This information will give you an overview of the training topics and some of the content used.

 The sections below contain some of the material covered in our tutor training. This material is just a sample of the type and scope of the training curriculum. The in-class tutor training consists of instruction, discussion, hands-on, and group work to get you started. Follow-up exercises along with written assignments and reading which introduces the next segments make-up the self-study portion of the training to be completed between training sessions.

Understanding the Greatest Gift We Can Give

We want to help our students have literacy for life and life forever.
  • Literacy skills for everyday life empower adults to live life as an adult.
  • Life forever with God reaps benefits in the here and now and for all eternity.
​​​The following video is an amazing explanation of the story of God and our relationship with Him.

​Understanding Poverty

Low-level reading skills and generational poverty go hand in hand. Not all who lack functional reading skills are in poverty but many are. An understanding of the life of those who grew up in an environment lacking resources is essential to working with adults from and or in poverty. Dr. Ruby Payne gives a framework to help us understand poverty.​
SUGGESTED READING:
  • Inmate 46857 by Eddie Charles Spencer & Lafon Walcott Burrow
  • A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D.
  • What Every Church Member Should Know about Poverty by Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D.
  • The Working Poor, Invisible in America by David K. Shipler
  • Teaching with Poverty in Mind by Eric Jensen
  • The Moonlight School, by Suzanne Woods Fisher, a historical fiction work about poverty & illiteracy
  • Good Will Hunting - a movie about moving from poverty to middle class among other things

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic (phO-nE-mik) Awareness is the cornerstone of reading. Students of any age who lack phonemic awareness will struggle with learning to read. 
  • The video below will help you understand phonemic awareness and phonics. The presenter distinguishes phonological awareness from phonemic awareness which is a minor distinction and not important. She does a good job of briefly describing the various phonemic manipulation tasks and differentiates phonemic awareness from phonics as well.
  • Phonemes (individual speech sounds) are produced in the vocal tract. There are three aspects to each phonemes production. They are voicing, place and manner. Here is a good introductory video to help you begin to understand how consonant phonemes are made. It is rather academic, but should give you a good overview. Don't get bogged down in all the technical vocabulary, but look for  an understanding of how consonants are made. 
SUGGESTED READING:
  • The Speech Sounds of English: Phonetics, Phonology, and Phoneme Awareness; Module 2 (LETRS; Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) by Louisa C. Moats
  • The Sounds and Spelling Patterns of English; Phonics for Teachers, by Phyllis E. Fischer

Understanding Teaching

This section is based on the timeless book by John Milton Gregory. This animated video (by an amateur - give grace) gives a good but quick overview of the seven laws of teaching as presented by Gregory.
SUGGESTED READING:
  • The Seven Laws of Teaching, Revised Edition, by John Milton Gregory

Understanding Reading

Reading is a cognitive process in which we decode symbols in order to extract meaning from them. Reading – along with listening – is a receptive skill. That means that we do not need to produce information when we read, but receive it and interpret it to comprehend it. In order to help learners develop their reading skills, we need to understand the components of reading and how they inter-relate to each other.

The 5 basic reading skills are phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Each one of these reading skills and how to teach them is covered in the training.

Understanding Dyslexia

​Reading is complex. It requires our brains to connect letters to sounds, put those sounds in the right order, and pull the words together into sentences and paragraphs we can read and comprehend. People with dyslexia have trouble matching the letters they see on the page with the sounds letters and combinations of letters make. And when they have trouble with that step, all the other steps are harder.
Dyslexic children and adults struggle to read fluently interfering with comprehension and spell words correctly. But these difficulties have no connection to their overall intelligence. In fact, dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty in reading in an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader. While people with dyslexia are slow readers, they often, paradoxically, are very fast and creative thinkers with strong reasoning abilities.
Dyslexia is also very common, affecting 20 percent of the population and representing 80– 90 percent of all those with learning disabilities. Scientific research shows differences in brain connectivity between dyslexic and typical reading children, providing a neurological basis for why reading fluently is a struggle for those with dyslexia.
Dyslexia can’t be “cured” – it is lifelong. But with the right supports, dyslexic individuals can become highly successful students and adults. (from https://dyslexia.yale.edu/dyslexia/what-is-dyslexia/

Below is a video giving a brief overview of dyslexia.
If you want to dive deeper, read on.
  • Susan Barton has made available a lot of good information to help you understand dyslexia. 
  • Begin with four videos of her presenting at a teacher's conference. While she is addressing teachers of children, the majority of the information transfers to adult dyslexics. You can find her videos here . The four videos of Susan's presentation are at the very bottom of this long page.  There is a lot of other information on this page, some of which you may find interesting including the Barton Intro Video and the Background video.
Here is a link to the Barton videos.
SUGGESTED READING:
  • Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz, M.D.
  • The Teacher Who Couldn't Read by John Cocoran

Teaching with the Barton Reading and Spelling System

​HOPE Adult Learning uses the Barton Reading and Spelling System as  one of the components of our teaching material.
  • Here is a link to a page with a demo video of Susan Barton teaching bits of Level 3 & Level 4 lessons.

Teaching with Other Materials

While the Barton System provides an excellent foundation for our students, we also incorporate other materials which are within the individual goals of our students and are highly motivational for them. These are just a couple of them.
  • God's Plan is a curriculum written specifically for adult literacy students who need to begin at a very basic level and want to read God's Word. It includes the text, God's Plan, A Walk Through the Bible, a teacher's guide complete with instructions, supplemental teaching materials and student activities. It has a companion website which presents the text in a read-along version, as well as teaching materials and student activities which mirror the print materials. It can be found here.
  • Reading Skills for Today's Adults has a wealth of reading material for adults of all skill levels.
  • Ultimate Phonics is a great computer based reading program which supports the Barton System but also works well as a stand alone phonics program to improve decoding and fluency. Free word lists and sentences can be found here. 

Below is a demo video which will give you the feel of the simplicity and versatility of Ultimate Phonics.

Language Experience Approach

 A very effective way to create high interest materials for your adult literacy student is the Language Experience Approach. This uses the student's own story in their own words.  
​
Below is a video demonstrating the use of the Language Experience Approach with an adult literacy learner.

Extended Training - Going Beyond Barton

Some students require extra instruction before they are ready for the Barton System. We use the first portion of LiPS (Lindamood Bell Phoneme Sequencing). "The contribution of the LiPS® Program is the development of an oral-motor, visual, and auditory feedback system that enables all students to prove the identity, number, and order of phonemes in syllables and words. It is more basic and more extensive than traditional phonics programs."

Below is a video demonstration of the use of the early lessons in LiPS.
Below is a video demonstration tracking with LiPS mouth pictures, colored blocks & letters.

Keeping Skills Fresh

​Partners in Reading of San Jose Public Library has a wonderful YouTube channel filled with short (5 to 10 min) videos on a wide variety of topics for tutors to refresh your tutoring skills or perhaps learn a new strategy or technique. Grab a cup of coffee and a note pad, settle down and enjoy watching real tutors work with real students. Be prepared to learn some fresh ideas for your own tutoring.