About Your Instructor
Tina Nguyen
Hello, I’m Tina.
The truth is I never planned to teach. I was finishing a degree in Marketing and Graphic Design when I was offered the chance to take over a Kumon centre. I said yes to the opportunity, and it changed my life forever.
Over the years, one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned as an Instructor is that helping a student succeed is rarely as simple as giving them harder work, explaining more, or asking them to try harder.
You have to understand the student in front of you.
Some students arrive confident and eager for a challenge. Others are capable but hesitant. Some have gaps that are easy to see, while others have learned how to work around those gaps so well that no one notices them at first. And sometimes, the student who appears unmotivated is really a student who has spent a long time feeling unsuccessful.
That is why I believe the Kumon program works.
I've seen the program from all three sides: as the child doing the worksheets, as an assistant marking them, and now as the instructor deciding what a student is ready for next. Not many people running a centre have sat in all three chairs. It's how I hire, and it's how I built my team at the Kumon Centre of Surrey - Guildford.
I also believe parents are an important part of that process. I used to think my role was to have all the answers. Now, I spend much more time listening. Parents know their children in ways I never could from a placement test or a few classroom observations. Their concerns, goals and observations help us make better decisions about a student’s study.
At our Guildford Kumon centre, my team and I pay close attention to each student’s progress. We look beyond how many worksheets they complete. We consider accuracy, independence, confidence, study habits, pace and how they respond when the work becomes difficult.
My goal is not to create students who need someone beside them every time they encounter something new. I want students to experience what it feels like to know how to attempt something on their own, make a mistake, correct it and feel amazing about the work they strive to finish every day.
I want them to become students who think, “I don’t know how to do this yet, but I can figure it out.”
For me, that is one of the most valuable things a student can take from Kumon. So if you're in Surrey - Guildford and wondering whether your child needs support in math or reading, come in and meet us. We'll show you where they're actually at, what the first few months would look like and how to finally start navigating through those challenging days when your child "doesn't want to do their homework". Book an appointment with us today to give your child the opportunity to grow and eventually tackle material they once thought was beyond them.