Helping students cope up with school

CEBU, Philippines - In today’s increasingly complex world, the school system keeps on raising the bar inside the campus. Educators continually update the school curriculum in order to meet the new demands of industries, as well us of life itself. In the process, young students are often caught in a bewildering onslaught of schoolwork and need to avail of outside help.

In the light of this, three educators have brought to Banilad Town Center the child tutorial service of Tutoring Club. The new hub stands by their brand’s standard for promoting a culture of excellence among today’s young learners. It aims to help students to “catch up, shape up, and keep up.”

Jogen Pascual-Mil, architect-interior designer, Physics teacher Jo Hannah Rojas and Bryan Tan, a former Tutoring Club student who is now a Math teacher, combine their resources, expertise, and passion for teaching to cultivate among the local students the habits of being proactive, putting first things first, and thinking win-win.

Teacher Jogen says that it takes certain qualities for a teacher to be part of their team. The teacher has to be competent, professional, and creative. He or she has to have endless patience. Also, the teacher must have the ability to adjust to varying situations and able to communicate effectively, able to explain topics and concepts in an interesting and clear manner. Most of all, he or she must possess genuine love for teaching.

At the Tutoring Club, they have a 3-is-to-1 rule; three students per tutor, “in order to maximize attention and focus on every child’s needs.” Teacher Jogen guarantees that their “tutors not only make the children learn, but also that the children enjoy the learning process.”

Teacher Jo Hannah cites lack of motivation, homework frustrations, inappropriate classroom behavior, weak Math skills, and the inability to read at the competency standard for the child’s grade level as indicators the child is having difficulty at school. And they are there to help.

For instance, she explains, “It is good to master basic skills in Math. If a student do not grasp fully the foundations of Math from Grade 1 until his first fear in high school, he will surely have problems in Algebra later,” she says, further citing that “A critical pre-Algebra skill that can cause serious problems if not mastered is fractions.”

Tutoring Club utilizes a 24-lesson study-skills program which is individually adapted to a child’s needs. Sessions in attitude improvement and goal setting, essay writing and research methods, note-taking techniques, and test-preparation strategies teach students proper time management. Students are taught to make memory hooks and formulate their own study guides; they learn when to skim and when to scan their notes.

Tutoring Club provides a fun and exciting learning environment for students. The place at Banilad Town Center can accommodate a hundred students. There are 15 tutors, including three administrators. (FREEMAN)