Title: Unit 2: Tutoring Reading
Course: STEP DEV > Section: Tutoring Reading

OBJECTIVES

- Recognize the goals of a reading lesson.

- Become familiar with reading and vocabulary strategies such as skimming and guessing words from context.

- Identify the tutor actions for each of the five steps in a reading lesson.

INTRODUCTION

When helping a tutee with a reading text, you should follow the same five steps as any other lesson.   As there are no Step by Step reading lessons, it is important to review these steps as often as necessary.

The main goals are to help the tutee:

- understand the text,

- be able to discuss the text and

- acquire new vocabulary.

Reading Strategies

Before reading

·         Read the title and subheadings.

·         Look at the illustrations if there are any.

·         Reflect on what you know about the subject.

·         Predict what the reading will be about.

While Reading

 ·       Skim the text

        o   Read the first paragraph.

        o   Read the first sentence in the following paragraphs.

        o   Read the last paragraph.

·         Go back and read the text for detail.

Note:  You would not skim a news article, as the most important information is in the first two paragraphs.

After Reading

·         Reflect on what you read.

·         Review the vocabulary you learned.

If the objective of reading the text is to be able to read it and discuss it, it is usually a good idea to instruct the tutee to read the text silently.  Otherwise, if the tutee reads the text aloud, the focus would also be on pronunciation.  However, some tutees might find it more beneficial to read it out loud.

Vocabulary Strategies

How can you help your tutee with difficult vocabulary?

 Below are three ways you can help your tutee understand the meaning of a challenging word.   In the example sentence below, “shy” is the difficult word.

                            Shelly never talked in class because she was shy.

1.  Help them look for context clues to guess the meaning of a word or expression.

          o   What does it say about Shelly?    How  is Shelly described in the sentence?

2.   Instruct the tutee to ask you for the meaning of the word or expression in English.

          o   Ask me what “shy” means.

3.   Instruct your tutee to ask you for the translation of the word or expression in French.

          o     Ask me how you say “shy” in French.

However, it is not always possible to guess the meaning of the word from context, or easy to define a word, which is the second technique. Looking in the dictionary is time-consuming, so often the best technique is to encourage your tutee to ask you for the translations of words they don’t know.

As well,

- Encourage them to write the meaning or translation in their text.

- Review important words during the lesson and, of course, at the end.

Vocabulary Question

1.  When reviewing a new vocabulary word such as “boring,” which question do you think would be more difficult for the tutee to answer?

          a.      How do you say, “boring”  in French?

          b.      How do you say, “ennuyeux” in English?

Vocabulary Answer

1.  When reviewing a new vocabulary word such as “boring,” which question do you think would be more difficult for the tutee to answer?

      a.      How do you say, “boring”  in French?

      b.      How do you say, “ennuyeux” in English?

  Translating from French to English requires the tutee to understand and produce the English word.  While translating from English to French requires the tutee to only understand the word.

PRE-ACTIVITY

1.  How would you apply the five steps to a reading lesson using the text  "My Panic Attacks " which follows?

ACTIVITY

Click on the video and watch a tutor applying the five steps using the text, “My Panic Attacks” from Avenues 1 - English Skills, 2nd edition that he has not read before. Take note of the techniques that the tutor uses.

Reading Tutoring Resource

When you are helping a tutee with a reading text, make sure to have the following reading resource close by.

POST-ACTIVITY

Click on the button and take the post-activity quiz.