National Education > Tuition Advice

English tutor dilemma

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Apink!:
Hi guys,

I recently found a tutor for myself, (for English) but he unfortunately doesn't have experience teaching the texts that I study at school nor the context theme I study.

But other than that, he's very nice and seems willing to help. And importantly, he lives close to where I live so it's very convenient for me!

Do you think getting an English tutor that doesn't know much about my texts and my context theme worthwhile? Or should I get a tutor that know my texts and stuff really well instead?

Thank you guys (:

heids:
I'm tutoring without in-depth knowledge of texts, just sparknotes/wikipedia summaries ::) (all my texts fell off the booklist, and I'm picking up kids halfway through the year since it hadn't occurred to me to tutor until relatively recently).  Next year, fresh start plus some experience (still learning to give vaguely decent feedback for my enemy Context :(), may do differently.  While I want to give my best for my students, I can't afford to spend hours studying their text if they only end up doing two sessions.

It depends on what you're looking for the tutor to do for you.  I've found it still works quite well; as long as one has a decent grasp of what happens in the book overall they can help with:
> language analysis
> general essay conventions and structure, like topic sentences, quoting, how to put in analysis, sticking on topic, etc.
> expression, grammar, essay flow, how to make sentences nicer, vocab, all that stuff
> major flaws with ideas
> how to break down essay prompts
> confidence
which makes up a very large part of the marks; and it has a flow-on effect, once those areas become stronger, the student can then feel more confident or dedicate more time to the ideas and text.

I can't however generate textual ideas, write sample essays, or come up with plans for/with the student - that's up to them.

i.e. There's a lot of good you can get out of it; but it definitely doesn't cover everything, since for TR especially, a large chunk of the marks comes from ideas and analysis of the text/themes/characters/historical era etc.

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