Last year, I have tutored Alex Panduro, currently in 10th grade, in math as Ms.Huijnen, my math teacher, and Mr.Tingley, old school counsellor asked me to.
I'm not sure if I helped him understand better the concepts he was doing in his class or made him a little more interested in the subject itself; he didn't seem that he enjoyed doing math. But one thing that is sure that I did learn a lot and improve in my teaching skills.
While I was teaching him, I tried my best to explain the concepts as easy as possible, in fact in the EASIEST way. I thought, only from time to time, he may not necessarily be the 'mathematical' person. It was a little frustrating to teach him because he didn't show any enthusiasm or at least make his mind that he'd try. Sometimes, I even thought that, only in the beginning of the year,
'how can he not understand that..? is he really... that stupid...? It IS something to be shamed of...'
It's mean, I know that, but it's just to show how I was frustrated.
He did improve though; slightly, but gradually. So I was happy.
BUT, I realised that there is someone very similar to him around me, my own yougher brother, Young Seok SONG. He's in 9th grade now, like Alex last year. He was frustrated and losing the interest in math, which I felt it was sad because math is MY favorite subject and I thought my brother would find it fun too if he understands better. For him, language was the problem; he has spoken English only for last three year, and never spoken before.
I had a good foundation in math because I have learned them in Korean first and done them in Korea before. But, in my brother's case, he has never done them, so everything he's learning these days is all new to him. The problem is that he doesn't understand the new concepts fully because he doesn't understand the language fully.
I thought I will have to take care of my brother and help him myself. I knew that he wouldn't do it alone, so his friend, Han Wool KIM, who also felt the necessity of help, joined.
Today, (18th October, 2010. Monday) we had the first class at my house since school's having an October break. They told me that they have done finding the surface area and volume and just started the simple expansion of the equation.
Foundation is always the first thing to go through, I thouhgt, so we went over the chapters again. (HA! They still made some silly mistakes which suggests they did not understand the concept well, and so I explaind the concepts again) Then, I re-introduced how to expand the equation by many examples. I could see they felt much easier to aske me questions in Korean because they could tell what exactly they don't understand ! It seems to be working.
After 2-hour-long class, they were so happy (:P maybe not) to have some homeworks to do for next class, probably tomorrow :D:D so I gave them just a page of homework. :D
I wish they will find the subject interesting like I do by the time I finish with them for extra help :D
I'm not sure if I helped him understand better the concepts he was doing in his class or made him a little more interested in the subject itself; he didn't seem that he enjoyed doing math. But one thing that is sure that I did learn a lot and improve in my teaching skills.
While I was teaching him, I tried my best to explain the concepts as easy as possible, in fact in the EASIEST way. I thought, only from time to time, he may not necessarily be the 'mathematical' person. It was a little frustrating to teach him because he didn't show any enthusiasm or at least make his mind that he'd try. Sometimes, I even thought that, only in the beginning of the year,
'how can he not understand that..? is he really... that stupid...? It IS something to be shamed of...'
It's mean, I know that, but it's just to show how I was frustrated.
He did improve though; slightly, but gradually. So I was happy.
BUT, I realised that there is someone very similar to him around me, my own yougher brother, Young Seok SONG. He's in 9th grade now, like Alex last year. He was frustrated and losing the interest in math, which I felt it was sad because math is MY favorite subject and I thought my brother would find it fun too if he understands better. For him, language was the problem; he has spoken English only for last three year, and never spoken before.
I had a good foundation in math because I have learned them in Korean first and done them in Korea before. But, in my brother's case, he has never done them, so everything he's learning these days is all new to him. The problem is that he doesn't understand the new concepts fully because he doesn't understand the language fully.
I thought I will have to take care of my brother and help him myself. I knew that he wouldn't do it alone, so his friend, Han Wool KIM, who also felt the necessity of help, joined.
Today, (18th October, 2010. Monday) we had the first class at my house since school's having an October break. They told me that they have done finding the surface area and volume and just started the simple expansion of the equation.
Foundation is always the first thing to go through, I thouhgt, so we went over the chapters again. (HA! They still made some silly mistakes which suggests they did not understand the concept well, and so I explaind the concepts again) Then, I re-introduced how to expand the equation by many examples. I could see they felt much easier to aske me questions in Korean because they could tell what exactly they don't understand ! It seems to be working.
After 2-hour-long class, they were so happy (:P maybe not) to have some homeworks to do for next class, probably tomorrow :D:D so I gave them just a page of homework. :D
I wish they will find the subject interesting like I do by the time I finish with them for extra help :D
homework ! How fun !
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