Chinese Lessons and Tutors for Kids - Help Students Learn Chinese

Language has always been one of the most important subjects on every student’s academic journey. A solid language foundation would definitely be a pathway to success in the future. Located in Prince Edward, Ms. Tam Classroom was founded by Ms. Tam, who has ten years of teaching experience. Ms. Tam Classroom is dedicated to enhancing students’ interest in learning Chinese. “When I was a teacher in school, there were a lot of areas teachers had to handle besides teaching, such as administrative work and after-school activities. Teachers were so busy that we could not merely focus on teaching. This affected the teaching quality.” Therefore, Ms. Tam decided to open her own learning center to offer high-quality teaching aimed at increasing students’ motivation to learn, and helping them to achieve good results in their school exams.

Ms. Tam Classroom was established two years ago. Placing great emphasis on teaching quality and the learning progress of each student, Ms. Tam Classroom currently offers two types of classes, private and small group class. For small group classes, the maximum number of students in each class is 4 in the lower primary classes, and 6 in the higher primary classes. “When I allocate students into groups, it is very important for me to consider various factors. Apart from the age groups, I will also consider the students’ personalities. Even though the maximum class size is only 6 students, each student’s personality traits and characteristics will affect the interaction and learning atmosphere in the classroom.” In order to maintain its high quality of teaching, Ms. Tam Classroom will first offer private tutoring lessons to new students for their first month. In this way, teachers can get to know the students better to determine if they are suited to joining the existing small groups. This also gives students the opportunity to become more familiar with the teaching approach at Ms. Tam Classroom. Through the first four private classes, students will be assigned to the appropriate groups for their age to ensure they learn in an optimal environment.

Currently Ms. Tam Classroom offers classes to primary school students. In September, they will open secondary school classes. When designing their curriculum, Ms. Tam Classroom refers to the curriculum guide from the Hong Kong government. “The major differences between us and the Chinese lessons in school are the teaching materials and the way of lecturing. For example, for lower primary school students, we use picture books as teaching materials. Many educationalists have pointed out that pictures are the necessary learning material for children. This helps students to better understand concepts, and most importantly, illustrations arouse students' interest in learning. In schools, teachers are so busy that they may not have enough time to pay attention to every student’s learning progress. At Ms. Tam Classroom, we make sure that every student gets the attention. Through our interesting way of lecturing, students will have improvement in their Chinese language skills. For higher primary classes, we use literary pieces from authors in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for comprehension or writing practice. We aim to have students really acquire the knowledge rather than merely getting high scores in examinations.”

In the areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing, the curriculum at Ms. Tam Classroom focuses more on reading, writing, and language knowledge. One of the features of the approach at Ms. Tam Classroom is that students are required to read to their parents. This is a way for students to boost their self-confidence. As a mother, Ms. Tam believes that parents themselves are always an incentive for the children to learn because every child wants their parents to appreciate them. The practice of reading together not only encourages children to learn, but also helps maintain a close relationship between parents and children, especially for families in which both parents are working.

Most of the students at Ms. Tam Classroom are from elite schools such as Diocesan Girls' School, Ying Wa Primary School, Tak Sun School, Kowloon Tong School (Primary Section), Tsung Tsin Primary School, and Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School. “Although the students may be from elite schools, some are very frustrated because they do not perform well in school exams. As time goes by, they will become less active in learning and continue to have bad result in tests and exams. Our role here is to change their mindset. We aim to use a more interesting and motivating way to encourage students to learn and study.” However, Ms. Tam Classroom emphasizes that fun learning still requires students to have discipline. They all have to follow the instructions from teachers.

For the future development of the center, in addition to expanding the scale of the learning center, Ms. Tam Classroom is also working on self-designed teaching materials for their teaching purpose. “As teachers, we find that the current teaching materials are not very easy to use. As mentioned earlier, we use picture books as the teaching material for lower primary school students. We believe this is the most effective way for them to learn. We are now designing a set of teaching materials that are appropriate for our teaching method. We hope it can better help students to learn and understand Chinese, and ultimately increase their interest in learning.” Ms. Tam Classroom points out that almost 80% of their students have come from referrals, and they believe this is the most effective tool for promoting their learning center. Having listed on whizpa.com, they hope that more parents will know about them and understand their teaching method.

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