r/TutorsHelpingTutors

I am a private tutor for a Taiwanese student who is 3 years old. The parents want me to basically play with the kid using English (to get him used to it), but I've recently started noticing that the kid doesn't like it when I speak English. I am aware that this is a common problem, children not liking a second language because they don't understand the person they want to talk to, this is to be expected. However, I've never taught a student this young before and am seeking advice on how to "reel" him back into learning English.

The thing is, it's not that he's completely closed the door on using English. He just came back from a trip to Thailand, and his parents tell me that because the kid knew nobody there understood Chinese, he tried to use English. I've already tried to make it known to him that I understand him better if he were to use English, but he started shutting off again.

Student personality: highly energetic, likes roughhousing

Sometimes the results of tutoring show up later through better grades. But during the session itself there are often small signals that the student is starting to understand things better. Things like asking deeper questions or solving problems more confidently. What signs do you look for that a lesson was successful?

Hi everyone,

I’m a Grade 11 student in Ontario, Canada, and I’m struggling with Functions right now. I had some personal things going on last year and ended up missing a lot of important Grade 10 math, so now I feel super lost trying to keep up. I'm pretty good at all other subjects, and was at math as well before Grade 10.

A lot of the concepts feel like they build on things I never fully learned, and it’s starting to get overwhelming. I’m willing to put in the work, I just don’t really know where to start or how to catch up properly.

If anyone has advice, resources, or knows where I can get good help (tutors, websites, study methods, etc.), I’d really appreciate it. Even tips on how to rebuild my foundation while keeping up with current work would help a lot. I’m looking for a tutor who can help me rebuild my basics while also helping me keep up with current lessons. Please dm me if interested and we can discuss prices and details.

Thanks :)

I got this student from my therapist. She told me about this young patient of hers that desperately needed help because she was going to fail her classes. Apparently she had had a cancer diagnosis which sounded horrible but this was when I first started out so I told her I couldn't afford to do it pro bono (this is important for later). I just jotted down the most important information and soon after got contacted by her mother.

My therapist made it sound like she was 11 years old and super sweet so imagine my surprise when I first entered the building and the mother was just exiting the building (practically fleeing) and she thanked me profusely but something felt off. It sounded like she wasn't grateful for me being there but moreso that she was sorry.

So I wiped that bad feeling to the side, got up the apartment complex and standing there was a 15 year old, goth girl who didn't even greet me but just shuffled inside. Inside there was trash everywhere, when I asked for a glass of water she couldnt even get to the sink and the air was thick and smelly.

What followed was one of the worst lessons I've ever had. It turned out she was the most insufferable person, she would constantly, openly start berating me about literally everything. And I was really suffering but this felt like the ultimate moral test.

You could clearly see that her wig had been badly placed on top of her bald head. And that she didnt have any eyebrows.

After it finally ended I politely said goodbye and darted out of there as fast as I could.

So now I was sitting at home still processing what a giant shit show that just was and I was mindlessly texting the father who was supposed to pay the lessons about the price and all of a sudden I was violently torn out of my half lucid state by having to argue with the father that I was not in fact "already paid".

To this day I don't know if he didn't know or if he expected me to say "Because your daughter has cancer I will do it for free." And it's not as if I charged a lot back then either btw.

I should've just said no to the whole thing at this point. After fulfilling multiple weird requests like detailing out the lesson and making a plan for upcoming lessons I finally got paid.

What followed was one of the worst months of my life because I was stuck in this moral obligation because clearly there wasn't anyone else willing to do tutoring for her. But I was dreading every second of it, developing sleep problems and staying awake the day before the lesson for hours.

I think it ended with her passing her test so that she could stay in her grade and her telling me to which I said something like: "Great. Don't contact me I will contact you."

I think she got the message and I've not heard from her since but all of that was right at the start of my tutoring business and I'm thankful everyday that I haven't had any experiences like that since.

So I just started tutoring on my own after being with a company for almost a year.

This company had a calendar for tutors to add lessons and parents would receive a notification through email. Parents and tutors could log in and look at the calendar, and they would see all of their upcoming lessons. It was very nice !

Now that I'm doing freelance and that I'm starting to have a few clients, I want to have a similar system where I could send an invite to the parents through a digital calendar. This will make planning more "official" and my schedule will be easier to track. I'm using the whole Google ecosystem right now for my business (Gmail, Google photos, Google sites, Google Drive...) and I'm starting to wonder if I should use Google Calendar as well.

I'm guessing a few of you have a similar system for planning. I'm wondering if there is another platform that I haven't thought of ? It needs to be free and easy to use for parents.

Any suggestions would be appreciated ! 😊

Hi everyone,

I’ve been working on an idea and would really appreciate some honest feedback.

I’m building a platform where teachers can run small, interactive online classes for kids focused on things like confidence, financial literacy, creativity, and other real-life skills not always covered in school.

The idea is to keep classes small (~4-6 students), so they’re more engaging and less like traditional online lessons.

I’d love to hear from teachers, tutors or coaches. Does this sound like something you’d find interesting, either to teach or just as a concept?

Open to any thoughts or suggestions!

Hey everyone! Curious how you all handle test/worksheet creation for your students.

I used to spend 1–2 hours per paper just formatting in Word. Recently stumbled across deskexam.com which is a question paper creator — cut my prep time down massively.

Wondering if others here have found tools that help with this? Would love to compare notes and see what's working for people.