It is a popular part-time job for students to earn extra income and improve their skills, however, behind the seemingly easy tutoring job are countless difficulties.
Tran My Y took the kids in her tutoring class to eat fried chicken when they got high scores on their final exams - Photo: NGOC SANG
Moreover, with the diverse part-time job options available today, many people choose lighter jobs.
Currently hiring a math, chemistry and English tutor for her 12th grade niece, Ms. Cao Huyen (48 years old, living in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City) said she asked the tutoring center to introduce some teachers.
Difficult to hire the right person
Previously, Ms. Huyen had gone online to hire a student to tutor her child in English. After a few sessions, her child complained that "the teaching was difficult to understand, the child did not understand the lesson", so she asked the service center to introduce students, but it only lasted two months for the same reason.
Finally, she chose the teacher introduced by the center. "The cost is higher but it is more effective and professional. For example, math and chemistry are two sessions a week for 2.4 million VND/subject per month, and English is 3.5 million VND for 10 sessions," she said.
An acquaintance asked her to find an English tutor for her first-grade daughter, so Ms. Pham Huong (46 years old, living in District 7) eagerly inquired. "The child is studying an integrated program and has never studied English before, so the parents are worried that at first she won't be able to keep up with her friends. They want to find a student to teach basic English and play with the child so that the child is interested in English, but they don't require any high level of proficiency," she said.
Through other people's introductions, she arranged for some first-year students from some schools not too far from the place where they would be tutoring. When they met the landlord to discuss the job, they seemed hesitant and unsuitable. Her acquaintance was still looking for a tutor for her child.
Prepare many things, hard to please parents
In fact, there are students who love tutoring and have good relationships with parents and students. However, explaining the "fear", many students said that one of the difficulties in tutoring is the pressure from parents' expectations. They want their children to quickly improve their scores, even demanding that weak students become excellent in a short time.
Tran My Y (22 years old, literature student at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Ho Chi Minh City National University) once taught a 9th grade student who had lost basic literature and was preparing for the 10th grade entrance exam.
"My parents asked me to increase my score from 4 to 9 after 3 months. But he refused to study. I had to teach him and do his homework with him, but the results were still not as expected. In the end, my parents blamed me for being irresponsible."
In addition, some students are not focused, study while playing with their phones, or do not prepare lessons in advance. This makes the teaching process more difficult for Italy.
The funny situations Ý encountered were some parents who regularly monitored the lessons, causing psychological pressure. "And even though the center announced a two-hour lesson, there would be parents who said it was two and a half hours to buy more time. In such cases, you have to proactively contact the center to claim your rights," she whispered.
Tran Thi Bich Van in a tutoring session in Thu Duc City - Photo: YEN TRINH
Teaching two sessions, parents "cancel the contract", lose deposit
Contrary to the image of a tutor who leisurely carries his briefcase to his student's home and is respected, tutors today face more pressure than a few decades ago.
With experience, My Y believes that when working with a tutoring center, you need to carefully research its reputation, especially for those who are teaching for the first time. There are service pages that imitate the center's name. With the mentality of wanting to find a class near their accommodation, some people quickly pay a deposit. And the money is lost, but the work is nowhere to be seen.
Ý sighed: "Once I took a class through a center with a deposit of nearly 500,000 VND. After two sessions, the parents said they no longer needed the tutor, but the center did not refund the money. In the end, I lost both time and money."
Tutoring requires a lot of effort, the salary is about 130,000 - 170,000 VND/two-hour session, while the price of goods is escalating. Through intermediaries, you have to pay a brokerage fee in the first month, which can be up to 30% of the salary. If the class is not satisfactory, the student does not cooperate, you teach for a month or less and then quit, which is a waste.
Similarly, Dang Thi Kim Chi (final year majoring in screenwriting) encountered many difficulties when tutoring. As a newbie, she went online to find out more and quickly paid a deposit of 50,000 VND because the class location was quite close. "After waiting for a few days, there was still no news about the class, so I checked Zalo and saw that the account had been deactivated. Only then did I realize I had been scammed, luckily I only paid 50,000 VND," she said.
Another time, teaching was more than 10km away from her rented room, which cost Chi extra money for gas and travel time. After leaving the lecture hall in the afternoon, she drove as fast as she could to her tutoring class at 5pm. The night before teaching, she sat down to prepare her lesson plan, often not going to bed until 2-3am. After deducting miscellaneous expenses, her income was not much.
For My Y, balancing study and work time requires arranging a schedule for classes, tutoring, and other activities. "Every day, I have to run from school to the students' houses, then back to the dormitory to do homework. There were days when I finished teaching late, I didn't have time to review for exams, and my semester results dropped," she said.
Now, Ý has switched to marketing. She said that her future direction is not teaching and that tutoring is not stable.
"To do this job, you have to understand the psychology of students, how to create the most comfortable learning atmosphere possible so that they are happy and motivated to learn. Otherwise, if a child tells their parents that they don't like this teacher, I will immediately lose my job," she shared.
Kim Chi is currently working as a content creator for a company in Thu Duc City. She is no longer a tutor because she finds that the work is a lot but the pay is not worth it.
Luckily, Tran Thi Bich Van (19 years old, from Binh Phuoc) has been tutoring math for a 9th grader in Thu Duc City for over 4 months now. She got into tutoring because she used to teach the children of an acquaintance in her hometown, but found the job restrictive.
"This summer I taught at two places, but now I have a busy schedule so I have to take some time off. The salary is 175,000 VND/session. Parents don't ask for much and the kids study hard," she said.
Van shared her secret: "I usually teach theory first, not encouraging memorizing formulas but applying them to exercises to help them remember. After finishing a chapter, I spend a session for the child to repeat what they have learned. I also find more exercises for the child." When the child is tired, she does not force him to study right away but instead chats about the side topics and shares about his schoolwork.
Posing as a student, we contacted Facebook page Q. to ask for a tutoring class recommendation. After choosing the appropriate class code, the staff told us the fee was 336,000 VND (equivalent to 30% of the first month's salary) and had to be paid before receiving the class.
Fear of general information
A tutoring center said the fee to pay when accepting a tutoring class is 336,000 VND, equivalent to 30% of the first month's salary - Photo: NGOC SANG
Contact T. center in District 7 and Binh Duong, staff said that depending on parents' requests, they will introduce teachers or students to tutor.
"Hiring students is 170,000 VND/2 hours. Freelance teachers are 300,000 VND/1.5 hour session. If the teacher specializes in math or natural science subjects at schools, it is 350,000 VND/session. The price is the quality."
This person advises families with means to hire a teacher, otherwise just study with students.
This center affirms that the students they introduce are from the top 6 largest schools in Ho Chi Minh City and have experience.
But when asked about the specific qualifications (such as academic scores) of the students, this staff did not respond.
When asked about teaching methods and how to estimate students' progress, the staff replied that students were taught spontaneously and mostly guided through exercises, so they could not discuss specifics because "they were afraid of not matching."
"The score depends on the student. If you have a poor foundation, you will be average later. If you are average, you will get a score of 7.5...", this employee said.
Tutor in green shirt in poor boarding houseSource: https://tuoitre.vn/khi-sinh-vien-ngan-lam-gia-su-20241228083920902.htm
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