Today, I did a double session with my Hispanic tutee, meaning we met for two hours instead of one. This post covers the second hour.
After the dictation/writing exercise, we talked a bit about how he can continue improving his reading and writing skills in both his native language (Spanish) and in English. The main reason his reading/writing skills are nowhere near up to par with his speaking/listening skills is that he just hates those activities. Until he can find ways to regularly enjoy reading and writing, he isn't going to be motivated enough to show much improvement. Basically. I suggested trying to find nonfiction articles that explain a skill or cover topics he enjoys. So perhaps a gaming or car magazine might have interesting articles that he would enjoy. Another option would be a how-to book or article, so a short guide on teaching your dog tricks would be more productive and helpful than a fiction piece about human psychology. I also suggested writing quick 1-2 sentence summaries of whatever he reads, as well as taking notes as he goes. It may be less intimidating to use writing often, in very short chunks. Slowly replacing negative associations with positive ones around these two touchy subjects will help ease his fear/hatred and hopefully, lead to more motivation that will naturally lead to the practice he needs.
I think you have some wonderful ideas! Personally, I have always enjoyed reading and writing so I have never felt the need to pursue any of these suggestions and for that same reason, I have never thought of them! Perspective is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI do meet people often who do not like to read which is completely preposterous to me. Maybe the next time I encounter one of these people, I will suggest finding reading material that pertains to their life or helps them pursue something that they are interested in.