HoTLaNe has provided Koah with a broad range of learning opportunities to improve social and emotional well-being and therefore open the door to boosting literacy and numeracy skills.
By providing trained teachers to deliver evidence-based teaching practices, and collaborating with the local community, our students engage in a broad range of learning opportunities that support both their educational and emotional needs. For Koah, gymnastics, art, swimming and surfing classes have been great environments to boost confidence toward learning and for developing social skills with peers. My role as an educator is to show young people that learning is enjoyable, and a challenge is worth while pursuing. Change the way a child thinks toward learning and you might just give them the courage to stick around and solve that math problem or persist a little longer to decode that word.
Tikvah Education Australia provides trained teachers to strengthen literacy and numeracy skills in unconventional ways. We aren’t your traditional tutoring service. While a table-top setting is necessary for some, others need to get out and about and play. For Koah, play-based learning provided the perfect learning environment for him to thrive. He created colourful images with chalk to visually tell a story involving many characters and settings, and his imagination even took us on an overseas trip to save the animals and return them to their natural environment. Creative play like this supports verbal and visual communication skills, creative and abstract thinking, and builds the foundations for creative writing. Not only does Koah have fun, he is learning without realising it. Many students have had such a negative experience toward learning that they will run at the thought of it. They assume failure before they have even attempted a task, so the natural protective response is to not participate. This is why we, at Tikvah Education Australia, must be unconventional in our ways. We must truly get to know our students and their needs and inspire a love of learning within their minds and hearts.
Teachers get to know the students and their families well. This is integral to providing the services needed for improving educational outcomes over the long-term and making a significant difference in the lives of our young people. This therefore means that students not only learn together with a teacher but are also provided with personalised learning opportunities that students can complete together with a trusted family member. This takes learning beyond the generic textbook or worksheet and provides activities that build upon prior learning in a logical sequence of steps. For Koah, I was able to create learning activities that built upon the literacy and numeracy skills he had learned during his playtime with me.
I am regularly seeking to challenge the way I think about teaching and learning for the benefit of students and their families. My job is to seek to understand students and their needs so that personalised programs can be developed and students can thrive. I endeavour to create engaging and dynamic programs that change the way ‘tutoring’ looks. While Tikvah Education Australia can provide a traditional approach to learning, and can make it very accessible through the use of web-conferencing software or teachers coming to your home, it is not limited to this. It brought much joy to my heart when I heard from a parent that her child will be, “Bouncing out of her skin”, when she finds out where she will be going for tutoring.
-Samantha Patrick-
HoTLaNe has been able to provide educational support specifically tailored to my son’s needs. Samantha is passionate and cares for the people she is working with. I know she has grit and will not give up when presented with challenging behaviours. Samantha has utilised a play-based approach with my son who needs this mode of educational support and teaching.
Koah enjoys learning with Samantha and is building confidence. Koah is learning confidence and emotional self-regulation. He is learning life skills and to respect himself and others. He is learning his worth and value and how to take turns and share. He’s learning to be ok when he loses a game and to celebrate the other person’s win. He is learning literacy, numeracy and reading skills as well as arts and sports, thus covering the 5 KLAs. I recommend the program because Samantha is passionate and caring. She is humble and loves to see children thrive and learn.
I would recommend this program for anyone who wants one-on-one support with learning. It’s for people who want a holistic learning approach. This program will benefit those who do not thrive in mainstream schooling and need encouraging support.
-Danika-
