Nicole Chung says
It gives me great joy when my students enjoy their lessons with me and satisfaction when they show that they understand what I've gone through- by explaining the concept back to me or through their academic achievements in school. I encourage students to work hard by sharing with them my personal experiences as a student. In addition, my teaching methods differ from student to student, as every child's pace of learning and ability varies very widely.
Besides this, there is one component of my teaching methods that is standard across the board- mistakes that were made have to be understood, corrected, and further exercises have to be done to ensure that that same mistake is not made again. I do not believe in spoon feeding a child with information. I continuously spur my students on to think critically and of solutions to any problems they are faced with.
I have 5-6 years of teaching experience. Besides this, I've relief taught (in CHIJ Our Lady of Nativity and North Vista Secondary School) and taught English enrichment courses under 2 private enrichment companies in government primary schools like Mayflower Primary School, Anderson Primary School, Pei Hwa Presbytatrian Primary School, Elias Park Primary School, Siling Primary School, Geylang Methodist Primary School and San Yu Adventist School. Recently, I completed teaching a 20 lesson English Enrichment course in Townsville Primary School. At the moment, I'm teaching English enrichment courses in Hong Wen Primary School and Anderson Primary school.
Besides private home tutoring, I've also taught English tuition lessons in a tuition centre from the end of 2007 to January 2009. All the students I have taught have shown consistent and gradual improvement with 3 O'level students from my class obtaining A2s for their O'level English Examination 2008 (one of them has kindly written a testimonial which I've put up on this webpage).
A boy I am teaching now, who has been under my guidance since the 3rd and 4th terms of 2006, managed to get full marks for his final Math exam paper in 2006- Overall grades were all band 1 (taught him English and Math since 2006. I've been teaching him English, Math and Science since he started p3) He is now in the top p4 class in his school(2009), he's proud of his achievements, so are his parents, and of course, I'm honoured to have contributed greatly to his success.
At the start of 2007 I took up an assignment from star tutors, and it was to teach a p1 boy. Though he likes to read English story books, he has had difficulty describing pictures (English oral), understanding how to answer the questions in comprehension exercises and constantly wrote compositions which started with "This is a...". His mother was very worried that he would not do very well as his school's expectations of the students are higher than what I've usually seen. By working with the boy patiently and in a positive manner, eventually, to his mother's surprise, he showed improvement in his final year exam (scoring above 90 out of 100 for his end-of-year exam in p1).
A korean girl I've been teaching since 2006 ( I'm still teaching her and she has been studying in a local government primary school), who is now primary 6, has been able to consistently score within the range of high 80s to 90s for Math and Science (I only teach her these). Her weakness has been in the great deal of English incorporated in these subjects, as such, I've been patiently explaining to her all necessary Science terms, important key words and points, and types of Math questions. She has since even clinched the first position for Math and Science in her class and also out of her cohort in school. For the 2008 PSLE, she managed to attain a score of 256 and managed to get into Methodist Girls' School.
Another korean student I had was working towards passing the English and Math test for foreigners(PACT) and the school tests she would have to take to get into a secondary school (to enter at secondary 1). Within a few months of working with her she improved tremendously and has been in a local secondary school for the past couple of years.
StarTutor's Review
Nicole is an amiable and articulated person. She is a counsellor and a teacher to her students. Using her past experience as a student, she encourages her students to work hard in attaining their goals. She gives abundant advice to her students to motivate them to work harder. She has a passion in teaching and intends to continue tutoring in the coming years. While specialising in individual tutoring, she also likes teaching small groups of students.
Believing that there are no hard and fast rules to teaching, her teaching methods vary from student to student. She works to find out the interests of her students before devising a suitable tutoring method. Her flexibility allows her to tailor a teaching outline for each of her students. Nicole is familiar with the current MOE syllabus as she has tutees ranging from the Lower Primary to the Upper Secondary Levels. This way, she is also able to prepare her student for the next school year.
During the process of tutoring, Nicole will monitor the grades of her students. She will consistently engage in discussion with the parents to learn more about their children's learning objectives and outcomes. She keeps busy parents updated through phone conversations. She believes that parents and the tutor should work together to provide the best for the child.
Besides teaching local students, Nicole is experienced in handling international students who are studying in Singapore. As the English language is a common barrier for them, she gets them to converse in English. By first solving their difficulty in understanding English, she is able to bring across the concepts of other subjects more clearly later. Currently, Nicole is teaching a few Korean students and she knows specific ways to increase their understanding.
In her free time, Nicole enjoys painting - more specifically oil painting. She is currently working on a series of painting in the genre of Pop Art. She hopes that she will be able to put her paintings on exhibition in the future.
- Interviewed by StarTutor, 13 Sept 2007
Testimonial
Tan Shi Ying (She was from Nan Chiau Primary, took the psle in 2008, received a score of 264 and is now in Dunman High Secondary School.) --------
Lessons with Nicole are very enriching. She taught me many strategies for solving mathematics problem sums. I also have a wider range of vocabulary, thus making my results improve. Now I have much more confidence when sitting for examinations than before.
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Martha Gretchin Morais ( She was an O'level student whom I had taught in a tuition centre in 2008 and she obtained an A2 for her O'level English examination. All materials provided during the lessons at the tuition centre were based on my own materials and methods, the centre did not provide any syllabus for me to follow)---------
The lessons conducted by Miss Chung were very helpful and helped me achieve higher grades in my examinations. I was used to getting Bs and Cs, so imagine my surprise in receiving my first A shortly after she started teaching! I enjoyed her tuition classes, as they were interesting and I did gain something from them. I feel that Miss Chung is very approachable, which is an important quality for a tuition teacher. The materials handed out in class were especially helpful and provided ready references in preparing for examinations. She introduced all the composition styles to us, and gave us ample practice in all of them. For example, I would not have ever attempted a descriptive essay before, but after Miss Chung took us through it, I felt more confident in writing a descriptive essay and got the highest mark I have ever received for a composition. Similarly, we practiced comprehensions almost every week, concentrating on our weaknesses. Also, I feel that Miss Chung is a very patient person, willing to go through minor details asked of her.
2000 GCE O (
Cedar Girls' Secondary School)
English (B4), English Literature (C6), Geography (B3), Mathematics D (A2), Additional Mathematics (A2), Science (Phy/Chem) (A2), Chinese (A2), Chinese (Oral/Aural) (Pass)
Other Qualifications
Bachelors in Arts (Sociology) NUS (I had to write a lot during my course as it was an arts course, and I've been able to achieve As for many of my written papers)
A Levels(Serangoon Junior College), Mathematics C (A)
O Levels(Cedar Girls Secondary School), English(B4), Emath(A2), Amath(A), Combined Science(A2), Chinese(A2)
ABRSM Piano Grade 8(distinction), ABRSM Music Theory Grade 5, Trinity Guildhall grade 6 theory (distinction), Trinity Guildhall grade 8 theory and ATCL Trinity Guildhall.
