Tips for Tutoring Your Teen in Reading

Begin each lesson by reading something to your child. Next, do some vocabulary drilling. These should be on sight words. Sight words are words he should memorize instead of sounding out. Choose words that are very common, so that he isn't slowed down. Also choose fairly common words that are hard to sound out. When your child is reading to you, jot down any words he doesn't know and use these to make your list.

Next work on phonics. Your child must be able to sound out new words in order to read independently. For this, you should get materials from the school unless you know enough about phonics to do it yourself. There are also many books on phonics in the library and sites on the internet. However, most phonics materials are for young children, so you will have to do some serious seeking. Using material that is too young will offend your teen.

The third step is to have your teen read to you. Let him read material of his choosing, or if you prefer, divide the time. Let him choose the first half, and you choose the second. When he is reading to you, listen carefully to these factors:

Does he sound like he understands what he is reading?

Does he miss many words?

Is his reading fluid-blending words together in a natural way?

Does he sound out words well?

Can he answer questions about the material after he reads?

When choosing what to correct, be selective. Try to picture yourself reading something in a language you don't know. A teacher is listening. Do you want to stopped every word or two and corrected? Of course not. Your teen doesn't either. Try asking him to read only one paragraph at a time if he is really having trouble. At the end of the paragraph, ask him to evaluate his reading. Did the paragraph seem hard? What words would he like to read easily? Did he understand the paragraph? In this way, he can guide some of the studying and feel more in control. You might use a paragraph from the material you were reading to him earlier. That way, he is not losing the flow of the story. Jot down the words he wants to learn and decide with him if he could just learn to sound it out, or if he should memorize it. Ask him to think of ways to do this.

As you

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