Penguin Tutoring Blog

This week, being the Twitter addict I am, I was pointed to a great article by my friend Mike Sharman. It sparked a #SAis trend. Today sees the Super 14 final and the British Lions start their tour on South Africa. And when wanting to go out and join my friends and watch the games together, I do get a little sad, as so many of them have moved away from South Africa, for whatever reason.

Sure, some reasons are justified, but living in South Africa is just too good. I am involved in the running of Penguin Tutoring, where we place student tutors with children who are battling at school. Each and every day, we have enquiries from parents wanting to seek out assistance to help their children excel. That includes parents with lots of money, and those with very little.

In all of our placements, as the relationship between tutor and learner builds, I like to read through the progress reports that come through from our tutors. If ever you want a bit of feel-good reading, that is it. Just yesterday I heard of a child going from 30 to 70% in their maths after only 5 hours of tutoring!

The fact remains, though, that so many bright children in South Africa do not have the privilege of getting a thorough education, and being able to pursue the careers they deserve. I believe we have the potential to correct this though.

We have launched a project with the I Am Changing The World Foundation, where we are actively approaching corporates to sponsor children, schools, or classes, and have our tutoring system manage the placement and process, and give reporting out publicly on the successes I know will happen.

We also run a “Children in Need” project, where we sponsor learners desperate for tutoring, but cannot afford this luxury.

So I agree with Simon Dingle, Rian van der Merwe and the most of South Africa. #SAis incredible. We just need to keep unifying our efforts, and start looking to our youngest generation and giving them the tools and skills to make it even better!

If you are a corporate or even want to offer some of your personal time to this effort, please email me at murray[at]penguintutoring.co.za.

This last week our engagement with SAP was put into action. I have been fortunate enough to get to know the team at SAP Growth Support with my dealings over the last few months, but since the actual work has started, I have been massively impressed. Its also been a really good pat on the back for Penguin Tutoring, as their involvement with our company is for very sound reasons. Out of the sea of small businesses in South Africa, 250 have been chosen based on their ability to grow to the size of listed companies, and that currently employ the majority of best business practices within their own businesses. And, lucky for us, we’re one of the chosen few.

When people have asked me about growth in the past, I have always clung to the paradigm that growth involves territorial expansion. And, in keeping with the companies ethos, wish to have more and more learners reaching their potential by being placed effectively with our student tutors. It will make me proud one day, when our systems (soon to be integrated and run on the GSM network) allow for learning to take place in the most outlying of areas, where the tutor and learner would never have dreamed of meeting each other.

So what is SAP doing with us? Well, starting off the session, I thought to myself I’d be very impressed if the consultants could tell me more than I already knew. But, they certainly did! In essence, we’re breaking the business down into its modular components again, and asking tough questions about the way we do things. “Does this provide quality to the end user?”, is typically asked about every single aspect. By being involved on a daily basis, our procedures become so engrained in our team, that we almost suffer a Penguin “Bird Flu”. But, when we’re done, we’ll be doing what we’ve always offered. However, it will just be polished with such clarity, that all involved receive an exceptionally high quality of service.

I’m certainly enjoying it, and its so refreshing to see our service making a difference in the homes of South Africans. Keep an eye out on our blog, or consider subscribing to our newsfeed to find out more. We appreciate all the feedback you can offer, so please feel free to put forward your ideas.

Happy learning!

I spent last week in Cape Town meeting our new tutors, and spending time with Graz, our Cape Town manager. I was really impressed with the calibre of individuals who are now a part of our team. While very diverse in their interests, study direction, and backgrounds, they all share a common thread. That being their dedication towards their own education and understanding of the value that it can return.

Another big highlight for me was visiting boulder’s beach and seeing all of the African Pengins there. Southern Africa holds the entire population of this species, and has seen a drop of 90% in total numbers over the past 100 years. The municpal council has done a lot in building walkways to ensure people do not destroy the natural habitat that the birds so desperately need. I feel it is the right thing to do in ensuring education about the penguins, so that people can forever appreciate them in their natural habitat.

Meanwhile, Penguin Tutoring is already being of assistance to the youth of South Africa. Lessons are well underway in the major centres, and the long term benefits of a steady relationship between tutor and learner are soon going to start paying dividends. For those parents unsure of whether to start sooner or later, even consider having one hour a week of tutoring from now on, and build on that as the exams grow closer. A learner’s self assurance and own confidence will help boost their marks to what you know they are capable of.

Until next time…

In our endeavors to keep you current with our ideas, and share your thoughts on matters pertinent to us, we thought a blog would be a great tool.  In our first post, we’d like to mirror a great story by the author Paulo Coelho.

Be sure to keep coming back as we share the latest on South African Education.  Even, consider subscribing to our newsfeed.

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked: ‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’

His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson: ‘I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’

Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.

‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’

‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’

‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’

‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’

‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’

‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’

Let make sure 2009 is full of time spent learning, reflecting, and succeeding.