Tuition Club – Exploration Phase

As in my comments and encouragement from Terence, I will start this thread and hope SHCians can all contribute towards a fruitful adventure. Those interested can show your interest here and I will set a date for meeting.  All ideas and suggestion is most welcome.

 

Together we will achieve MORE

Dennis Har

Author: Dennis Har

Semi-retired. My passion is in Sustainability in areas of Waste Mgst, Food Security, Vermicomposting, Upcycling of Bottles in Planter. Running a Senior's Lab for Seniors, Volunteers and Caregivers @Tata Consultancy Services Asia Pacific Pte Ltd (IT Consultancy Services) https://www.facebook.com/vDennisH

59 thoughts on “Tuition Club – Exploration Phase”

  1. Hi Dennis,

    I have observed from some SilverHairs that tuition is a meaningful income generator for retired persons, as well as those who have not retired.

    Perhaps, tution means more than just coaching English, science, Chinese, etc. It can be teaching in a skill, for example pottery, computer skills, etc.

    Roland Tong, what suggestions do you have in mind? I think you had earlier put your interest in the wrong thread. Please try again.

    Terence Seah

  2. Terence,
    First, We should gather all interested tutors to discuss the following:
    (a) Subjects to be taught
    (b) Suitable venue for the classes
    (c) Fees
    Secondly, Ensure that tutors must be COMMITTED once they have enrolled.
    Roland

  3. Roand Tong, I understand that you do have some computerised program on tuition. Same with Kam Ming when I spoke to him. Mary Chan if I am not wrong likes English. Kam Ming had done some Maths computerised program.

    I think the approach is do a concept planning with a committee setup for some form of social enterprise venture in mind.

    In this area I think Christina Leow will be of great assistance, ref: Golden Gateway posting.

    Any SHCian of similar interest pls come forward.

    Dennis Har

  5. Terence,
    I am Teaching Science and Maths for Sec.1 and 2 and I’ve got my lesson notes on the Syllabus transferred to my CDs. For example, if I want notes on Pythagoras I get them printed from my CDs which I took a few years to compile and update. These notes are extracted from different text books, reference books and Assessment books.
    My problem is getting new pupils every year
    as I do not want to teach beyond Sec.2 (Too much preparation for too many levels!)
    Roland

  6. Hi DennisH

    I’m intrigued by the idea of a ‘tuition’ club. Please inform me when there’s a meeting. Am keen to attend. Thanks.

    Regards,
    JassmineT

  7. Hi Jassmine,

    I find the idea of a “Tuition Club” interesting too. My guess is the idea is still not so clear, but if everybody talks about it, the idea might solidify. Are there subjects that you would like to teach?

    Dennis, it might be good if you share what were some of the ideas that had been raised.

    Terence Seah

  8. Terence, so far there isn’t any ideas raised. Since I get to know a handful in SHC especially Roland Tong, Mary Chan and Kam Ming are in Tuition. My Wife is also a private tutor for many years.

    The ideas strike me during some small talks and my experience from the demand which my wife has to cope.

    Basically our education system is changing so fast. Many parents in our age group will find the concept learned in our time will no more apply therefore cannot guide their children much.

    What we need is a strong committee setup from various discipline i.e Teaching, Secretrial, Marketing etc.

    When there is a will there is a Way.
    Dennis Har

  9. Hi Dennis,
    Glad that U starts the ball rolling. I had done some Computer assisted training and assessment software some time in early 90. But due to work committment I did not do much after that. I strongly agree with you that people from various discipline could meet together to brain how we could start from here.
    Perphaps we could talk about web base, class room base, one-one and one-to-many tution. Or distance learning, Learn as you need….
    Target audience can be students, adults…etc.

  10. Hi Kam King,

    May I ask if you have done tuition before, in your area of assisted training and assessment software.

    Not too familiar, but what is web base, class room base and one to one tuition. What are the subjects you are familiar with?

    Sounds like you do have some good ideas in your mind, and we can all take it further.

    Terence Seah

  11. Hi Dennis,

    You may have touched on something suitable for the group. I always feel that SilverHairs have loads of experience, and that as we relaxed into part-time or freelance opportunities, we should impart our acquired knowledge and skills to the younger generation.

    Let’s see if we have more response from SHC members. We should hear from them.

    Mary Chan, please share some of your thoughts.

    Terence Seah

  13. Tks, Kam Ming for sharing your views and Yew Kwong on IT-Learning.

    Terence when will you be in Singapore. Will meet when you are available.

    SHCian your suggest is once again appreciated. Any volunteer as secretary to the project pls email me.

    Dennis Har

  14. Dennis,
    Let’s get together and brain-storm on what we can do to start the tuition by getting all interested parties instead of calling for ideas over the “net”. The School term is just about 2 weeks away!

  15. Hi Roland Tong, Shall we meet this Saturday 15 Dec07 at scorebot, 10.00am

    Yew Kwong, Jassmine Teo, Kam Ming, Terence Seah and all interest parties your endorsement of attendance pls.

    Dennis Har

  17. Hi DennisH

    Can hold the meeting in the afternoon, about 2 or 3 p.m? I’ll be attending a talk at Alexandra Hospital in the morning.
    BTW, where is scorebot?

    JassmineT

  18. Hi Terence

    I’m qualified to teach English and Literature at O level, but I’m actually more interested in the ‘social enterprise’ aspect. Would like to help set it up if the venture is feasible.

    JassmineT

  21. Hi Jassmine,

    I have been introduced to the word “Social Enterprise” recently, while pursuing the Blue Helmet Project. To me, social enterprise is an activity which one pursues for the sake and interests of a community. In our case, it may be towards the SilverHairs community. It could be for another community too.

    I like to pursue this further. What kind of social enterprise activities do you have in mind? Am hoping to have your ideas gell into our community.

    Terence Seah

  22. Thanks Terence for the kind reminder. As I’ll be leaving for Japan on 19th Dec and back next year, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish each and every Silver Hairs member, a Very Happy and Merry X’mas and not forgetting the New Year 2008. May you all be blessed with good health, wealth and everything nice that you wish for. To those going on holidays, happy holidays too! Best wishes, Lisa

  23. Dennis,

    I think the raising the idea of a Tuition Club comes at an exciting time for SilverHairs. And, for SilverHairs who are interested to work out the concepts for a Tuition club, I am prepared to support the idea through.

    Providing tuition to other adults, children and the community for an agreed acceptable fee make good sense. After all, why not, why let all the long acquired skills go. Share the knowledge, with the younger world.

    Terence Seah

  24. Hi Terence

    The term “social enterprise” was mentioned by DennisH in comment #3 (this thread) when he ‘spoke’ about concept planning for the tuition club idea.

    Strictly speaking, a social enterprise must have a social mission or purpose. But a social enterprise is not a charity . It is a “revenue-generating business with a social mission” (quote taken from Channel News Asia).

    My curiosity arose from DennisH’s idea of making tuition-giving into a social enterprise. Is it possible? That’s why I’m interested in the brain-storming stage.

    JassmineT

  26. Hi Jassmine,

    A number of SilverHairs do charity work in Singapore, some overseas, and may enjoy the work. However, I also now see the merits of “social enterprise”. Basically, it is difficult to keep provide funding free services, and this includes tuition.

    Good clarification, thank you. We keep this in line for our discussion.

    Terence Seah

  28. After 26 exchanges, so is there a finality to the first step, meaning is Saturday 15 December 2007 firm for the first meeting and, if so, will it be deferred by a few hours to the afternoon so that 1 more interested SHCian can attend?

  30. Hi Tim Liu,

    Roland Tong will have another appointment at 1.30pm. Let me know what time are you available. Jassmine Teo proposed to meet at about 2 or 3 p.m If both of you can cfm a time slot then I am prepare to wait a bit longer.

    Dennis Har

  31. Haha, missing me or missing the chat? I was away and managed to catch up pretty fast (clap clap).

    Ok, there was this useful suggestion to meet up to see whether a tuition scheme cd be had – a social enhancement for a fee, if I may call it.

    DennisH, I prefer to hear it out in the morning altho if the majority like it in the p.m., I am ok. Easy for me.

  32. Hi DennisH

    It looks like I’m the only one who cannot make it at 10a.m. Though I’m disappointed, please meet at 10a.m. Would appreciate it if you could give me a summary of what transpired.

    Here’s my input in absentia:

    1st. Register a company

    2nd. Go to MOE and pay for the GeBiz (about $350).

    3rd. Surf the website.

    All schools ask for tenders via GeBiz. The school will pay the company.

    Hope this is useful info.

    JassmineT

  33. Hi Tim Liu & Jassmine Teo,

    So the meeting will still be 10.00am. Tks Jassmine for the input. We are not going to jump into starting a company so soon. Let do some feasibility study and see whether we are on the same thread first. Honestly, I am a speculator by profession. So Tuition is something my peers and wife is doing.

    DennisH

  34. Hi DennisH

    The school is a goldmine for course/skill/education.. providers and many schools regularly engage these ‘outside experts’to run their enrichment courses. One of the enrichment courses I witnessed was the teaching of Cantonese to students! If you are surprised, so was I. There were five classes of about 3o students each.

    What surprised me at that point in time (early this year)was the realization that there was an company offering dialect-learning.

    Now SHC has many members able to speak Hokkien and Cantonese (the dialects in demand)……I think you know my drift.

    Hope SHC can tap this goldmine.

    JassmineT

  35. Tks, JassmineT For your info, I am also a member of Loyang Secondary School in their Parent’s Support Group. Hope ideas will continue to come in.

    Some one suggested to me for the use of AuthorWare for course development. Any one familar can throw some light.

    In SHC I know there is interest in grouping Tuition Center but for Kindergarden Level.

    DennisH

  36. Hi DennisH

    I have run a tuition agency many many moons ago. It was a one man show, one leg kicking sort of business. Goood money but long long hours on the
    phone then. Things have change very much now with the help of modern technoloy. I still have the passion and hope to be able to contribute. Include me 15 Dec meeting, any time, fine with me.

    Regards
    Ann Lim

  38. Ok, DennisH, noted.

    A thousand miles will hv to start with the first step, nvm if it’s a baby step.

    So barring the unforeseen (life is unpredictable & fragile), I’ll be at scorebot @ 10 a.m. come saturday.

    See you, butty.

  42. We are grateful to Mr Max Ee for letting us use His Scorebot office and facilities and would like to register our appreciation to him for also providing us with refreshments and for recording the Minutes of the Meeting. Thank you Max.

    Dennis-H, Terence, Ann-L, Carol-T, Christina-L, Jessie-T, KM-Choo, Richard-C, Roland-T, Vincent-W and tim met on Saturday 15/12/07 morning at the ScoreBot to explore how providing tuition to students may fit as a social enterprise in SHC.

    Members of the Meeting hailed from all walks of life – some are trained teaching professionals, some in business and some others in financial services, administration, childcare and social enterprises.

    The concept of Golden Gateway emerged from the discussion. This concept stresses on utilizing slack resources (e.g. retirees time) to turn in a reasonable income (it could be at a below-market rate as the concept is not profit driven).

    The discussion also examnined the possibility of pooling resources to fund good investment opportunities and ensuing projects. The need to register SHC, in that event, becomes apparent.

    Two Members are able to make available their premises for use as tuition centres, subject to regulatory approvals.

    The Meeting felt that there is a need to focus on running out the ideas fast as school is re-opening soon. However, having said that, it should not be rushed into unless the proper structure has been put in place, with committed people to drive the project and good, experienced & qualifies tuitors who know how to impart knowledge effectively to students. We dont want unhappy parents running to us to complain.

    It is also recognised that, without brand awareness or track record, taking in students is a challenge as there are many established training centres to compete with. So the need to build up credibility is very important. Word of mouth referrals can spread over time.

    We are quite pleased that, for the first meeting which was exploratory in nature, it was quite fruitful as good, diverse ideas have been thrown up. For a start, we might just do some match-making of tutors with students.

    So, SHCian with the requisite qualification and interest and like to give tuition, please let us knowm. Likewise, if anyone who know of students looking for tutors, may also like to contact us.

    Tim, on henalf of Tuition Discussion Mtg 15/12/07

  43. Hi Tim,

    Nice of you to do a round up. I am asking Richard Chai and Vincent Wong to arrange for us to visit their premises the next 2 Sat. all members who can make it pls let me know.

    Dennis Har

  44. Heee, Dennis, pls dont forget to bring cabdies & lollipops for the kiddos at the centres…………..they love it and so wont forget you.

    Will let you know whether I’ll tag along.

  46. Hi Richard Chai and Vincent Wong,

    We met at the Tuition club meeting, and you mention you currently have a child-care and tuition school which you currently operate.

    Can you tell us a little bit more about your school and what you are looking for? This is for the benefit of SilverHairsClub members who are interested in this area of the business.

    Terence Seah

  47. I believe that providing tuition to children and young adults can be a suitable activity for retired SilverHairs. Some of our members are currently giving tuition, and Roland is one of them. Talking with other SilverHairs giving tuition, the income can be good and time can be flexible.

    If you have a desire or even some thought in giving tuition, feel free to ask on this forum.

    I like to share an experience of mine last two years. Although I studied Mandarin for a good 9 years, I have not had the chance to speak the language. One day, I chanced upon a small ‘peel off’ advertisement offering Mandarin tution. The tutor was a lady from Nanjing province, and she was doing a business course at SIM. We agreed that she will coached me for SGD 12 per hour, 7.00 am – 8.30 am twice a week, and I shall pay her at the end of the month.

    However, as I am always travelling, we shall do so, remote via the internet “Skype” program. I bought her a “Learning Chinese”, and we went through the exercises together. She corrected my pronunciation and I practised speaking and reading. I did not have to travel from my hotel room, and there were no extra charges, except for the internet. For some of us, the internet charges are already paid for.

    Although my tutor want a higher rate, she accepted my rate as she did not have to travel, and imagine, she could start teaching me after waking up from bed.

    Ann, who was with us at the Tuition Club meeting, had advised that teaching English, Science and Maths need not be the only subjects. The subjects can be hobby-related or a skill.

    What are your thoughts?

    Terence Seah

  48. Tuition centre is an example of a startup business which you can finance by bartering your services to a business community. In return, you can exchange for all the services that you would otherwise have to pay for in cash like corporate services, interior decoration, web design etc.

    You don’t need a one-to-one exchange in modern barter systems. You could earn barter credits from providing tuition to someone in a engineering company in return for services from another corporate service company. The fact that you barter gives you a distinct competitive advantage over other tuition providers who don’t.

    Many business owners are also parents. And there is a huge float of earned barter credits for you to tap from.

    Fro more info, see thread #47 in the post “SHCIC – The Investment Club” (http://silverhairsclub.com/2007/09/1104 )

  49. Sorry folks, a digress but not totally irrelevant.

    Over the past days, the New paper brought up easy $ businesses…..first, it told us how easy $ is made by escort service agencies, the performing escorts from which earn in excess of $10k a month (which is a good hint on how much more the agencies get to keep as commission). Work-hours are flexible, in air-cond comfort, get to eat great food for free, and sometimes just lie down, close the eyes & start counting the bigger rewards…………..

    Then, we read of chat-line operators paying $6.5k for gals to do phone-chats with the lonely who are happy to pay 90 cents a minute for the chats.

    Doing an educational service like giving tuition is straight but sometimes the intuition is, straight leads one to the straits – the dire ones – so maybe die die also must try something else………

    Ok, hv digressed enough so straight back to the topic.

    So, so far has anyone matched Annie Wan to a tuition?

  50. Tom @ 49

    Social escorts can also go for a USD 2K per takeout. At the other end of the range, you may be walking the Geylang streets, enjoying “bah kut teh” in open air for the price of a beer in a kopitiam.

    So it is the same for all industries. It depends on how high the greasy pole you are piost. At the top everywhere, its cavair and champagne breakfast everyday.

    In tuition, you may aspire to be the founder of the next Raffles Education. Why not? Start well and you may end well. This is the point about starting sufficently financed and organised for your goals. Your objective becomes your end.

    Hollywood Boulevard or Lorong X, the choice is yours.

  51. Well, KT, “Social escorts…….USD 2K per takeout (or) you may be (had) for the price of a beer……..” is yr reply to me so the “you” obviously refers to me or a guy equally great like me, such as you.

    Some years ago, I heard from some filipino toyboys at that those obsese but rich JJs at club 5 wont pay more than USD1k altho they asked for satisfaction to the last drop. So clearly, we must be in the geylang range of bakut teh for us the pai kut sien.

    Unless the old dames had idi amin’s pile driver in mind

    Yes, RafflesEdu has been impressive, some 1,500% share price increase (stand corrected) over the past 2 years altho pioneers like stamford college has not been, to my eyes, seen for a long while.

    A case of its objective has caused its end?

    Maybe more reason than 1 even as my thots go back in time to cheong kim fook and his C&E tours, the household name of the 60s into the 70s & half of the 80s……

    So I envy not rafflesedu, not idi amin not the JJs, their wealth, his gun, their socialite status but less measly odds from sporepools so that i’ll get to pool more, not pool bore…..

  52. After attending a few tuition club meeting ideas, I pick up some information about the opportunities of SilverHairs giving tuition, and I like to share with you.

    Favourite subject: Science, Maths, English and Chinese.
    Average rate: SGD 30 – 35 per hour.
    Average session: 1.5 hour.
    Tution school usually takes 20%. This covers promotion and providing the students.
    Tutor usually takes 80%. This covers transportation and the work of providing tuition.

    i have no skills in the above subjects; and hopefully some of us do have, and may see opportunities during retirement. If you have skills or ideas, do share with us.

    Terence Seah

  53. Dear All,

    This serves to confirm that Richard and I will be hosting site visits to MyCradle and Jericho Youth Centre this Saturday 12th Jan.

    We plan to meet up in the car park at Hougang Mall just next to Kovan MRT station at 10am, then proceed down to MyCradle and JYC.

    I can take another 3 persons in my car. If you need to reach me, my cellphone.

    Best regards to all…..

    Vincent Wong

  55. Hi Vincent, I am cup-tied this saturday so regrets but will look forward to reading any feedback after the visit.

    Take care……………., tim

  56. Terrance, Roland & Dennis – thank you for taking the time to do a site visit to MyCradle and Jericho. As a followup here are the 3 websites I mentioned to you about:

    http://memworkshopsacc.ning.com/
    http://jerichosoccer.ning.com/
    http://www.jericho-youth.org/

    Roland, appreciate if you could let me have your tuition bio and your philosophy towards tuitioning kids from Pr 6 – Sec 2. You can send to my email: vince_wong@hotmail.com

    Have a great weekend!

    Vincent

  57. Roland and myself had a chat last night, and we feel we should move ahead with the tuition club.

    In particular, we would lead on eLearning of English and Chinese languages. If you are or has experience in teaching Conversational English or Chinese, we like to start with you first. Please let us know on this forum, and I would organise an experience of e-tuition.

    To participate, you would need to have your own PC, mic and speakers, with powerpoint software loaded on your PC. Initial participation limited to 3 teachers. We hope to extend this project to all SilverHairs who have retired, and would consider teaching conversational English or Chinese tuition to India, China, US and Europe adults, all from the comfort of your home or office computer. For other issues eg timing and fees charged to students, we need to discuss with the intial batch of teachers.

    Terence Seah

  58. Hi Terence

    I would like to be present when you demo the e-learning you have in mind. Can assist you in material development.

    As for being a tutor, it’s not my priority this year.

    Thanks for initiating this ‘project’.

    JassmineT

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