Tips for Tutors: Topics from the Tutor Round Table Meeting on June 6th

At the Tutor Round Table meeting in June we discussed some common challenges faced by Project Read tutor/learner teams.

• One tutor at the meeting mentioned that her learner has difficulty understanding how and why punctuation is used. This problem occurs when reading and writing.

One suggestion offered involved using the technique of DUET READING to help the learner understand how punctuation is used to add meaning to any style of writing. As you recall in duet reading the tutor and learner read a text simultaneously. In this way, the learner can begin to hear how punctuation influences the flow of reading and the meaning of what is being read.

To help beginning writers understand the nuances of grammar and punctuation we have handy FREE books available in the Project Read office. Two that might be hepful are: Punctuation Power: Punctuation and How to Use it, and Write All About It.

• We also discussed the challenge of teaching an adult learner about the structure of writing and how important it is to express oneself clearly in order for others to undersand what you've written.

It is always important to get the adult learner writing as much as possible. Even if the writing is done in a personal journal which is not shared with the tutor, this is still a valuable exercise for the leaner because it helps him or her become comfortable getting their thoughts down on paper. Other writing strategies you might try include dialog journals that are passed back and forth between the tutor and learner, and response writing in which the learner is writing his or her thoughts in response to a picture from a newspaper, magazine, or photo album.

• Another tutor spoke about the word substitutions her learner often makes when reading aloud. The word substituted will often have just one incorrect letter which of course creates an entirely different word. For example the word blend may be substituted for the word bend.

It was suggested that the tutor might ask that the learner read the sentence again and hope that the mistake is corrected using the contextual clues in the sentence. Also, the tutor can isolate the misread word and create a quick word pattern exercise to show the difference between the correct word and the word that was read.

Join us for the next Tutor Round Table Meeting on Tuesday, July 11, from 6:00 - 7:00 pm in the Project Read Conference Room.