Penguin Tutoring Blog

Penguin Tutoring personalises the placement of a screened and trained tutor, matched to your child’s needs, and provides inspirational extra lessons and tutoring for them in the comfort of your own home. Visit www.penguintutoring.co.za to find out more.

The efforts of educators all over the world are being recognised today which has been set aside by UNESCO as World Teacher’s Day. Every year, the 5th October is dedicated to a celebration of teachers and their incredible significance in the global community.

In the Western Cape, learners have taken time out of their exam preparation schedule to prepare a booklet containing messages of gratitude and appreciation for the work their teachers do. Some 31 000 of these booklets are being distributed today. The Gauteng Department of Education has also planned a series of events honouring teachers in that province, culminating in a personal message from the MEC for Education, Barbara Creecy.

While the day is earmarked as a celebration, World Teacher’s Day is also being used as a stark reminder of our nation’s teacher shortage and teachers themselves will be calling attention to the extremely difficult working conditions they face so tirelessly.

For those of you benefitting from the work of Penguin Tutoring’s inspirational tutors, don’t let today go by without also acknowledging the work that they do for you.

The extensive knowledge, communication skills and consistent support that they offer have become indispensable to so many of our valued clients, so if your child has extra lessons today, please don’t forget to say Thank You!

Happy World Teacher’s Day, Penguin Tutors!

Penguin Tutoring personalises the placement of a screened and trained tutor, matched to your child’s needs, and provides inspirational extra lessons and tutoring for them in the comfort of your own home. Visit www.penguintutoring.co.za to find out more.

Melenie van Wyngaardt & her high school sweetheart have been together for 15 years of which 9 have been as a married couple.  She is the mother to a 6 year old son Connavah Joshua and a 5 year old daughter Skyla Jade.  She regards motherhood as the one title on her CV that is her most triumphant achievement.  Although it is a daily learning experience, it is also the most rewarding to her.

Most of her corporate experience has been gained in the Maritime Industry as part of the Client Services team, for then, the second biggest shipping line in the world.  Clients experience life as individuals and therefor they have different expectations and needs; this fact has led Melenie to approach each client with respect and individual focus.

If Mel could have her life over, she would be “almost the same” person, but with the exception of making more informed decisions.  She would most probably take time to ask the question and then wait for an answer and accept it with a positive outlook.  Those places she would like to visit would firstly have to start with a pilgrimage to Israel, then the great pyramids in Egypt, the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and the list continues on to any place she has not seen yet ….. to experience life, culture & be changed as an individual.

Her experience with Penguin Tutoring has shown her that all households, regardless of socio-economic status, language or culture, are affected by similar external factors. Parents only do the best they know how;  kids only want to be loved, heard and accepted;  everyone wants to attain some measure of success.

Penguin Tutoring personalises the placement of a screened and trained tutor, matched to your child’s needs, and provides inspirational extra lessons and tutoring for them in the comfort of your own home. Visit www.penguintutoring.co.za to find out more.

Melenie van Wyngaardt is our Operations Manager based in Port Elizabeth. She heads up operations for Johannesburg, and provides support to franchisees. She is a mother of two, and has been with the company for over a year. She has spoken to many moms and dads, and shared in the trials and tribulations of those childrens’ academic challenges. Call her today, she’ll be certain to provide advice, or assist you in personalising a tutor for you. She has shared her findings on exam preparation below. Please comment and share your own tips.

Our extensive experience in this field, but also as parents ourselves, has led us to conclude that the burdens for any examination weighs more heavily on young learners and cause them more stress than any other form of academic assessment.  Many people will not face a more stressful situation for the remainder of their lives.  We wish to share a few tips on what we as parents, can do to relieve the pressure:

• Make them aware that they are being supported by all in the family.  Sometimes the scariest prospect for our children is what will happen if they disappoint us. We can let them know that we are on their side, regardless of their results.
• Be considerate to the pressure they might be putting on themselves. Help them to set realistic goals and put the exams in perspective!
• Let them know that their studying is a priority for the whole household by trying to minimise any sense of isolation they may be feeling. Put a copy of their exam timetable on the fridge to make it easier for everyone to talk to them about it. If regular household habits, such as having the TV on all afternoon, are making it difficult for them to remain focussed, try and make temporary changes that demonstrate the family’s support.
• We can make ourselves more available, by offering to help with study planning or even perhaps setting time aside at the end of the day to test them.  Give them tips on other ways to jog their memory during an exam, e.g. acronyms or keywords or perhaps even those sometimes silly rhymes to remember scientific elements.  Discuss any problems they may have with their exam technique.  Address time management & the importance of taking time to read and interpret a question before answering.  Try and come up with creative ways to help them improve on their mistakes.
• Our individual dynamic strengthens / inhibits our relationships with others and likewise so our children may have trouble relating to their teachers.  Take time to discuss their individual relationships with their teachers.  Schedule an appointment with the teacher and discuss these related issues. Also, discuss possible guidelines on areas which should be focussed on.
• The internet is a vast resource for previous exam papers.  Our website also has a useful link to these resources, which can be found at www.penguintutoring.co.za
• Stress can deplete our systems from necessary nutrients and inhibit the brain from maintaining optimal concentration levels.  Get an appropriate multivitamin to aid them with concentration.  Make sure that they are getting enough breaks during their study sessions.  Encourage them to be outdoors and carry on with their extra murals.  Make sure that all meals are balanced and have a few healthy snacks on hand.  Ensure that they are getting enough sleep as this is vital to clear & calm thinking.
• A tutor can be an enormous help during this stressful time.  These young individuals would be equipped to mentor, offer support and act as an understanding ear.  Furthermore, they would be sensitive to the stressful nature of an exam as they would have experienced exactly the same!

We understand that the approach to learning needs to be done in a specific manner and each learner needs to be especially catered for - you need look no further than Penguin Tutoring to invest inexpensively in your child’s future.  For a tailored solution, find out more about our offering at www.penguintutoring.co.za.  Our national footprint now includes Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town and the Winelands.

Please leave a comment on how you’ve found exam preparation made easier.

Experience: There’s nothing quite like that word to rain all over your graduation parade. Why? Because in case you haven’t noticed, your degree means nothing to employers without it…and let me guess - you don’t have any.

You keep trying to explain to your parents that you can’t get any experience until you get a job, but no one will give you a job unless you have experience. After they all told you that a degree would be your ticket to a great future, you’re still sitting there, slopping your mom’s porridge all over your dressing gown while you go through the motions yet again on gumtree…and it’s 11 am.

What’s more, getting a job is harder than ever now that you are competing with victims of the recession who have experience. On top of that, you also have to deal with the fact that in these shifty economic times, you are vulnerable without experience even if you do land a job because you are so dispensable on the last in, first out policy.

According to Jan Coetzee, managing director of Manpower South Africa, the current generation of graduates has been entering the job market with totally unrealistic expectations, compared with those of their predecessors.

“They think a degree will ensure they get work. And I cannot say how many come to us looking for a monthly salary of at least R20 000, exorbitant benefits or a management position.”

These individuals have, however, zero work experience and compete with an ever-expanding pool of jobseekers.

In an interview published by Fin24,com, Coetzee went on to explain that the recession is also bringing home emigrants from England, Australia and New Zealand, adding even more competition to the job market. All while the market itself shrinks  as companies save money by cutting out non essential labour.

So, what does this all mean? Was your degree a waste? Absolutely not. But as Coetzee says, adjust your expectations and if you are still an undergraduate, it is not too late to take some proactive steps to protect yourself!

Gaining work experience before you enter the job market is the key to enhancing the value of your degree. So while you are still studying, think of where you want to work and find out about opportunities for vac work at those companies. Apply for part time jobs that will furnish you with genuinely useful skills; the average student waitress or bartending  job just doesn’t stand out anymore.

The more we chat to our tutors, the more we feel confident that tutoring is one of the best student jobs out there.

• It’s flexible during term time as well as holidays,  and so does not threaten to jeopardise your study time.
• It shows not only that you understand your subjects but also that you know how to communicate effectively and read the demands of the learner.
• It demonstrates intelligence, professionalism, commitment and reliablity.
• It’s challenging and ultimately, incredibly rewarding.

These are soughtafter qualities and skills that would immediately separate you from the rest of the pack.

If you decide you would like to be a tutor, we at Penguin Tutoring have opportunities available all over the country.

All you need are A or B matric symbols in the subjects you want to tutor and to convince us with your application that you could carry the standards of professionalism to which we adhere. Visit www.penguintutoring.co.za/tutors/apply.

Oh and one more thing: at least 5 years of previous experience is essential………………………Ha! Just kidding!

Such was valued client Charmaine Kelly’s surprise when she found that her son Alexander had been spending his Friday afternoon writing notes for an Afrikaans test, which was only due the following Tuesday! Alexander has had just five lessons with Penguin tutor, Megan Reeves, but Charmaine is already seeing strong improvements in his marks, in his confidence and (clearly) in his attitude! Motivating our learners to take such responsibility for their own work is a huge part of what Penguin tutors strive for! Keep inspiring, guys!

In another response by Joseph Liebenberg, in much the same way as Megan Reeves finds the benefits of tutoring, he also shared his thoughts on what inspires him. Joseph is studying a B Com LLB and has tutored over 160 hours with us.

“The opportunity to use private tutoring services is an opportunity reserved for only a privileged few students, often separated from other students by the financial circumstances of the parents, and importantly the sacrifices made by those parents. Often, in our modern society whilst parents work hard to create these privileged circumstances, the time available to parents for their children is diminished. This is unfortunately a situation that many South African parents are confronted with, leaving them insufficient time to sit down and become an active part of their child’s school life.

The ultimate goal with regard to private tutoring is to improve academic performance, this is uncontroversial. However, the ways in which academic performance are improved, as well as the reasons therefore, are not as clear cut as the ultimate goal. As discussed above, there is no doubt that time spent tutoring a child personally is the most productive way to improve academic performance, but this is not always a viable option. However, this cause and effect relationship of more time equaling better marks is not that simple.

As a tutor, the one to two hours spent a week with any student should be time spent as productively as possible, including work given that should be done outside of lesson time, assessments in some form, and feedback to the parents. However, a tutor provides far more than simply the time that a parent cannot.

A tutor has the opportunity to be a role model, one that is personable and approachable, beyond the simple questions of Active and Passive in Afrikaans or the issues that underpinned the Cold War in History. I am only 22 years of age, which makes me far closer in age to many of the teenage students I have tutored than their parents – and whilst my parents and I will argue this fact too, times have changed! I feel that the world is not as simple as it used to be. There are societal gaps that many of the current youth simply slip into, and may never climb out of. I feel it is crucial as a tutor, holding that power of being a peer to many of the students to use this to build up a student’s confidence, on top of simply academic performance.

Confidence is what prevents a student slipping into the gaps, and confidence is probably the most important tool that school should equip a student with, but often this doesn’t happen, and this is a gap that a tutor truly can help with. Confidence can be built up directly by a tutor. For example by being a peer to the student that the student can bounce ideas off for their future, and return a relatable, objective opinion – that a student is far more likely to accept than their parent’s opinion that often seems far removed simply because of the opinion being of their parents. Indirectly, improving academic performance builds confidence in that subject, and if you speak to many successful people, they will tell you that confidence has a habit of spilling over to all areas of ones life. Thus, even simply achieving the core goal of improving academic performance can have the effect of improving one’s confidence.

I believe that confidence is the best gift that a parent can give their children; it leads to happy, successful student that will make positive decisions moving forward in life. As a tutor, I feel that bringing this element into the tutoring environment is what makes a tutor a successful one, and this is what can be expected from Penguin Tutoring.”

Thanks Joseph, you’re an absolute asset to our team.

Penguin Tutoring strives to provide personalised tutoring and mentorship.  We hand-pick and match a tutor to the exact needs of the family we are assisting. In a South Africa with such a diverse range of cultures, religions, and opinions, we are faced daily with such challenges.  However, in our search for the enhancement of education, sometimes unorthodox measures need be put in place.  So, we salute our tutors who have bridged cultural and racial divides, and found commonality in learning and education.

Even penguins team up and face adversity and challenges: Just read this warming story of penguins in Germany adopting an abandoned egg, pulblished on cbc.ca:

Keepers at Germany’s Bremerhaven zoo couldn’t get two penguin parents to take care of their egg, so they’re trying an experiment — they gave the egg to a gay male penguin couple.

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