Adult literacy tutoring + a request
So I did my first tutoring session as an adult literacy tutor -- this year's birthday celebratory donation. I am participating in a highly organized program, and it is a year-long commitment. So far, I've gone through two Saturdays of training and observed one lesson -- and now, taught one lesson. I still don't know very well what I'm doing (because the program is very structured and each lesson consists of steps), but my student does, so we get through it together.
Originally, I had been assigned a woman named Goddess, but she had to drop out of the program because of scheduling conflicts. So I got Mr. C instead. Mr. C is a fantastic guy. He's African-American, Southern, retired, church-going and an entrepreneur. He owns his own lawn care business and is generally very cheerful and easy-going. And he can actually read books or a newspaper. So why is he in a literacy program? you ask? Well, he can read because he's memorized gazillions of words, but when he's confronted with a new one, he is not so good at sounding the syllables out. As a kid, he wasn't taught the letter-to-sound relationship, i.e., the letter "E" can be long or short, etc. Mr. C has since learned this stuff through the program, but he's still a bit tentative and spelling continues to be a challenge. And he wants to do better.
I am amazed by his dedication. He's been in this program on and off for about 7 years. Every time we go over something he got wrong, he is grateful for learning something new. And he's never embarrassed by or defensive about getting it wrong or not knowing something. What a difference between teaching adults and kids. We've only done one lesson, but it's really very rewarding for me.
I am also learning the rules of spelling in a way that I never did as a kid. For example, one general rule is that words in English do not end in "V", so there's an "E" after the "V". This explains why "explosive" is a short "I" sound when according to the vowel-consonant-E rule, the "I" should be long (the "E" at the end makes the vowel long -- think "game", "tube", "hide", etc... remember that stuff?). So I'm learning the rules too. It's actually kinda fun.
The other great result of my participation in this program is that it got me to the public library here in DC for the first time ever (aside from voting). Mr. C and I meet at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. It's a cool place. And I got my first DC library card. Tres cool. What fun to rediscover (non-law) libraries. They're like bookstores, but everything -- books, CDs, tapes, etc. -- can be borrowed for free! What a concept!
So here I was thinking that I was donating my time for someone else's benefit, but in reality, I'll probably benefit more. Dontcha' love it?
And here's the request... Part of the lesson plan involves reading aloud. During the tutor training, we are told that many adults who cannot read have never experienced been read to out loud, and hearing someone read facilitates learning. I asked Mr. C what kind of book he'd like to read, but he didn't really have a preference. One of his former tutors was reading The Hobbit with him, but I got the impression that Mr. C didn't care for it too much. Plus, that's hard stuff!
So I am looking for a book that would appeal to Mr. C... He told me he's a Christian, so I think anything with sex or highly controversial topics might make him uncomfortable. I'm thinking history or historical fiction. Any thoughts or suggestions for books which are a good read (level isn't so important) and which would be G or PG-rated if it were a movie..? Since I haven't read a non-law book in eons, my novel vocabulary is quite limited these days... Thanks for the help!
Originally, I had been assigned a woman named Goddess, but she had to drop out of the program because of scheduling conflicts. So I got Mr. C instead. Mr. C is a fantastic guy. He's African-American, Southern, retired, church-going and an entrepreneur. He owns his own lawn care business and is generally very cheerful and easy-going. And he can actually read books or a newspaper. So why is he in a literacy program? you ask? Well, he can read because he's memorized gazillions of words, but when he's confronted with a new one, he is not so good at sounding the syllables out. As a kid, he wasn't taught the letter-to-sound relationship, i.e., the letter "E" can be long or short, etc. Mr. C has since learned this stuff through the program, but he's still a bit tentative and spelling continues to be a challenge. And he wants to do better.
I am amazed by his dedication. He's been in this program on and off for about 7 years. Every time we go over something he got wrong, he is grateful for learning something new. And he's never embarrassed by or defensive about getting it wrong or not knowing something. What a difference between teaching adults and kids. We've only done one lesson, but it's really very rewarding for me.
I am also learning the rules of spelling in a way that I never did as a kid. For example, one general rule is that words in English do not end in "V", so there's an "E" after the "V". This explains why "explosive" is a short "I" sound when according to the vowel-consonant-E rule, the "I" should be long (the "E" at the end makes the vowel long -- think "game", "tube", "hide", etc... remember that stuff?). So I'm learning the rules too. It's actually kinda fun.
The other great result of my participation in this program is that it got me to the public library here in DC for the first time ever (aside from voting). Mr. C and I meet at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. It's a cool place. And I got my first DC library card. Tres cool. What fun to rediscover (non-law) libraries. They're like bookstores, but everything -- books, CDs, tapes, etc. -- can be borrowed for free! What a concept!
So here I was thinking that I was donating my time for someone else's benefit, but in reality, I'll probably benefit more. Dontcha' love it?
And here's the request... Part of the lesson plan involves reading aloud. During the tutor training, we are told that many adults who cannot read have never experienced been read to out loud, and hearing someone read facilitates learning. I asked Mr. C what kind of book he'd like to read, but he didn't really have a preference. One of his former tutors was reading The Hobbit with him, but I got the impression that Mr. C didn't care for it too much. Plus, that's hard stuff!
So I am looking for a book that would appeal to Mr. C... He told me he's a Christian, so I think anything with sex or highly controversial topics might make him uncomfortable. I'm thinking history or historical fiction. Any thoughts or suggestions for books which are a good read (level isn't so important) and which would be G or PG-rated if it were a movie..? Since I haven't read a non-law book in eons, my novel vocabulary is quite limited these days... Thanks for the help!
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