Jenny, I think Annette's suggestions in a previous post are excellent.
Building in some predictability, such as the day, the date and the weather,
will go a long ways toward making students comfortable with what happens in
class and also will prepare them for the new things that will be added on.
I also like Julie's idea of giving students magnetic writing pads so that
they can use their refrigerators as bulletin boards to help them learn new
vocabulary.   If you haven't done this already, you might want your tutors
to take a look at the online classes available at
http://literacynetwork.verizon.org/Free-Online-Courses.21.0.html through the
Thinkfinity Literacy Campus.  Volunteers can be great, but they also may not
be confident enough in their own abilities to want to leave the books behind
and branch out.  

 

"Faith isn't just loyalty to tradition, but a readiness to become something
new."  Peter Manseau

 

Luri Owen, M. A.

Bayfield and ESOL Coordinator

Pine River Community Learning Center

Phone/Fax:  970-884-7765

-----Original Message-----
From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Jennifer Hubler
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 1:02 PM
To: EnglishLanguage at nifl.gov
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 1977] reading, writing,conversation and
independence

 

The ideas you're all sharing are great-I'm learning many ways to improve my
instruction.

 

I am new to this job and subject (3 months). I have a small, fairly new
program (one year) with learners in small groups (3-5) with volunteer
tutors. They are very dependent on their workbooks and textbooks, and prefer
to go lock-step through the lessons. I'm coaching the tutors and students
about skipping lessons or segments that are not relevant or appropriate. I
want to introduce some creative writing and more conversation. Any ideas
about writing that won't be too intimidating for tutors and students? I made
up a story with one student using his vocabulary words. I wrote, he
dictated, and we took turns making up sentences. He read it fluently after
hearing me read, then reading with me, then practicing once on his own. How
do I teach the tutors to do this? And how do we introduce more conversation
that is relevant and interesting to folks who have depended exclusively on
curriculum texts? I think both need to start with building the tutors'
familiarity, skills and comfort level with the processes and expectations.

 

Jenny Hubler, Adult Literacy Coordinator

 

The Women's Center

1723 Hemphill

Fort Worth, TX 76110

 

817-927-4040 x262

jhubler at womenscenter.info

 



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