Any reading teachers out there? (ESL adults)

Matthew

Matthew

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Matthew
Got a couple questions - my wife is trying to help some one learn to read English. She's maybe mid-30s, speaks passable English (she's better than she thinks), but has a lot of trouble with reading. She grew up in a society where girls were not sent to school, so she never learned to read in her native language. There are a lot of ESL guides, but they seem to generally assume that the student already knows how to read in their own language.

There doesn't seem to be much else, other than the Dick and Jane style books that kids would use.

Anyone dealt with this before? We're trying to find any ideas that might help. I'm a believer in phonetics, I don't know if that's making a comeback yet or not.
 
Contact the local library....amazed what a variety of resources the library has. Including a list of speakers of her language who might be able to help.
Guess what - Beginning books are what you should be starting with. Alphabet, basic common words of verbal communication, then go from there.
 
A lot of her frustration is knowing she needs the simple pre-K and K grade level books. It's pretty tough to accept. They've been to the local library to check their resources. There just isn't a magic pill for this, and they are trying to fight through it.
 
The complication is that she is still struggling with speaking English, too. She's OK enough to get around on her own, but it's hard to teach someone to read or sound out words they've never experienced before. Adults have it harder than kids anyway because they can't spend a whole day at school, 5 days a week. I hope they can work it out, but it's going to be a lot of effort on both parts.
 
Matthew said:
A lot of her frustration is knowing she needs the simple pre-K and K grade level books. It's pretty tough to accept. They've been to the local library to check their resources. There just isn't a magic pill for this, and they are trying to fight through it.
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This is similar to what I tell my 1st year college computer science students....you're in 3rd grade again. Just because you can use the web, email, office, etc, doesn't mean you understand what's going on underneath, you're back in 3rd grade so get over it.

Most, if not all, adults, have trouble learning new material that doesn't incorporate knowledge or skills they already have. Those of us that learned to fly as older adults can sympathize with her problem. Because I understand the theory (and have waaaaay too much practical application) of software, I can pick up a new programming language in almost no time. But learning to fly? I had zero background other than I knew the theory of aerodynamics which really doesn't help the beginner.

Explain to her that everyone gets frustrated when learning new things - it's part of the learning process (which the FOI never understood).

Is there a local community of speakers of her native language? That might also help.
 
Matthew said:
Anyone dealt with this before?
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Not a teacher but helped a number of people speak/read English as they helped me with my Spanish when I lived in SA. Everything I used is out dated now. But Youtube and audio books w/companion books are the ticket today. +1 on local library for material especially audio books or a local book store. But due to English's "unique" ways of pronunciation and grammar I highly recommend she start at the elementary level. There are some native languages that make it brutal to learn how to read English. But once she masters the basics, it's been my experience that their comprehension levels takes off afterwards. I currently subscribe to utalk which is app based as me and my granddaughter play around with various different languages.

EDIT: there are also English books out there that are written from the perspective of other languages like "English for German speakers", etc. They don't cover every language but that's an option also. Makes a good search criteria for Youtube also.
 
Literacy Volunteers used to make their materials available to anyone at very low cost.

Rich
 
Thanks, all, for the ideas. I don’t know if she has any social group or not. I’ll check. This is not my project, so I’ll make suggestions and stand back.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Stupid idea: Read along with audio books.
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I worked with a guy, Vietnamese, that taught himself English (speaking and reading) by watching TV with the subtitles on.

That’s an interesting idea: some DVD movies have multiple language audio options and multiple closed caption languages. You can mix and match audio and subtitles to a combination that works.
 
Matthew said:
I worked with a guy, Vietnamese, that taught himself English (speaking and reading) by watching TV with the subtitles on.
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My surgeon came to the US from Iran as a teenager, alone, followed by the rest of his family a couple of years later. He says he learned English from TV soap operas -- the first English he learned was "That's not my baby."

Now the only dialect he has is from the Bronx. :cool:
 
“My shoe is off. My foot is cold. I have a bird I like to hold.”
 
Matthew said:
I worked with a guy, Vietnamese, that taught himself English (speaking and reading) by watching TV with the subtitles on.

That’s an interesting idea: some DVD movies have multiple language audio options and multiple closed caption languages. You can mix and match audio and subtitles to a combination that works.
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I tried that with German, but with the first movie I tried none of the subtitles in German actually followed the dialog in the movie. Makes it hard to use what you read when it doesn't match the words being heard. Maybe it works better in English.
 
music with its lyrics
 
I find it odd that the OP is unsure of his wife’s exact age, and even though she has a lot of trouble reading, she hopes to teach someone else how to read. ;)
 
Is phonics still a thing? I make no claims to its efficacy.
 
Lachlan said:
I find it odd that the OP is unsure of his wife’s exact age, and even though she has a lot of trouble reading, she hopes to teach someone else how to read. ;)
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The OP probably has learned not to ask his wife about her age and has also probably learned hard lessons about commenting on her reading ability. Probably.
 
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