IB Lounge Gives Back

We were initially hesitant to write this article because we did not want it to seem like the project(which will be shared below) was for recognition or branding. 

However, in posting this, we hope more tuition services would be able to try something similar out. 

What Did We Do?

When the Circuit Breaker was implemented in Singapore, learning had to be shifted online. This applied to both schools and private tuition services. There were many who were skeptical about whether online lessons would be effective, especially compared to traditional face to face classes. To some extent, we were initially worried as well but we are fortunate that our value is in our tutors and we were still receiving great feedback about our online classes. 

However, there was another problem that we noticed: Some students may not be able to attend our tuition (Due to various reasons) but were also badly affected by the shift to online learning. 

Some of our students told us that online learning sessions conducted by schools were not effective as they were often not engaging and it was difficult to pay attention. With our lessons, it was much easier to keep up due to our passionate tutors and small class sizes. 

Hearing this positive feedback about our online classes, we decided that we wanted to lend a helping hand to students who may not have been able to afford our services. Therefore, we began reaching out to organisations who would be able to link us up with these students. 

We offered free online classes for “O” level students who were in their final year. We figured that they would need the most help and decided to focus on them, given our limited manpower. 

Fortunately, Singapore Children’s Society replied to our emails. They took up our offer and soon, we were running multiple classes a week for some of their students. 

Excerpt from Children’s Society Newsletter

Key Takeaways From These Sessions - Markus Ng

Although we conducted these sessions without any request for any form of remuneration, I still feel a great sense of satisfaction whenever teaching. The student which I am teaching is extremely hardworking and determined. His attitude towards learning is excellent and it spurs me on to continue doing what I am doing. Some students are actually very determined but they lack the proper guidance. 

I’ve also learnt that what students need sometimes, is for someone to believe in them. I personally believe that all students have the potential to do well but many educators do not have the patience or capacity (as they are rightfully busy) to really guide students. 

I believe that IB Lounge is on the right track to achieving our mission to inspire students. I am glad that the students see that the classes are useful for them and indeed benefiting them.

Hopefully, they will be able to achieve their dreams. 

Through this, I hope we have inspired the students who have attended our online classes and we hope that we will be able to conduct more of such initiatives. I also hope that more tuition services will adopt such projects as there are many students who need it. 

Quality education, after all, should be accessible to all. 

Key Takeaways - Rethik Raj

Going into the programme for the first time, I didn’t quite know what to expect as it was my first time participating in such a programme. Having never met any of these students before either, I was nervous but excited at the same time, to do my best to help prepare them for their important ‘O’ Level exams at the end of the year.

On a personal level, I had concerns on whether the students would find my teaching useful. On a more logistical level, I had concerns on how to structure my lessons, given that it would be a shorter-term programme than regular classes.

Looking back, I am glad that both concerns were put to rest due to a combination of a supportive administration and motivated students.

The students and I were relatively shy during the first few lessons. As the weeks progressed, we became more comfortable with one another. This translated to more active participation during class, which I believe is beneficial to both the students and I. As a tutor, I am able to understand my students’ weaknesses and structure my lessons towards helping them in those concepts. As a student, this would have also served as a platform for them to clarify their misconceptions. Furthermore, this prompted the students to request for specific topics for me to go through each week, which effectively provided me with a framework to make the lessons more personalised to the students’ needs.

While the main goal of the programme is to provide a “crash course” for their examinations, I also wanted it to be a place where students are able to enjoy what they are learning. This was slightly more challenging and I attempted to make the lessons more engaging through use of games like Kahoot! Hearing the students’ feedback that the lessons were useful was encouraging and made me appreciate why I enjoy tutoring so much in the first place.

The programme did have challenges too, but I am grateful that along with the other tutors and coordinators, we were able to work out solutions. For instance, we had students from both the pure and combined science syllabus for the Biology classes and had to structure the lessons to benefit both groups of students.

Our solution was to structure the lessons by teaching the common syllabus first before extending to teach concepts found in only the pure Biology syllabus. Through this system, students from the combined syllabus had the opportunity to learn new concepts whilst being aware that they will not be examined on them.

Having been a Secondary 4 student relatively recently, I am able to see a lot of myself in the students – be it their worries, misconceptions or goals. As a tutor now, I am grateful for the opportunity to guide these students through some of those challenges which I faced myself as a student. Personally, I believe that a passion for learning and teaching is contagious and that the role of a tutor extends beyond providing information.

Seeing the students’ drive to keep learning motivates me. I hope that I can continue with the programme for even longer than what we had initially planned it to be. While there were ups and downs, I am grateful and really proud of what the programme has evolved into. Ultimately, I hope that such initiatives inspire other students, tutors and educators to band together to make education as accessible as possible, especially in such trying times.

Thumbnail credits: https://www.childrensociety.org.sg/sunbeam-newsletter/2020-06