The Enhanced Community Quarantine has effectively shut down all outside activities for a month to protect us from COVID-19. An unfortunate side effect of this, however, is that it also prevented all regular classes from being held. Because of this, tutors and their students couldn’t meet for almost a month. This caused concerns not only for students but for tutors as well. To remedy this, tutors are now holding online tutorials so that they can virtually meet their students to either help with their online assignments or to help them stay in mental shape. To help first-time online tutors, here are some tips on what to do and not to do during online tutorials.
Be Early for your Tutorial
This normally goes for regular tutorials, but is applicable also to online tutorials. Log in early to check the site that you and your tutee will be using for your meeting, Check, too, your internet connection to see if it’s stable. By coming in early, you can also do last-minute reviews as you prepare for your lesson.
Punctuality also gives a strong positive impression to your students as they will see that you are eager to teach them, even if you do not meet each other physically. Being punctual shows that you are a professional and committed to tutoring your student. It also allows you to be more flexible with your schedule, as it allows you to either extend the lesson or end it earlier than scheduled.
Prepare yourself and your surroundings before the tutorial itself
Dress appropriately. Always look your best. Your tutee will not be keen on learning if you yourself doesn’t “look” keen on tutoring him/her. So comb your hair, wash your face, and apply hair gel if you need/want to so you can look your best.
After readying yourself, prepare your work-space next. As for your background, single-colored walls are recommended with light colors as the preferred choices. Make sure that personal things are kept hidden, especially inappropriate items such as toys and dirty laundry. Please ensure as well that you will be broadcasting in a quiet environment so as not to distract your student.
Remain Calm
Since some are still unfamiliar with online tutoring, there might be some unease and confusion on how to proceed. Just remember, remain calm and composed so that you and your student can communicate properly. Panicking will not achieve anything except confuse and frustrate you both, so avoid it as much as possible.
Be Prepared
In the end, what matters with any tutorial, face-to-face, is that you are prepared. So, follow these simple tips, and your online tutorials will be as smooth as you want them to be.