Intro
In Vietnam, a market for tutors are always plentiful, but in recent year, there is a rise in demand for
International English certificates such as ILETS, TOEFL, Duolingo… In the future, I intended to cash in on
this opportunity to start a tutoring business, and that’s why, for this project, I will be interviewing long-
time tutors to ask them about their experience, their knowledge in this rising industry
Body
After going through all three of the interviews, it was astonishing to see that the most important aspect
of a good tutor was the respect towards student, because in Vietnam, at least in early day of
Vietnamese education, it was the other way around! Many students today still have this idea in their
head that their teacher was this god-like entity, a superior that you have to obey in every situation, even
if you question the teaching, or even if what the teacher said is outright wrong! In mr. Tuan opinion, the
tutors or teachers are actually the service provider to students, who is their customer. Originally, this
sound absolutely absurd to me but when I put my mind into it, it make a lot of sense
On the other hand, humility is in my opinion, the most disgustingly under-rated virtue in education,
because in this age of technology, a push of a button could grant you the knowledge of the most
extraordinary scientists in the world, so it is just a matter of time that the teacher came across
something which they didn’t know about, something beyond their knowledge, and that’s absolutely
acceptable. There is no shame in admitting that there is something you don’t know, actually, it is rather
noble and courageous of a teacher to acknowledge that they are just human, that they don’t know
everything there is to know about in their field, and sometime, even they have something to learn from
their students. This was a lesson that I learn from my favorite tutors of all time, miss Huyen.
In the last exchange with mr. Van, my IELTS tutor, to him, the first thing that a tutor need to get right is
their mindset. The tutors/teachers mindset will heavily affect how the student approaches the subject
and sometime, learning as a whole. Some teachers and tutors don’t even know they have this much
power and influence on the classroom. In every class that I have ever been through my whole life, when
the teacher enter the classroom, they immediately set the mood of the entire class. When the teacher
are strict, the whole class was tense, nervous, anxious even though they do prepare before the class,
they will still fear that they might get call and they will forget the knowledge they have already prepare
due to stress! In contrast, a energetic and kind teacher will always brighten up their class, even if the
concept they are teaching are hard to grasp, they somehow always manage to grab everyone attention
and explain it clearly in a funny methodology. When I was in this type of teacher class, I always found
myself motivated to figure out a hard question that everyone is struggling with, and remember how
excited I am when I raise my hand as fast as possible to have the opportunity to show off with my
friends how smart I am, the only few moment that I actually enjoyed learning.
Conclusion
After spending time with these tutors, I found that being a good teacher is no easy task like I was told to
by my parent, it took many virtues to make a excellent teacher, you have to be respectful, modest and
