November Newsletter Items

Kissing Record

Which country set the record for the most people kissing in one place at one time? Mexico! Mexicans broke the record when 40,000 couples kissed in Mexico City on Valentine’s Day this year.

In addition to the kissing record, this year Mexicans also set a record for the world’s largest cheesecake (55 cooks baked a 2-ton cake!) and for the world’s largest mariachi band (549 musicians). Mexico sure is setting the bar high!

Tips on Writing Letters to Legislators

Http://www.sfnapnap.org/id29.html and http://www.indiananurses.org/pdf_files/writing%20your%20legislators.pdf are two really good websites which contain tips on how to effectively write to legislators. They also have sample letters you can take a look at. Here are just a couple of suggestions they offer:

• Keep your letter short

• Tell the legislator who you are and make sure they know you are a constituent who lives in their district

• Include rational for your point of view (including facts and statistics if you have them)

• Personal anecdotes and concrete example are powerful

• Always include your name and address in the letter

• Do not send a form letter; handwritten letter are nice if they are legible

• Direct letter to legislators in key decision-making positions

• Time your letter to coincide with key events in the legislative process (such as the legislative session coming up this January)

• Avoid emotionalism or righteous clichés (i.e. “as a citizen and a taxpayer”)

• Be courteous and positively recognize legislators’ past efforts

Your student says: "I don't like to write". Well, have them write anyway.

Writing is important! If your student balks at writing, or doesn't want to write about an assigned topic, have them pick something they want to know or write about. Or, give them a prompt: "I don't like to write because", or, "Today I got up and ...." or, I want to learn how to...".

Submit Holiday Memories Stories!

Mail it, email it, fax it, drop it by the office, or even just slip it under the door. One way or the other, make sure the Project Read office gets your student's submission for the Holiday Memories booklet!

One of the most satisfying experiences for learners is to see their work in print and to share it with others. Now, your students have the chance to do just that! Have your student write about a favorite holiday memory and submit it to the Project Read office by November 13th to have it compiled in a booklet and shared with other tutors and students at our Holiday Party (December 4th).

Ideally, students should be spending close to 40% of their tutoring sessions writing or doing writing activities. Creating a story about their own holiday memories is an exceedingly enjoyable way for students to spend this time and practice their writing skills. They get to revel in their memories, share a little something about themselves, feel connected to other students as they participate in a program-wide activity, and catch a small glimpse of what they are capable of. They also get the chance to see how far they've progressed since coming to Project Read, which is often a difficult thing for them to see as their learning usually occurs so gradually.

For a taste of what some of our students are capable of, here is a story written by one of our students for our summer writing contest:

Memories of the Sea

Looking at the sea waves from this old and beautiful porch on the highest of these hills facing the ocean. I can see in each wave’s movement how the years start going back in time and all of a sudden, I imagine myself running on the beach with my bare feet, playing on the shore, happy, full of love, and having a lot of dreams.

Memorable fishing days, trips to the beach, beautiful sunsets, playful afternoons, incredible parties, and everlasting friendships come back to my mind, these are experiences that fill my soul with happiness. Fond memories and experiences that are forever engraved and are evoked every time I lay my eyes in the beautiful sand or waves of the sea.

Special Thanks: Lexis Nexis

We’d like to extend an enormous thanks to our Spelling Bee Silver Level Sponsor: LexisNexis. The LexisNexis Commitment to “demonstrate responsible leadership and a commitment to the well-being of societies” was demonstrated through a $500 donation fundraised internally by LexisNexis employees. That donation was then matched by the corporate office, resulting in $1000 awarded by LexisNexis.

We enjoyed watching three LexisNexis teams compete at our 3rd Annual Spelling Bee and truly appreciate the donation. Sponsors like LexisNexis are helping us reach more of the 21,000 illiterate adults across Utah County who could benefit from our program.

Project Read continues to be committed in providing affordable literacy tutoring services for the adults of Utah County. With costs that far exceed the $10 subsidized program fee, Project Read relies on generous donations throughout the community.

Lesson Plans

Many tutors were able to turn in their lesson plans with last month’s hours. Many did not, and some of you are new tutors to the program. At training on Saturday, I found that our link to browse and upload your lesson plan as part of your tutoring report had mysteriously disappeared. Lest you worry, the tutor report form (http://project-read.com/report.html) now includes a place where you can upload your lesson plan and it will go directly to the Project Read staff. I would like to give a few lesson planning tips:

Lesson planning is clearly a critical aspect of tutoring. Without careful preparation and flow from one lesson to the next your student will not progress as rapidly as they may be capable. How do you put together an effective lesson plan? Planning is dynamic. It involves preparing the lesson, doing the lesson with the learner, and evaluating the results. It is not a linear process; rather, it is a series of connected loops, as one lesson leads into another, building on previous material and preparing for lessons to come.

Plan the lesson.

In preparing each lesson plan, consider these questions: What are the learning objectives? What will the learner accomplish? What materials will you use? What activities and teaching techniques will you use? How can you integrate listening, speaking, reading, and writing in the lesson? How much time will you spend on each activity? How will you and the learner answer the question, “Was it a good lesson?”

Do the lesson.

Evaluate the lesson.

Assess the effectiveness of the lesson by talking with your student, asking your student to record thoughts in a journal or dialog journal, making notes in your tutor log, and/or writing ideas for the next lesson.

If you need additional ideas or tips or sample lesson plans, please refer to your Tutor Training Manual or ask the Project Read staff for a sample lesson plan.

Happy tutoring!

Resources Available

I had a question in Tutor Training about the resources available in the Project Read Office. The commnent was made that most tutors do not have time to come in and spend a lot of time sifting through the (literally) thosands of materials available to tutors. Don't worry! We understand, and we have tried to do a lot of the work for you.

Each month in our newsletter, The Candlestick, we spotlight a different material resource that is available to our tutors. Some are online resources, but the majority of the spotlights are about books or manuals available in our office. You can click here to go to the Material Spotlights page of our web site and view all the spotlights since 2003. Unfortunately, we do not yet have a topical list available, but you can click on the year and it will then bring up a list of the spotlights for each month (including the title of the resource). If you click on that link, it will take you to a brief description of the resource.

We hope this helps! If you find a resource you are interested in using, please just ask a Project Read staff member and we will be happy to direct you to the resource on our shelf. Happy tutoring!

Spelling

We had a great question from a tutor on a recent tutoring report, so I thought I'd post it here with my response:

Question: I'm not sure how to help [my student] improve his spelling. Word-by-word he learns quickly, but he is really memorizing the way the word looks as a picture. So when he tries to spell it some time after we last reviewed it, it's shaped right but spelled oddly. How do I help him associate meaning of letters within the word rather than the word as a picture?

Great question!

Answer: I found some great tips on the web site Spelling It Right - Learn How to Spelling Confidently. Here are a few ideas:

To improve and develop their spelling, you need to:

• develop an interest in words
• feel safe about trying new words (not just words you're sure about)
• learn about
  the way words are built up using syllables
  basic spelling patterns of English
  memorizing strategies
  the meanings of words
  prefixes and suffixes
• write for their own enjoyment without the fear that they will be criticized
• read for pleasure

Tutors can help their students by:

• encouraging them to look closely at words and talking to them about words
• encouraging them to try new words
• playing word games with them, such as:
• hangman Click here for some interactive hangman games
• Boggle
• Scrabble
• encouraging effective memorizing strategies
• encouraging good reading/writing posture
  sitting up - eyes 12 to 18 inches away from the work
  forearms making a triangle with the torso insist upon it (friendly nagging if necessary!)
• encouraging spare time reading
• pointing out interesting newspaper items
• respecting "good mistakes" - those which use letter patterns which do make the right sound, even though they are not right for that particular word. So, for "purpose":
  "purpus" would be a good guess - like "focus"
  "prupose" would be a less good guess
• ensuring a dictionary is on hand for homework

One of my personal favorite ways to teach spelling is using the LOOK - THINK - COVER - WRITE - CHECK method (I used this with my son and it worked wonders).

LOOK carefully at the new word. How can youbreak it into smaller bits? Do any of the smallerbits remind you of the patterns of letters fromother words?

THINK about the parts of the words which mightcause problems - double letters for instance, or avowel that isn't pronounced as you would expect.

COVER the word and close your eyes. Try to see itin your mind's eye.

WRITE the word down without looking back.

CHECK to see if you're right. If not, look carefully at where you went wrong and try again.More

Hot Tips
Whenever you have to copy a new word from theblackboard, from a book, or from the dictionary, alwaystry to write the whole word in one go. Don't keep looking back after every few letters.

Try finger-writing: while you're THINKing about the word, pretend to write it with your finger, on your desk or on your hand or even "paint" it on the wall in front of you.