Should I find an online private tutor or a face-to-face tutor for me or my child? This can be a tricky question to answer, especially for a parent or if you have not hired a private tutor before. We recently looked at the 10 advantages of using an online private tutor for students in Hong Kong and also how to find the best private tutor in Hong Kong in 2022. Now let’s look at the advantages of hiring a face-to-face private tutor who will come to your home in Hong Kong.
1. It can be more effective
One-to-one tutors are more effective than larger group classes. While there are many well researched academic reasons for why this is the case, the main reason is simple: The tutor has more time to dedicate to a single student than they would if they had multiple students in a class. Having tutored ourselves online and face-to-face for many years, and also trained and observed thousands of tutors through Train The Teacher, we know that face-to-face private tutors are generally more effective than online tutors because it is easier and faster for tutors and students to develop a great relationship.
2. The tutor has a wider range of tools and resources to facilitate learning.
Online classrooms are getting better all the time. However, the addition of face-to-face interaction is greatly beneficial to students. Depending on the student’s intelligence (such as intra-personal, bodily-kinesthetic etc) face-to-face tutors can utilise a wider range of learning strategies and activities in a class than they can do online. For example, in a drama class, a conversation can be acted out with a tutor much more effectively than it can be online.
Face-to-face tutors can still use all the multi-media tools that are available online (such as interactive games, activities and learning websites) to complement the face-to-face class.
3. A closer student-tutor relationship is formed
Students get to know a face-to-face tutor much better than an online tutor. There is a lot of research as to why this is the case however in general, as a face-to-face tutor, I find that it's often because:
Online classes can lead to passive engagement when the tutor is not physically present, although tutors are now very skilled at being engaging online.
Interactions are often fragmented. If you have ever been in an online meeting, you will probably have noticed that people tend to give shorter answers than they do face-to-face (aside from that one annoying colleague that will go on forever – but they do that offline too!).
Due to short delays in sound and it is harder to see the smaller nonverbal cues other people show to indicate they are either finished or are about to start speaking.
4. Its more motivating
Students tend to feel a vested interest in their tutor’s requirements. This is partly due to the reasons listed above. This often leads to better learning outcomes as a student feels more motivated to interact with the tutor and achieve tasks set.
5. No travelling
It's Friday night and raining and you have had a long week. Relaxing at home would be great. However, you have to pick up the kids and take them to a tutorial centre, wait around for a few hours and take the MTR back across Hong Kong. Private face-to-face tutors are a little more expensive, but they come to you. The only real question you have to deal with at home is: Pinot Grigio or Shiraz?
6. No technical problems
The class has started and the Wi-Fi is not working. Face-to-face tutors don’t need Wi-Fi, headsets, or your laptop…
7. Less supervision
Let the tutor look after the kids for a while. You could read, catch up with some social chat, or just relax with your husband or wife. A little precious time together can be of great value.
8. Personalised Feedback
Online tutors will generally give you excellent written feedback. However, that is often not until several hours after the class and it could be even longer to get in touch with them if you have any questions or requests. With a face-to-face tutor, you get the feedback right after class and can ask questions straight away.
9. More opportunity to discuss learner needs
When you hire a tutor through My Intelligent tutor, we will discuss with you in detail your needs, or those of your child, and then discuss those with the tutor. Our face-to-face option also allows you to discuss this on an ongoing basis directly with the tutor.
10. They cost more
I know what you are thinking, isn’t this about the advantages of hiring a face-to-face private tutor for students in Hong Kong? Well yes, it is true they do cost more but there are fewer things worth spending money on than happy students and happy parents :)
My Intelligent Tutor in Hong offers face-to-face and online tutors across a wide range of subjects from Kindergarten through to courses for adults.
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