I have tutored both primary school students as well as high school students. My experience with tutoring primary school students was overall less pleasant than with high school students. This is the result of the natural difference between children and adolescents, where the former are generally more interested in having fun, and may therefore be less willing to apply themselves to their learning, which is understandable given that childhood is a normal part of life and it is therefore expected that children are more likely to prioritise amusement over tasks that require more effort and determination, especially learning. The latter tend to have a different mentality, since they can be more capable of effectively managing their time as well as recognising their priorities/goals and subsequently making progress accordingly.
The reason that I am discussing this is that the fact that you will be tutoring primary school students will influence the aspects of the lessons that you have specified in your post.
Lesson structure:
The structure of your lessons may depend on the subject(s) that you will be helping your student(s) with. For example, a particular subject may require a quick review of the concepts covered in a previous lesson before introducing/focusing on a different concept, whereas another subject may not necessarily require you to do this and instead allows you to explore different concepts from the start of the next lesson.
Additionally, you may wish to consider the length of each lesson. The more available time, the more likely you will be to provide your students with the opportunity to recall concepts covered previously as well as ask questions/seek clarification.
Of course, the actual capacities of the student(s) is also important to consider, since more academically capable students may not need as much direct support as other students.
Resources:
Given that this is not tutoring for Stage 6 subjects (where the syllabuses and content are significantly more specific), there is a multitude of resources available online for the subject(s) in question that you can use to help your students. As you search for such resources, you should also ensure that they meet the specific needs of each student and that you would be able to effectively incorporate them into your lesson structure.
If you are confident in terms of your knowledge of the subject(s) that you will be teaching, it would also be a good idea to develop your own resources, as this would allow you to cater to the specific needs of your students more closely and would also enable you to become more comfortable with creating and using your own material, which can be beneficial if you intend to tutor year 11 and year 12 students once you are at or beyond that stage yourself.
Engagement:
It is definitely good that you have asked about engagement as this is important in the case of primary school students. This is because it may be more difficult to get them to engage in each lesson, especially when compared to older students. I would suggest considering two elements:
- Teaching style - The more unique your teaching style is, the more likely it is that your students will be engaged. Engagement is an aspect of learning that remains with a student to a point as far as university. As someone who recently finished his degree, I can clearly recall specific lecturers whose teaching style was more engaging than others, and whose subjects I enjoyed more/performed better in. A favourable teaching style would be one where the teacher is kind, but strict. You should definitely make your students happy (such as by occasionally making jokes and entertaining them), but you should also ensure that this does not become excessive as it can shift their focus away from learning.
- Rewards - These act as motivators and are typically perceived positively by primary school students, who tend to value physical rewards, perhaps more than high school students, who may be more interested in intangible rewards such as favourable academic performance. Such rewards include certificates and lollies and can motivate and encourage children to maintain their efforts and focus in subsequent lessons.
I hope this helps!
