives you an idea in what mood the student is and also builds the relationship between student and tutor.

Do you have any techniques you can share on how you help your students reach and maintain good results?

I adjust my classes for every student. If I have a student that is very artsy and creative I tend to make lots of stories and rhymes to show them that maths and science can be very creative too. I found that students remember crazy stories and sometimes they even contribute which makes the class even more fun and interactive!

Do you have any other tutoring tips or advice that you'd give to other aspiring tutors?

Stay very patient and always be friendly. Be sure to simplify everything if the student is struggling and first build up their confidence before tackling the more challenging problems.

If you could send a personal message to all women, what would it be?

Wherever you go in life, do not ever lose your own voice.

How do you maintain good relationships with your tutoring clients?

I believe it's about observing and understanding your client and adapting to their requirements. Some clients want a strictly professional relationship, thus requiring me to just tutor and deliver good results. Some clients want a combination of a friend and a tutor, others a tutor to boost their academic confidence etc.

In my experience, it's about what the client wants, and not a one way approach to tutoring that does not address their needs.

One of the ways to achieve this is to ask questions. The first question I always ask a clients is what they want, in doing so, it directs my approach or method in how I tutor them.

Do you have any techniques you can share on how you help your students reach and maintain good results?

My tips are based on my experience as a student, and as an assistant lecturer in finance:

Study to understand, doing one question on a topic and revising the principles it was testing is much more effective than doing many questions on that topic and still not understand the basic principles.

Exam technique is key, especially in accounting and financing subjects. It is important to pay attention to how your teacher/ lecturer requires you to answer questions. For example, showing calculations on your script which shows your thought process, rather than just writing the final answer from your calculator will earn you the most marks. This makes it easier for the marker to follow what you are doing and in awarding marks.

Work smart and not hard. This took me a while to understand as it was a trial and error phase before I got it right. I used a lot of mindmaps when I studied. This would briefly summarise what a topic is about and would include important concepts that I needed to remember regarding that topic. This helps when you do it regularly because when the test date is close, you do not have to open your textbooks again but just read through your notes.

If an upcoming test is based on new topics and old topics that were already tested, I would focus more on the new topics, and study old topics by doing the previous assessment again. This way you revise what you already studied and you learn what you did not know when you wrote the test.

When studying through doing questions, it is always helpful to write down the principles that you learnt from each question you did. That way, you will remember it in the long term.

Find a study routine that suits you! Do not copy what your friends are doing. For example I am a night owl. After class (around 13:30), I would eat, then sleep until 17:00 and study the whole night until around 01:00 and wake up at 07:00 for class. It worked for me because I knew that without sleeping (especially during the day), I would not be productive. If you need to exercise, read a book, listen to music etc when studying, do it. You should make studying enjoyable for yourself, create an atmosphere that you enjoy and it that way, you will be more productive. However, these things should not distract you from actually studying.

Last but not least, always ask questions. No matter how stupid you think it is. In the end, you need to succeed and without the knowledge you will not succeed. You do not want to regret not knowing something in a test because you were too ashamed to ask.

Do you have any other tutoring tips or advice that you'd give to other aspiring tutors?

I believe tutoring requires patience and passion. As you deal with many different personalities, if you can be patient, then you can adapt to different teaching styles that your client needs. Passion will help your students fall in love with the subject and not seeing it as something they struggle with. When they enjoy it, they will study more and perform better and that will help them see the value of having you as a tutor.

If you could send a personal message to all women, what would it be?

"You will never influence the world by trying to be like it"

How do you maintain good relationships with your tutoring clients?

I always keep things straight to the point. I am punctual and professional, but I remain approachable and kind.

Do you have any techniques you can share on how you help your students reach and maintain good results?

I make my students explain the concepts back to me so that I can make sure they understand the work. When a student is stuck or ask me questions regarding a problem, I guide them by asking questions back so that they can think about. I do not spoon-feed my students.

Do you have any other tutoring tips or advice that you'd give to other aspiring tutors?

Always prepare your lessons beforehand. Even though a student says they understand something, do not "trust" them, TEST them, always! And don't be scared to admit you do not know something, you do not want to guide your student in the wrong direction, be honest and be true and go study up on that thing so that you can help them next time.

If you could send a personal message to all women, what would it be?

This question is a tough one for me because woman these days are so inspiring and empowering. I would just like to say to all woman, "Keep up the great work and continue to be the strong and independent woman you are".

How do you maintain good relationships with your tutoring clients?

I always tell all my tutoring clients that I’m available to help whenever I can, more like after a lesson support incase they need it. And I sometimes find out how they are copying with studies having had being a student myself I know how much studying can drain you out and you need all the support one can get. Sometimes all it takes is hearing someone tell you hang in there it’s going to be alright, keep on holding you are almost there. So oftenly I try to be that person.

Do you have any techniques you can share on how you help your students reach and maintain good results?

Consistency in your study ethics that’s what I tell all of my students, you can never leave everything for the last minute. If you do, you are setting yourself up for failure. Do the work on a daily basis bit by bit. Don’t be overwhelmed by the work load such that you fail to start.

I always tell them to find balance between working hard and working smart, which is usually the difference between failure and passing. I like to be on the passing side so that balance is essential.

Do you have any other tutoring tips or advice that you'd give to other aspiring tutors?

If you are passionate about helping someone achieve their academic dreams and goals don’t let yourself rest until you have achieved that.

I believe with education we can transform the world one student at a time. Tutoring is sometimes time consuming and taxing to be in a position where you know you are doing it for the right reasons so also as to benefit the person you are helping. It’s good to have different income sources but always ask yourself are you creating value, are your clients getting better after interacting with you.

If you could send a personal message to all women, what would it be?

Be the best you, you can be. The world already has an opinion of who you are, make sure you know who you are. The only way you can focus on achieving your goal is having confidence in yourself. And sometimes it means going against society standards, what people think they know about you and believing in who you know you are.

Be amongst the company of people who makes you better. Who challenges you to be in better and never give up on what you want to become, there is so much more locked inside of you, discover it. The world is there for the taking, let’s conquer. Happy women’s month to you all beautiful, strong and intelligent human beings.