Saturday, October 30, 2010

First tutoring session

K, my literacy learner, and I met for the first time on Friday morning at a local library.  I think we're going to get along really well.  She's a little shy but seems very sweet.  It sounds like her home life isn't the greatest.  Her mom passed away when she was eleven and now she lives with her dad and at least two of her six (!!!) younger siblings.  She doesn't see some of her younger siblings because she doesn't get along with their moms, so she stays away to not create any drama.  Despite this, K is cheerful and very ambitious.  She really wants to go to college and be either a nurse, a psychologist, or a judge.

I was curious to hear her read out loud, so I brought a few young adult books with me from our extensive collection, intending to have her read just for a couple minutes to get an idea of what she needs to work on.  She picked a "you be the judge/you be the jury" version of the Lizzie Borden trial.  It's a good book for an 18 year old with a low reading level because it goes over all of the facts of the trial in detail, but using simple language.  K did a great job reading, better than I was anticipating based on her information sheet.  She can read most short, common words easily but has trouble with longer words.  She doesn't do much sounding out, sometimes switched nouns to verbs (murderer vs murdering), and sometimes doesn't understand what she's read.  But like I said, she reads a lot better than I was anticipating based on the information I was given.   She wants to improve her reading and spelling and work on her cursive. 

K wants to continue reading the Lizzie Borden book, which is pretty cool, considering the fact that I just randomly picked it out for her to read a few paragraphs.  We ended up reading a few pages and it looks like we'll be reading the whole book!  I have a bunch of ideas for other things to work on in our next session.  I'm very excited about working with her!  She's really motivated and really wants to learn, so I think we'll be able to accomplish a lot. 

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it's awesome you help giving the gift of reading. No doubt you will have an impact!

EconomicDisconnect said...

I cannot think of a better teacher than you! Maybe she should read "Time and Again" out loud? hee hee.

Hope all is well and any vegetarians should not visit my site tonight.

Gwan said...

That's fantastic, good for you!

EconomicDisconnect said...

I sent you an email, all my best!

Unknown said...

K is also quite lucky to have a teacher like you who is eager and committed to helping her achieve her goals! Hope you guys continue to enjoy your time together!!

au soleil levant said...

Zhu - thank you! I hope so!

GYSC - Thanks! I think Time and Again will be the goal in a couple years :) I'm enjoying it, at least!

Gwan - thanks!

Sevonne - thank you! Hope you are enjoying Gefen!

Loislane said...

Nice work - there are few things that you can teach which are more valuable than reading!

Loislane said...

PS: I like your new blog background!!

au soleil levant said...

Thank you, fellow book-lover!

islandgirl4ever2 said...

Hey Mir-- This is AWESOME that you are working with young adults to help them with literacy... I'm sooo excited for you... and her, too.... of course!