One thing I'm noticing as I continue to add to my list of literacy resources is that texts written for adult learners are hard to find. There are a lot of workbooks and educational resources, but not many magazines, novels, newspapers, or other kinds of day-to-day texts that experienced readers take for granted. Typically the easiest thing for a tutor to do when choosing 'real-world' texts is to use children's books at appropriate reading levels. I did this on my first day of tutoring, and it does work, but it can limit the topics and types of texts that you and your student are able to explore. I began to seek out additional texts because I wanted to offer my students adult-appropriate reading opportunities that weren't too difficult, but also weren't too childish. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing my experiences of searching for appropriate texts as well as some general and specific tips that might help you out as you seek out materials for your own students.
1. Take as many cues as possible from your student
I think that this is especially important before you make the decision of whether or not to look beyond children's books in the first place. Perhaps your student is a grandparent wanting to read stories to his grandchildren, or perhaps she is the mother of a child starting elementary school and she wants to be able to keep up with her son's schoolwork. In these and similar situations, perhaps children's books are the best resource. They meet your student's reading goals and are already leveled appropriately for beginning and intermediate readers. If children's books aren't the right fit for you and your student, however, then you might be facing what I faced.
One of the first things that happened to me with my student was that I couldn't quite figure out what he might want to read. As we worked together, I kept thinking that there must be something that he'd want to read if I could just figure it out. When I asked, though, he didn't have any ideas, and I didn't want to push, so by the end of the lesson all I had to work with was that he seemed to respond well to sight words of common fruits and vegetables. After our lesson, though, I kept thinking that there must be something better, something that was the just right thing for him to be reading. Over the next few days as I began to think about our next lesson, though, I began to realize that knowing what sorts of things that might be worth reading isn't something that inexperienced readers are used to doing. So, rather than trying to force my student to make my job easier, I decided to use the familiarity of fruits and vegetables and find readings that were related, with as many familiar sight words as possible.
This is but one of the things I’ve considered when thinking about finding reading resources. Please check back in the coming weeks for recommendations regarding ELL texts, Internet resources, learning from other tutors, and finding unusual opportunities for reading. Until then – happy tutoring!
1. Take as many cues as possible from your student
I think that this is especially important before you make the decision of whether or not to look beyond children's books in the first place. Perhaps your student is a grandparent wanting to read stories to his grandchildren, or perhaps she is the mother of a child starting elementary school and she wants to be able to keep up with her son's schoolwork. In these and similar situations, perhaps children's books are the best resource. They meet your student's reading goals and are already leveled appropriately for beginning and intermediate readers. If children's books aren't the right fit for you and your student, however, then you might be facing what I faced.
One of the first things that happened to me with my student was that I couldn't quite figure out what he might want to read. As we worked together, I kept thinking that there must be something that he'd want to read if I could just figure it out. When I asked, though, he didn't have any ideas, and I didn't want to push, so by the end of the lesson all I had to work with was that he seemed to respond well to sight words of common fruits and vegetables. After our lesson, though, I kept thinking that there must be something better, something that was the just right thing for him to be reading. Over the next few days as I began to think about our next lesson, though, I began to realize that knowing what sorts of things that might be worth reading isn't something that inexperienced readers are used to doing. So, rather than trying to force my student to make my job easier, I decided to use the familiarity of fruits and vegetables and find readings that were related, with as many familiar sight words as possible.
This is but one of the things I’ve considered when thinking about finding reading resources. Please check back in the coming weeks for recommendations regarding ELL texts, Internet resources, learning from other tutors, and finding unusual opportunities for reading. Until then – happy tutoring!