The EMC podcast/Blog is back! This episode features a very important topic to many new expats – education. We explore how it can feel for a student who’s just moved to Jakarta – the pressures of starting a new school, possibly a new curriculum, and how you can give your child the best chance at success, no matter what age or school level they’re at. To discuss this important topic, Esti and Carrie met with Charmaine Heilijgers, Founder & Director of ‘A for Effort’, a tutoring center in Jakarta that specializes in working with international students.
EMC spent a lovely afternoon getting a tour from Charmaine, the founder and director of ‘A for Effort”, a top tutoring center in South Jakarta. You can watch this short video to check out their cheerful, endearing space and hear what ‘EMC Relocations’ and ‘A for Effort’ bring to the table!https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_xPps-yPsY/?igsh=MTFlcjJwanRoanpsbQ==
After our tour, we sat down and had a chat about education trends in Jakarta, educational pitfalls that can happen when moving internationally, and how to ensure a move to
Jakarta is seamless – for you and your children! You can hear the whole conversation in our new format – an audio-only podcast on Spotify. Listen here! https://open.spotify.com/episode/6z01N8oo03YVx8gyHTN71F?si=v_0Tpiy_TsyTNboN6eUvQA&t=386
Prefer to read it instead? You can read our full conversation below. We look forward to your feedback!
Q&A Session: EMC & A for Effort
Carrie: Thank you everyone for joining us today! My name is Carrie and I’m back to mediate EMC’s fourth podcast with Esti McMillan, founder and CEO of EMC relocations.
Esti: Hello everyone and thanks for listening!
Carrie: Today’s podcast episode covers a very important topic that is on the forefront of parents’ minds – education. Specifically, we want to explore how it can feel for a child who’s just moved to Jakarta – the pressures of starting a new school, possibly a new curriculum, and how you can give your child the best chance at success, no matter what age or school level they’re at. To help us discuss this important topic, we have Charmaine Heilijgers, Founder & Director of ‘A for Effort’, a tutoring center in Jakarta that specializes in working with international students.
Charmaine: Hi Everyone!
Carrie: Ok so before we get started, as always, first we’d like to share some background information with you, especially for any new listeners. Many people will likely recognize Esti, a well-known member of the expat community here in Jakarta and founder of EMC, a boutique relocations company. As the expert on all things EMC, Esti can you please share with our listeners what EMC is all about and why you refer to it as boutique?
Esti: Thanks Carrie. That’s right, we call EMC a boutique relocations company, because for our clients there are no “cookie-cutter” solutions. We listen to each client’s needs, and only show options that match those needs. We don’t like to waste time with options that are unsuitable or out of their budget. The home requirements are obviously important but it’s so much more than that – we help pair clients with the right community, the right location, the right school. We go a step further and provide settling-in assistance and orientation programs, which give clients detailed information and support on banking, shopping locations, navigating the healthcare systems, and social and volunteer opportunities.
Carrie: Right! A bit of background for our new listeners: as part of EMC’s goal to make every client’s move as smooth and easy as possible, every couple of months we bring you a new podcast, highlighting key elements in Jakarta that will help new families learn tips to get settled in faster, and really feel like they’ve found a community they connect with. So far we’ve covered building community with a local international school, navigating the healthcare system, a showcase of the top expat associations in Jakarta, and today we’re going back into Education, now looking at possible pitfalls students may encounter, and how to avoid them.
Esti: Exactly! We have blog posts and social media posts that share information for new-comers to Jakarta and now this podcast gives us yet another medium for sharing information.
Today with the help of our lovely guest and my friend, Charmaine, we’re going to talk about something that many of my clients ask about – “How can I make sure my kids don’t fall behind when they switch schools?” They’ve heard stories about how different curriculums can be between schools, or how challenging international school curriculums can be compared with other school programs.
Carrie: Yes, absolutely. Now, to get us started, Charmaine – can you please introduce yourself and explain to our readers what your company does?
Charmaine: Hi my name is Charmaine Heilijgers and I am the founder and director of A for Effort. A for Effort is a tutoring center in Jakarta that primarily focuses on the core subjects of Math, Science and English. Our specialism is in the curriculums of international schools in Indonesia and beyond.
Carrie: And how did you meet Esti or come in contact with EMC Relocations?
Charmaine: Jakarta is a large yet small city, and I think most expats in Jakarta know Esti! I met Esti several years ago when A for Effort was still a small tutoring center with just 1 classroom and a tiny waiting room. When I told Esti about A for Effort she immediately recognized that our services could benefit the Jakarta expat community. This allowed us to share ideas and we soon realized that both of our services were targeting the same market in Jakarta.
Esti: That’s right! Because our clients’ relocation needs can often include questions about education and concerns for their children, I’m always on the lookout for experts I can pair clients with to alleviate their worries. EMC only wants to partner with the best, so of course collaborating with ‘A for Effort’ was a no-brainer for me!
Carrie: Sounds like a great match! Charmaine – can you share with our listeners more about A for Effort’s background? How long have you been established and how did A for Effort get started?
Charmaine: A for Effort was established in 2016 when I was the company’s only tutor and we went by the name Study 4 Fun. I had started tutoring because I had just moved back to Jakarta from Amsterdam where I had to leave my full time job in Finance and Auditing to move to Indonesia. Once I settled back in Jakarta in 2016 I started tutoring students from primarily JIS in various subjects to keep myself busy and productive. I myself am a JIS alumni and could relate to the expectations that international students face. Having direct experience with these curriculums allowed me to provide the student the support they needed. Little did I know that there was a huge demand for tutoring with a specific focus on international curriculums. There were not a lot of other tutoring centers that international students could turn to in Jakarta in order to receive the specific support they needed.
Carrie: Why do you think that international students often require extra assistance?
Charmaine: Both international and non-international students could benefit greatly from tutoring. But when looking at international students specifically, they do face some additional hurdles as they transition into different school systems, different curriculums, new social circles and adapting to a new culture and environment with each move. International curriculums tend to have higher expectations and a more challenging curriculum. So if you take that with all the additional challenges they could face, then having a tutor there to guide you through your academic journey can greatly help international students.
Esti: This is the kind of guidance that is so helpful to my clients that are also parents! Every parent wants to make sure their kids are going to be well-adjusted and as unaffected as possible with any move.
Carrie: I can definitely see how it makes sense for EMC to be able to offer such professional guidance. Charmaine – From your standpoint, why does it make sense for ‘A for Effort’ to collaborate with EMC Relocations?
Charmaine: All families moving to Jakarta need housing, and a majority of them would need education for their children. We offer two very complimenting services to the same group of clients in Jakarta. Although Esti is usually their first point of contact when expat families start their move to Jakarta, they will soon explore the education options in Jakarta and might not realize that tutoring for international students is something they might need for their children. Esti brings this awareness to her clients and with her strong network within the expat community she is able to direct families in need of tutoring to A for Effort. Likewise, when our clients are searching for any services that EMC Relocations can take care of we can direct them to Esti to further help them out.
Esti: Which we always appreciate!
Carrie: Yeah, great! Charmaine, when we were preparing to meet, I had a peek at your website (https://www.aforeffort.org/) – we’ll share the link in the podcast comments – and right away your focus on core studies in Math, Science and English was obvious. Why are you especially passionate about these subjects?
Charmaine: The core subjects of Math, Science and English could also be some of the most challenging subjects for students. What we see often is that while some students might excel in English, they could struggle in Math, and vice versa. These subjects are often weighed more heavily on school reports and could be the deciding factor whether a student is accepted at their university of choice. These are also the subjects that, if a student struggles in them, they could lose their self-confidence in that subject or in their academics in general.
Carrie: That’s something I imagine would be hard to get back. When do you think a family should explore tutoring for their child? At what age is it recommended?
Charmaine: This really depends on the students’ individual needs and the family’s intentions. For our younger learners at A for Effort we introduce them to the foundations of Math, Science and English in a way that fosters their understanding and confidence in these subjects without any added pressure. We have found that this approach really allows students to not fear these subjects and truly understand why and what they are learning. For older students the material is more serious. Students take tutoring for various reasons. Some have gaps in their understanding of the curriculum and would benefit from personalized guidance to help them catch up, while others are very advanced and would like to be challenged in order to move up to a higher level or just secure their grades. No age is too young and as long as we ensure that there is no added pressure from a tutoring perspective then all students would benefit. We provide tutoring from 4 years old and up.
Esti: I always enjoy our conversations because you have such a handle on the pulse of education in Jakarta. What education trends have you noticed in Jakarta regarding international students?
Charmaine: Anything related to coding and computer science is definitely on the rise. Some international schools are making computer science a mandatory unit within the High School Science curriculum. Our Science tutors are now qualified to also pick up Computer Science subjects and this along with coding will be an area that A for Effort will expand in, in the near future.
Additionally, more local students in Indonesia are now attending either international schools, or national plus schools where international curriculums are also being taught. Since many local families have aspirations to have their children study abroad, they are now enrolling them in international or national plus schools.
Carrie: That’s very interesting! Shifting now back to relocating, what advice would you give to new families when it comes to selecting an appropriate school?
Charmaine: I would always advise to look at the future and see what the student’s aspirations are in the long term. Where would they like to attend university? This could help families already choose which curriculum would best pave the way to their future academic career. This includes choosing whether the student would follow the IB Diploma program, IGCSE, or take AP courses. The major international schools in Jakarta are of a high standard, and I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them. But deciding where your child will be going after they graduate could play a deciding role in which school to select.
Carrie: And Esti, from your perspective, how important is it that a clients’ home be close to their school of choice?
Esti: Oh it’s very important – I always suggest that home and school be as close as possible so that the kids don’t have to spend too much time sitting in the car. Due to high traffic in Jakarta, people tend to try and avoid a long commute for their kids. School is a very important place to start building your community and it helps a lot if new friends live in the same area. Extra-curricular activities, playdates, birthday parties, and more – all the important social events in kid’s lives, at any age, will be much more enjoyable if you live in the area where they take place. As a mother of two young girls yourself, you know this well!
Carrie: Absolutely – the best thing we ever did was follow your advice Esti, back when we moved here over 3 years ago, and choose a home that was just under 10 minutes away from school.
Charmaine – Working with such a mix of children from all over the world must require a fairly niche skillset – I’m curious – how do you find your tutors and what do you look for?
Charmaine: We literally spend months just to hire 1 tutor to join our team. Besides just looking at their teaching experience and knowledge of the subject, we strongly look at several other factors that would make them a great tutor at A for Effort. We use several job recruitment platforms and although we will get hundreds of applicants per job opening from all over Indonesia, and even beyond Indonesia, we look at factors such as willingness to learn and grow on the job. The tutoring approach we have at A for Effort is very different from what you will find at many other tutoring centers in Indonesia. Therefore even if someone is qualified, we need them to be open to our training program to ensure they will teach using the A for Effort teaching approach and at our standards. One of the key traits we also look for is being able to bond and empathize with the students, having a genuine passion for teaching and truly putting in their best effort to help their students reach their goals.
Carrie: A passion for their jobs and the ability to empathize? I can definitely see yet another reason why EMC and ‘A for Effort’ collaboration is inevitable!
Thank you so much for joining us today Charmaine – we appreciate you sharing your knowledge! Thank you also to our listeners – we hope you learned something new and are excited about living in Jakarta!
Any questions you have for us, please leave your comments on our instagram or Blog page, and remember to like and subscribe so you don’t miss our next podcast! For links to the EMC website and instagram pages, and the ‘A for Effort’ website, please check the podcast details for those links.
See you next time!
Participants:
Esti McMillan – Founder & CEO, EMC Relocations
Charmaine Heilijgers – Founder & Director, A for Effort
Carrie – Mediator
A for Effort
Tutoring center in Jakarta For Students ages 5 – 18
All leverls include IB, IGCSE, AP, SAT
Park View Plaza
Jl. Taman Kemang No. 27, South Jakarta
+6281911001203
@aforeffort.tutoring
http://linktr.ee/aforeffort.tutoring
