Ruben and Joe: Learning to Read in English
About Emergent Readers
Any student at the beginning stage of learning to read is an emergent reader. Emergent readers can be any age. An emergent reader is beginning to connect letters with their sounds, and developing an understanding of the purposes of print and of reading. Children from any linguistic or ethnic background can be emergent readers.
About English Language Learners
Children who speak a language other than English at home are often called Second Language Learners or English language learners (ELLs). These students may come to school with minimal knowledge of the English language, or they may arrive able to communicate successfully in English. Learning to read as an ELL can include challenges that don't exist for students whose first language is English. More!About Ruben: A first-grader whose family speaks Spanish at home. He can name the letters in the alphabet in English, and he knows the sounds of the letters in his own name, but not many others. As a student Ruben loves to listen to stories and likes to look through books. He also likes to draw, enjoys building with blocks and has good gross motor skills. He communicates easily with his peers.
As you work through the sample tutoring sessions you can add information and resources to your tote bag.
About Joe: A Senior Corps volunteer who serves at a school 20 hours per week. Joe has been a Foster Grandparent for two years. He does not speak any Spanish.
Tutoring Challenge: Ruben's teacher believes he is doing well, but wants him to get extra practice with a tutor because he is still learning to speak a new language (English) and now will also be learning to read in English. Ruben's teacher asks Joe to work on three things: matching letter sounds with letter names, which will help him understand letter-sound correspondences; rhyming words, which will help him increase phonemic awareness and fluency; and reading predictable pattern books, which will help Ruben become familiar with the structure of stories and increase his vocabulary.
About the Planner: This is where Joe keeps notes about his tutoring sessions with Ruben. Joe records information to help plan future sessions and to gauge Ruben's progress. He also uses the planner to take notes on what he observes about Ruben and what he'd still like to learn about him.
See Joe and Ruben's First Tutoring Session
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Date of Last Updated: 7/14/2004
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