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Choosing The Right Tuition Centre For Your Child

August 1, 2022March 6, 2026By ILLAC

Tuition is deemed as beneficial for a child’s education and learning experience in Singapore. That is why choosing the right tuition centre can sometimes come with a lot of pressure. It is important that parents know how to find the right tuition centre in order to aid their child’s learning. But with such a large pool of tuition services to choose from, selecting the best tutor for your child can often be an overwhelming process. This article aims to help by sharing a few things you should consider before choosing a tuition centre for your child. Read on to learn more.

Location

Locate tuition or enrichment centres that may be near your child’s school or your residence for greater ease and convenience. This allows less time and energy spent on travelling for your child, especially if you intend to send them for classes after school or on the weekends.

Class size

choosing the right tuition centre can help guide your child’s education

The tuition class size could also determine how they learn. In large classes, there is frustration for both teachers, in the form of managing a large group, and students, in terms of getting their individual doubts cleared. With smaller class sizes, students may find it easier to have their questions answered, and teachers will be able to cater to each student’s needs more easily. This essentially means a smaller class size will allow your child to receive more individual attention, and experience a better learning environment particularly for students struggling with weaker subjects. At I Love Learning, classes are kept at less than 9 students per class, ensuring a conducive learning environment for your child to excel.

Qualifications and experience

When searching for an enrichment centre for your child in Singapore, you want to be certain that the founder places emphasis on a strict hiring process. Tuition is a billion-dollar industry in Singapore. It is inevitable that centers are run by profit-oriented people who are inexperienced in education. When looking for a center, pay attention to the management team. A profit-oriented management team will focus more on profiting than on developing your child to reach his/her potential. i.e. A huge classroom is a result of trying to profit rather than teach optimally.

Look through reviews

girl wearing graduation clothes shows effective teaching methods of a tuition centre

Learn how effective the teaching methods of a tuition centre is by reading reviews of what other parents and students have to say about it. Doing so lets you have a better understanding about the specific attributes of the tuition centre that parents and students are satisfied with.

Ability to connect with your child

fun learning with the right tuition centre

Finding a centre that your child connects well with will encourage them to be more receptive to the lessons. This is where requesting for a trial lesson can come in handy for parents and students to assess the suitability of the class before committing for the longer term. If your child shows a dislike for the tutor from the onset, this could be due to incompatible teaching methods or personality. Keep in mind that a good learning relationship between the tutor and a student typically results in better academic performance, and a good tutor should be able to connect with and motivate your child to achieve more.

Selecting an enrichment centre for your child can seem like a daunting task. We hope these tips have been helpful in guiding you through choosing the right tutor for your child’s educational needs. Our experienced team of tutors are here to support your child on their learning journey. Reach out to us for more information on our wide range of courses!

How to Get Your Child to Start Reading On Their Own

July 13, 2022March 6, 2026By ILLAC

a group of children reading book and playing toy

The benefits of reading in a child’s development are well documented. But contrary to what most believe, learning to read is a complex process that requires a child to be properly taught various skills and strategies, such as phonics and phonemic awareness. The good news though is that the steps to take in order to build these skills are actually fairly simple and straightforward. Apart from preschool enrichment classes, are you also looking at other ways to have your child become an avid reader? We’ll share some tips to help with kick-starting your child’s love of reading at an early age.

Make a simple word card game

Cut out simple cards and write a word on each card. Locate a staircase nearby and place one or two cards face down on each step. Say a word aloud and have your child find the matching word card. Then have your child read the word. He gets to keep the card if he has chosen the correct word. If it’s the wrong card, he leaves it on the step. The game continues until all the word cards have been found.

Incorporate phonics

Many studies have shown that children with a strong background in phonics tend to become stronger readers as they grow up. A phonetic approach to reading teaches a child how to go letter by letter, blending each sound together. Once a child has developed a level of automatisation, they will be able to sound out words almost instantly, only needing to apply decoding with longer words.

Try doing so using songs and nursery rhymes; the rhyme and rhythm help kids to differentiate the sounds and syllables in words, which is a good and fun way to build phonemic awareness and confident readers. Alternatively, you may also consider signing your child up with a learning centre that provides phonics classes with a well-rounded reading program.

Read aloud to your child regularly

Many people aren’t aware of just how many skills can be picked up through the simple act of reading to a child. Reading aloud to your child regularly not only creates a special bonding time for the both of you, but it also builds key comprehension skills, grows their vocabulary, allows them to hear what a fluent reader sounds like, and more importantly, instils in them a love for books. This feeling of enjoyment while reading is one of the single greatest predictors of reading success in school-going children.

Be patient

mother teaching her daughter to learn study online

Remember that every child has his or her own pace of learning, so it’s helpful to keep in mind that the single most important thing you can do is to make it an enjoyable experience. A combination of reading regularly, mixing things up with the activities you choose, and letting your child pick out their own books occasionally will help them to develop an early love of reading and give them the best chance at reading success.

We hope this article has been helpful for you in getting your child started on becoming an avid reader. I Love Learning has a range of classes for children in Singapore, starting as young as preschool enrichment classes. Reach out to us for more information!

How to Choose the Best Tuition Center for Your Child

September 17, 2021March 6, 2026By ILLAC

With the myriad of tuition centers out there, what are the few considerations you’ll need to take in order to pick the best tuition center for your child?

Consider these factors:

1. Teacher-Student Ratio

The reason why you are looking for a tuition programme for your child is either because you want your child to get that extra help, or you want your child to reach his/her potential. Either way, you want your child to be given extra attention. Therefore, try looking for classes with not more than 8 students. The bigger the class, the less attention the teacher can render for your child. That being said, a very experienced teacher with excellent classroom management and high energy will definitely be able to handle a larger class.

And that leads us to the next point.

2. Qualifications of Teachers

The experience and qualification of the teachers employed in the center are very important too. The best player may not be the best coach. The same goes for teachers. A scholar may not be the best teacher unless he/she is a scholar in pedagogy (teaching methodology). It is therefore, very important to enrol your child in a center that emphasizes teaching methods and child psychology because such a center will surely produce teachers and a curriculum that really help to develop your child.

However, most centers focus instead, on employing teachers who are MOE-trained and/or scholars. Having experienced teachers who are also trained in child psychology will be the most ideal. ILLAC is one center that focuses on employing not just teachers who are MOE-trained, ILLAC also develops and trains their teachers in child psychology so they are equipped with the knowledge of helping students overcome their weaknesses and develop their strengths.

3. Who Manages The Center

Tuition is a billion-dollar industry in Singapore. It is inevitable that centers are run by profit-oriented people who are inexperienced in education. When looking for a center, pay attention to the management team. A profit-oriented management team will focus more on profiting than on developing your child to reach his/her potential. i.e. A huge classroom is a result of trying to profit rather than teach optimally.

4. Curriculum

Singapore’s curriculum for the primary level is actually very unique. The PSLE is entirely developed locally, unlike the O Levels or A levels that are developed overseas and used internationally. Therefore, when choosing a tuition center for your child, ensure that the curriculum is designed by and developed for locals.

For example, some may think that we should send our children to native speakers of the English language to learn proper English. If the objective is to learn proper pronunciation and intonation, yes, that is agreeable. However, if it is to learn proper grammar and sentence structure, a native speaker will not be the best teacher because they grew up speaking the language without such difficulties. They will never understand why our children cannot understand the difference between “I have done my homework” versus “I had done my homework” because the difference is obvious to them.

Another example will be imported centers. A foreign curriculum, even when translated, will not teach Mathematics the same way we do in Singapore. Singapore’s Mathematics emphasizes a lot on model drawing and these techniques are not commonly learned in other countries. Therefore, a foreign curriculum will unlikely cover model drawing as a problem solving method in their curriculum.

The Best Tuition Center

To summarise, the best tuition center for your child should have a low teacher-student ratio of less than 1-8. Secondly, the teachers should be experienced not just in teaching, but trained in child psychology to be able to develop your child to reach his/her potential. The management team that manages the center should be trained in pedagogy to be able to make the best decisions for their students. Lastly, the curriculum that the center uses should be developed by locals.

Good luck in finding the best tuition center for your child!

3 Reasons Why You Should Install Google’s Family Link (Post-PSLE)

September 9, 2021March 6, 2026By ILLAC

PSLE is over! Yes!!! However, please set some limits to your children’s access to personal devices! The internet is wild and dangerous when used without limits. From my personal experience, Google’s Family Link can really help control device-access and maintain peace in the family. Here’s how.

Google’s Family Link is an app that helps you take TOTAL CONTROL over your child’s screen time:

Functions in a nutshell:

– full view of their activity online

– full control over what they download

– set limits on the amount of time they spend on-screen

– set limits on the amount of time they spend on each app

– award Bonus Time for good behaviour

– set bed-time so that the device locks itself when it’s time for bed

– control their devices remotely using Parents’ own handphone. i.e. Need them to come to the table for dinner immediately? Click “Lock now” (the button that sends exhilaration down my spine) and see them walk to the table reluctantly.

Still not convinced? Here are 3 main reasons why you should install the app.

1. Control Till 18 Years Old.

You might think this is only necessary for young kids where you need to control screen-time to prevent hyperactivity and over-stimulation. However, from my experience of dealing with teens whose parents bestowed them with a device right after PSLE, the device is exactly what damages well-behaved kids.

To be honest, I’ve met so many parents of post-PSLE kids losing complete control over their once-obedient little angles due to handphone addiction. Therefore, I highly recommend that Family Link be used on all devices handed over to children under the age of “mature-enough-to-handle-devices-responsibly” year old.

They are never too old for some form of control over devices. Admit it, even we ourselves, can be addicted to the phone, not to mention our own children.

2. Amazing Control You Can Have Over What They Can Access

I find these functions extremely useful because my son is into pop music yet not everything is suitable for him. Family Link not only allows me to control the music he can stream but also lets me:

Set limits on movies and TV shows based on the same familiar rating systems used in theatres and by TV stations
Set limits on the types of books my child can download
Control search options (Google SafeSearch is on by default) and limit the websites my child can visit in Google’s Chrome browser with the option to 1) allow all sites, 2) block mature sites (default), or 3) only allow for certain sites on a list you approve. As the app says, “no filter is perfect” but the default settings should help hide sexually explicit and violent sites
Control my child’s ability to share photos (it’s on by default)

3. Set a Time for Every Activity

Here are some screenshots of what you can set and control.

I allow 2.5h on days he has zoom lessons. The device is otherwise always locked.

On days when he wants to be rewarded for work done or good behaviour, I’ll use this function to unlock the tab momentarily. This is a very effective negotiation tool when we want him to do homework 😉

Being able to set time limit is perhaps the most important reason for installing the Family Link! Even though the big exam (PSLE) is over, doesn’t mean the kids can be on the phone the entire day, watching Youtube videos after Youtube videos. It also doesn’t mean they can be chatting on the phone with their friends until daybreak! What’s worse, you will not even know who he/she is chatting with!

Bottomline

This app has definitely taken away my worries of introducing a device to my son. I love the amount of control I get over his usage and prevented many tussles we could potentially have over his uncontrolled usage when we are not at home. Highly recommended! Try it!

Lessons from the longest study on human development

July 13, 2021March 6, 2026By ILLAC

Parenting has never been easy and we all wish there is a manual that guides us on this tedious and ever-so-challenging journey. As a matter of fact, plenty of such guides are out there but they tend to espouse different principles and guidelines and they can be very overwhelming. No fret. Here’s the ultimate parenting summary from the findings of studying 70,000 children across five generations. Ready? Get your notebook out!

1. Be responsive and interested parents.

Studies have shown that small things that parents do, like talking and listening to a child, responding to them warmly, teaching them their letters and numbers, taking them on trips and visits, are associated with good outcomes for children. In one study, children whose parents were reading to them daily when they were five and then showing an interest in their education at the age of 10, were significantly less likely to be in poverty at the age of 30 than those whose parents weren’t doing those things.

2. Send your kids to bed at regular times.

Studies have shown that those children who were going to bed at different times were more likely to have behavioural problems. In fact, sleep has been found by researchers to affect executive functioning and children with a lack of sleep or irregular sleeping habits tend to suffer from lower inhibitory and impulse control. One more bad news, one study showed that catch-up sleep on a weekend has no particular benefits to executive functions; it might even have an adverse effect on self-regulation in children. Therefore, send your kids to bed at regular timings and do not rely on catch-up sleep on the weekends!

3. Leave it to your child to choose what to read.

Scientists found that children who were reading for pleasure, be it a magazine, a picture book, or a story book, were more likely to perform better in school in all subjects and not just English. So do not stop your child from reading Geronimo Stilton or Whimpy Kid thinking they are useless or too simple! Whatever they read doesn’t matter, what’s more important is that they read.

In summary, the ultimate guide to parenting: Give them your attention for at least 30min a day, send them to bed at regular timings, allow them to go everywhere with a book (instead of an electronic device!), whatever the title. Congratulations, you are on your way to becoming a GREATER PARENT.

How to maximise your child’s online learning

July 7, 2021March 6, 2026By ILLAC

Advancements in technology coupled with the pandemic has led to an exponential shift towards online learning. We are increasingly seeing children having Zoom lessons with their teachers and even co-curricular activities being carried out on screen. With more time spent looking at their devices, it is inevitable that children may end up being distracted rather than being focused on their studies.

For you to maximise your child’s online learning, here are tips you can utilise!

1.Set online rules with your child.

Have a talk with your child before online lessons to come up with some rules they can adhere to during their screen time. Have them write it down on paper and even decorate it to leave a positive impression. Afterwards, paste it up somewhere visible. Some rules can include – “Give your teacher your fullest attention”, “Answer questions”, “Listen to teacher’s instructions” etc. Reward your child with praises and even little stickers when they follow the rules they have created! These rules help sharpen their self-regulation and inhibitory control as well!

2. During lessons, be close by.

Being in the vicinity of your child during their online lessons can help you monitor their progress. You do not necessarily have to be constantly supervising them, frequent check-ins on how they are doing should suffice. During the check-ins, observe if they are paying attention and aptly engage them on what they have learnt by asking them questions related to their lesson. Your looming presence will also encourage your child to stay focused.

3. Ask your child questions after the lesson.

Building on the second point, you can also have your child tell you about what they had learnt during their lesson. Add onto it as well with your own knowledge whenever possible to encourage mental flexibility! Displaying a positive interest in your child’s learning will motivate them to wow you every session, guaranteeing heightened attention during their learning.

4. Check if they have additional work on-line or off-line.

After a lesson, your child’s teacher/instructor may give them work to do. Check if they have any and if they do, encourage your child to finish up their work diligently within a given duration (memory of fresh knowledge tend to slip out of mind without practice after the 3rd day). This trains your child to stick to a fixed routine and develop the beneficial habit of completing their work first before partaking in other recreational activities. This can help your child better retain the information during their lesson as they can apply it immediately to their work while the memory is still fresh (within 3 days!).

It can be tough having to juggle between your child’s learning and other pressing commitments. Knowing that you have done the absolute best for both you and your child is the way to go! Moderation is key, pace yourself and your child to avoid burning out while learning or working from home and stop to refresh and energise when needed.

Is it too late for your grown child?

July 1, 2021March 6, 2026By ILLAC

No! Of course not! Don’t give up on your child until he’s 25 at least! The rational part of a teen’s brain isn’t fully developed and won’t be until age 25 or so.

In fact, recent research has found that adult and teen brains work differently. Adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the rational part of the brain. This is the part of the brain that responds to situations with good judgment and an awareness of long-term consequences. Teens process information with the amygdala. This is the emotional part. This is why your child seems to make decisions out of impulse instead of logical thinking.

This also means it’s OK that they may not seem to be performing to their fullest potential during school or work. They are still developing in terms of their ability to make better decisions in life. By acquiring better decision-making skills over the years, your troubled teen can still do very well in their adulthood!

As parents, you will, of course, not want to let nature slowly take its course if you know that you can help train your child’s inhibitory control to encourage rational thinking. Besides sending them to executive functions courses like the ones we offer at ILLAC, your child’s executive functions can be enhanced by:

1.Having a good role model in life, YOU.

You’re the most important role model your child has. Sure, their friends are important to them, but the way you behave and fulfill your responsibilities will have a profound and long-lasting effect on your children. Being their immediate environment, your decisions (be it good or bad) will leave an impression on your child and expose them to the varying consequences.

2. Discussing the consequences of their actions.

Mother and daughter having a serious talk

Rather than reprimanding them for the bad decisions they’ve made, help your child link impulsive thinking with facts. This helps the brain make connections and wires it for greater efficiency in making good decisions. The more you discuss and reflect with them, the better they become.

3. Remind your teens that they are resilient and competent.

Not just some motivational rah-rah, but continuous reinforcement that they CAN DO IT! Because they’re so focused in the moment, teens might have trouble seeing that they can play a part in changing bad situations. It can help to remind them of times in the past that they thought would have devastating outcomes but turned out for the best.

4. Respect their preferences.

Respect comes with understanding and the more you understand what your teen likes, the easier it is for you to respect their preferences. Being familiar with things that are important to your teen doesn’t mean you have to like hip-hop music or BTS, but showing an interest in the things they’re involved in shows them they’re important to you and teaches them to make decisions by taking into consideration other people’s feelings.

5. Ask, before responding.

Sometimes, we just wanna rant and are not interested in advice. Our kids too. So, before you go into the nagging mode or “she-needs-my-advice mode”, please ask if they want you to respond or if they just want you to listen. Respect their preferences and stick to it! Don’t switch modes because you couldn’t resist not giving advice! Parents tend to jump in with advice to try to fix their children’s problems or place blame. But this can make teens less likely to be open with their parents in the future. You want to make it emotionally safe and easy for them to come to you so you can be part of their lives.

6. Encourage good sleeping habits.

With the rampant use of devices, it is very difficult to enforce this. However tough it may be, remember that it is all worth the trouble. Teen brains need more sleep than adults and a brain that doesn’t receive enough sleep is a poor-functioning brain. Impulse control, self-regulation, memory, and mental flexibility are all affected when the brain is deprived of sleep. Try all ways and means to drive them to bed at regular timings!

Attractive Hispanic Mother and Son Studying

In summary, is it too late for your grown child? Of Course not! Never say never! They are never too old to change for the better as long as they are still under 25!

Home Practices to Improve Working Memory of Children Ages 3 to 6

April 28, 2021March 6, 2026By ILLAC

With society’s increasingly high standards in education and academics, it is without saying that we are in a relentless rat race to provide the best education for our children. Whilst having enrichment lessons may suffice, why not go the extra mile to practice at home by honing your child’s executive functions.

Executive Functions are mental skills which include Working Memory, Mental Flexibility and Inhibitory Control; which the lack thereof can have detrimental impact on our daily lives and potentially, academic performance. Executive functioning skills develop exponentially in early childhood and into adolescence, therefore it is paramount to prime our young ones early.

To start off, let’s focus on Working Memory, where the brain is engaged to hold multiple information at the same time while simultaneously processing it (Miller, 1960). An active stimulation of working memory helps reduce irrelevant information that interferes with the task at hand (Brogaard, 2020) which will be extremely helpful when your child enters Primary School.

Here are some simple home practices you and your child can do to improve Working Memory:

Games

Memory games such as Spot the Differences can be fun and interactive ways for your child to improve their working memory. Show your child 2 similar looking images side by side and have them describe the differences they saw. Amp up the difficulty level by showing them just one picture for a few seconds, reintroduce both pictures and then have them describe the one they saw.

Why not get creative as well with different items in the house, by removing or swapping items around, ask your child if they see anything out of place.

Another game would be Card Matching! Use any deck of cards you have on hand such as Uno or Old Maid that has pairs of identical cards. Flip them around and have a mini competition with your child to see who can match up all the cards first! For an even greater challenge, have them place the cards back at their original positions after the game ends.

Apply Memorisation Tactics

Such tactics can come in the form of active reading, visualisation, and making connections.

When reading, encourage your child to read out loud and ask questions related to the material to prolong the retention of information.
Prompt your child to create images of what they have read or seen in their head so that they have a mental picture which they can refer to.
Help your child make fun connections to better remember information. This can be done through the use of Mnemonics (e.g., Abbreviating the Colours of the Rainbow into a made-up name Roy. G. Biv) or associating a tune to the spelling of a complex word.

Chores

Yes, you heard me right. Chores are fantastic ways to improve working memory. Do keep in mind that working memory is not just about cognitively solving arithmetical problems, it is also evident in whether one is able to bake a cake without forgetting the steps.

Have your child build up the good habit of writing down what they can do to help at home and guide them in organising this information into smaller pieces. Simpler exercises can include giving them instructions on which of their toys go into the box first and have them pack it in the correct arrangement. You can also have them assist you with preparing meals by reciting the quantity of ingredients without constantly referring to the recipe.

Simple multi-sensory methods like these go a long way and you are also building up a sense of responsibility in them!

At the end of the day, do observe your child and understand what appeals to them and keeps them willing to do more. Every child has their own pace when learning thus as adults, we should provide them with the adequate tools to do so. The list of at-home practices is inexhaustive, like and follow us for many more such recommendations for you.

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