What do you do if your learner has low literacy and seems reluctant to learn how to read and write?
Here are some tips to help you make literacy attractive and valid.
Let's say your learner is a man in his 50s who has been living in the U.S. for twenty years. What do you do when he resists writing in a dialog journal or reading one of your LEAs (language experience activities)?
Don't be put-off by his resistance. It doesn't mean that he is not intellectual or doesn't value education! He may be defensive of his low literacy level or hesitant to put in the effort to learn the alphabet or read sentences.
Here are some tips to help you make literacy attractive and valid.
Let's say your learner is a man in his 50s who has been living in the U.S. for twenty years. What do you do when he resists writing in a dialog journal or reading one of your LEAs (language experience activities)?
Don't be put-off by his resistance. It doesn't mean that he is not intellectual or doesn't value education! He may be defensive of his low literacy level or hesitant to put in the effort to learn the alphabet or read sentences.
Despite his unwillingness to read and write with you during your tutoring sessions, he's still able to get along in the world. He has a job, pays his bills, takes vacations and shops. In other words, he gets along perfectly well without having to read and write on a daily basis or in depth.
So, when you approach him with a pencil and paper and try to teach him how to print letters, you may face a dead end.
What do you do then? What kinds of teaching methods might work?
Try approaching literacy by means of a computer! By teaching internet skills, you may have a better chance of selling literacy because of its utility and applicability to the learner in the modern world.
Teach your learner the words: Internet Explorer, Google, Firefox, Amazon.
They may be company names, but they are words that any Internet user needs to know.
Help your learner set up an email account. You and your learner can practice exchanging emails, or even text messages, all the while teaching the convenience of online communication.
Try placing an online order on Amazon. You can then help your learner read confirmation emails.
This task may be more practical than teaching how to read a chapter in a book or a manual. See how literacy can apply to your learner's life.
To you, the ability to read and write may be a crucial necessity in your morning routine of reading the newspaper or replying to emails at work, but your learner may come from a different background where in-depth literacy is not a requirement or even an expectation.
So, avoid making assumptions based on your academic or cultural background and consider your learner's expectations before your own. By interacting with your learner and listening carefully about his or her daily life, you'll have a clearer understanding of what your learner needs to learn and how you can help.
Through inquiry, you'll be able to see where and under what context literacy applies in your learner's life, and soon, your learner will be eager to learn the next word that he sees online because of its immediate applicability.
Happy tutoring!
Jiyoung
Jiyoung Song
Programs and Social Media Intern, English At Large
Dartmouth College, Class of 2016
So, when you approach him with a pencil and paper and try to teach him how to print letters, you may face a dead end.
What do you do then? What kinds of teaching methods might work?
Try approaching literacy by means of a computer! By teaching internet skills, you may have a better chance of selling literacy because of its utility and applicability to the learner in the modern world.
Teach your learner the words: Internet Explorer, Google, Firefox, Amazon.
They may be company names, but they are words that any Internet user needs to know.
Help your learner set up an email account. You and your learner can practice exchanging emails, or even text messages, all the while teaching the convenience of online communication.
Try placing an online order on Amazon. You can then help your learner read confirmation emails.
This task may be more practical than teaching how to read a chapter in a book or a manual. See how literacy can apply to your learner's life.
To you, the ability to read and write may be a crucial necessity in your morning routine of reading the newspaper or replying to emails at work, but your learner may come from a different background where in-depth literacy is not a requirement or even an expectation.
So, avoid making assumptions based on your academic or cultural background and consider your learner's expectations before your own. By interacting with your learner and listening carefully about his or her daily life, you'll have a clearer understanding of what your learner needs to learn and how you can help.
Through inquiry, you'll be able to see where and under what context literacy applies in your learner's life, and soon, your learner will be eager to learn the next word that he sees online because of its immediate applicability.
Happy tutoring!
Jiyoung
Jiyoung Song
Programs and Social Media Intern, English At Large
Dartmouth College, Class of 2016
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