Home Tutoring with Miss Grace

Today, for the very first time he smiled “heartily” at me.

My experiences with ESL learners from different continents with different personalities and of different ages have taught me that even a certificate course wouldn’t have been able to teach me what I have learned since I started towing this path.

In November, a Chinese man reached out to me about making his nephew and niece take English lessons in order for them to improve their English speaking skills.

My method of teaching ESL to various learners depends on their English proficiency levels.
For these particular two, their proficiency levels required more of speaking practice so they can apply all the grammar and vocabulary knowledge they had before they joined my lessons.

So, they began.. I I noticed the girl is a talkative and enjoys “gisting” especially with the method I use in class. It encourages discussions and there, I am able to correct their grammatical errors and then build my next set of lessons on that error so I can be sure they have effected the correction.

The boy on the other hand, after about 5 lessons, started taking so many days off.
For every week, he would always tell his uncle to tell me he won’t be available on a certain day cos he is sick..(The sick boy, I call him😃).
To be honest, though I had a feeling that I needed to add a little more spice to his lessons cos I wasn’t too comfortable about his attitude towards learning, still I didn’t suspect anything. I just thought he isn’t much of a talker like his cousin and he probably falls ill… until his uncle mentioned something last week (I’ll post a screenshot), and it dawned on me that he probably wasn’t enjoying my lessons, despite my “almighty” methodology .

..𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠

A few hours ago (2am), something that I NEVER EVER thought would happen to me happened!

I had the most challenging experience in my 6 years of teaching online.

The learner is a 7 year old girl who had always been a warm-hearted girl since I started teaching her in 2023. So, when she started giving me a funny attitude last month, I waived it because I knew the back story about her being bullied at school… so, I just thought she was reacting as a result of what she had been facing at school among her peers.

All through last month, the bulk of our lesson time was used to teach her how to ignore and avoid bullies and never let their actions get to her and then we would pray about it.

But a few hours ago, I experienced what I had never seen before (not even among my adolescent students who are supposed to be the difficult ones).

You know when a student deliberately frustrates your efforts…

If I ask her “𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵´𝘴 4+2?”. She’d say 42
Or if I ask “𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳, 4 𝘰𝘳 2?” She’d say 2.

When I introduced the topic, she said she wasn’t interested. When I played her favourite video, she said she didn’t want to watch. If I mentioned something I knew she’d like, she’d act aloof.

She also said some unkind things to me (these things were very strange to me. All my students have always been nice and cooperative).

It was worse because I had one of my teacher-trainees in the call.

Imagine someone you trained watching you not have classroom control, seeing you at a cross roads.. and probably asking herself “𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝐼?” Or “𝑆𝑜, 𝑖𝑓 𝑀𝑠 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 7 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑜𝑙𝑑, ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑟”

She was supposed to be in that class to observe my teaching methodologies and every other thing so she can take over from me in a few days time, butt instead of learning the right thing, it was the opposite!

𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝..

We’re OPEN in the name of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!

I just got a “𝘔𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘋𝘰𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬, 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬” WhatsApp message, and to be honest, I can’t explain the kind of relief that just washed over me.

I’ve been seeing various posts and comments made by online teachers about how they dread December because most, if not all, of their online students will be taking a break and so there will be little or no money coming in from online teaching this coming month.

It’s not the case for me. As a matter of fact, I am earnestly waiting to take a break too.

Typical are saying NOOOO! 😫!!! I’m saying YES PLEASE🙏🏽

Take a good look at my calendar. This is my typical day!

How on earth would I be saying NO to “𝘔𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘋𝘰𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬, 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬”?

How on earth do I wanna do this again this Detty December?!

I just want to NOT teach this December!.. I just want to stay away somewhere at a green relaxing resort and be a baby guurrl!

So, Yes please!😃

Meanwhile, here’s a quick announcement for the teachers who have paid for the Batch 6 Online Mastery Training..

I have sent your course contents to your emails. I have also set up the virtual classroom and you are all members of the Batch 6 Class. Please check your emails.

For the women who applied to the OSMG Scholarship for Women too, kindly check your emails.

This is closing tomorrow, the 24th of November.

This scholarship is for women who:
✔ Are passionate about teaching
✔ Desire to transition into or grow in online teaching
✔ Are committed to excellence, innovation, and learning
✔ Need support to access premium training
To Apply:
✓ Submit a short paragraph (5–7 sentences):
“Why I want to master online teaching and how this programme will change my life.”
✓ Share a short 30–60 sec video explaining your passion and future goals.

YOU MUST REGISTER FOR THE COURSE to qualify for the scholarship.

𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐴𝐼-𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑. 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔.

There’s a need for to garner reviews from their clients while accolades are still fresh and have them accessible to new clients.

When I asked God in January to give me just one client who will not bat an eyelid when I name my price (I had just doubled my charges and I was afraid that I may not get new clients), I didn’t know the answer would come through reviews/referrals.

The first person who messaged me didn’t even try to haggle the price when I said it, insisted, the next thing was “when can he begin?”

E shock me😅

The woman had been referred by her colleague and she was ready to pay any amount for my services.

Now, I don’t even bother to market myself, my reviews and my clients do that for me.

I’m also not scared to name my price anymore. If you can’t afford me, I’m not worried about having to reduce my price to make you stay, because already I have too many students I’m trying to transfer to other online teachers.

So, I directly attend to ONLY the premium paying clients.

One of my during the November training is how to make your clients drop their reviews without much persuasion, how and where to compile these reviews and how to make them accessible for new clients.