Recently, I began working with a kindergarten student, my first kindergarten student, and it has presented itself with yet another learning opportunity for myself as a tutor (one of the perks of this job – constantly learning!). Whilst this student is well behaved, eager to learn, and always giving their best, working with someone as young as five years old, teaching them the very basics and setting out the foundations of their education journey, has taught me that my tutoring approach must change too.

With older students, it’s quite easy to engage in simple, small conversations to gauge their strengths and weaknesses and understand their interests. This makes tutoring them slightly easier as building rapport and targeting areas of weakness happens much earlier on. For kindergarteners however, this is a slightly slower process. As they are so young, it is more challenging to have those constructive conversations and requires patience and collaboration with parents/carers to understand areas to focus on and how to best engage the student. Further, the way the session is structured and conducted must also change. Kindergarteners are only small but super keen! The way we speak, use resources, and provide reinforcements must be carefully considered to not overwhelm the student but rather foster their curiosity and build their confidence, something which is very important so early on.

For me, I have found that speaking in a slightly higher voice, with lots of dynamic, and words of encouragement has helped my student feel comfortable and confident answering questions. Additionally, asking leading questions is something my student responds well to. By not instantly providing answers and rather providing prompts or strategies to work something out seems to excite the student as it is now in their hands to try and explore different ways to understand a topic. I have also found checking in with parents more often than usual and mimicking the topics/approaches taken in school builds consistency and familiarity for my students as well.

Overall, working with this new student has been so rewarding and heartwarming. It has allowed me to understand how to work with young children and connect with them to help make learning an enjoyable experience. As a tutor, it is incredibly special knowing I am able to be a part of a young student’s journey so early on, helping them to understand that learning is a gift and something that is exciting!

Andrea Nouris