My philosophy of teaching is based on one simple belief:

When a student believes that success is possible, they will try to reach it. If they don’t believe that they can succeed, it doesn’t matter how good the material is or how smart the students are- they will very likely fail. Therefore, my primary job is to convince my students that success is possible and then to help them succeed in their school.

It took me a while on learning how to put that idea into action. But once I am able to, it becomes a whole lot easier to convince every student in the class that he or she is an intelligent person capable of learning, they started to enjoy learning. This makes teaching so much simpler and infinitely more enjoyable.

Over the years, using the students’ behaviour and their achievements in school, along with ongoing research and self-reflection, I developed new philosophies about discipline, grades and exams, motivation, classroom management, positive discipline, and how to use simple psychology and brain science to engage the students’ discipline. All these helped me to develop a toolkit of successful strategies and practices to implement in class.

When I just started Augustine’s English Classes more than a decade ago, one parent asked me this question, “What do you want your students to know when they leave your class?”

My reply to her question was the same today as it was then: I want my students to have better academic results, but I also want them to have a strong sense of their own ethical standards, an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, a desire to succeed according to their own definitions of success, good problem-solving skills, and the strength of character to treat all people with basic human dignity and respect.

Augustine’s English Classes has been set up to be more than just a tuition class. It is my mission to ensure that the students achieve success beyond good grades.