In a trial Quran class, watch how much of the half hour your child spends talking rather than listening. A good one-to-one lesson is mostly the child's voice. If the teacher is doing most of the talking, you are paying for a lecture, not a lesson.
Five things to watch
Who is talking
Count roughly. In a one-to-one lesson the child should be reciting for most of it. This single observation tells you more than any sales call.
Whether the teacher found the level
A good teacher spends the first few minutes finding out what your child can actually do, and then teaches from there. A teacher who opens page one regardless has not looked.
How a mistake is handled
Your child will get something wrong. Watch what happens next. Corrected, repeated, moved on -- good. Ignored, or laboured until the child goes quiet -- not good.
Whether your child is spoken to
By name, with questions, as a person. A teacher who talks only to the parent will do the same in month four.
What your child says afterwards
Ask one open question and do not lead it. A seven-year-old's first reaction is unusually accurate.
Two questions worth asking afterwards
- Where is my child, specifically?
- Not good or fine. Which letters are secure, which are not, and what the next four weeks would cover. An academy that cannot answer this after a lesson was not assessing, it was selling.
- Will this be the same teacher?
- Some academies put a senior teacher in the trial and someone else in the lessons. Ask directly, and get it in writing.
What a trial should not involve
- No card details to book it.
- No pressure on the call afterwards. Take a week if you want one.
- No single-trial limit on making up your mind -- one lesson is a small sample, and a quiet child often needs two or three.
- No contract, no registration fee, no minimum term.
We offer up to three free trial classes for this reason. One lesson tells you about the teacher. Three tell you whether your child will still be doing this in a year.
Related
What to get in writing
Six things before you pay.
What makes a good online Quran academy
The four things that separate them.
Online Quran classes for kids
How lessons run here.