Creating Learning Partners: A facilitator’s guide for training effective adult literacy tutors

Arrange the volunteer letter holders so that the word will be scrambled in this line.
Ask the rest of the participants to figure out how to spell this scrambled word correctly. Don’t say the word by accident. Tell tutors to not give the answer out loud but to let you know when they have an idea.
Get the first person with an idea of the spelling to spell the word by telling each participant with a letter to move to the correct place in the line. They should use names (“Sue, move to the left of Pat.”). This should take several steps.
Do this with the second word and involve different people as the letter holders. You can also just do this once and not use the second word.
At the end of the icebreaker, talk about the fact that spelling is a detail-focused skill because every letter has to be in the correct place. You might want to ask what sensory learning styles would like this icebreaker (kinesthetic and visual).

Activity B (optional activity)

Reasons for learning to spell

This activity could be used to introduce the unit if you have chosen not to use the icebreaker. After the discussion, tutors should be able to tell their learners some reasons for spending time on learning to spell.

Why choose this activity?

This activity will get tutors thinking about spelling in its modern context.

Discussion
Materials and equipment Flip chart and markers Preparation Think about why we should learn to spell. Also think about the pros and cons of using spell-check software. STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS Ask tutors why we should spend time on spelling in tutoring sessions. Write tutors’ ideas down on the flip chart. Ideas might include having betterlooking and more understandable written material for employers, increasing speed in writing when spelling doesn’t have to be checked as often, and so on. You could do this in a mapping or web style (see Unit 7, Writing). Make sure that the discussion includes points about the pros and cons of using spell-check software. For instance, most spell-check software doesn’t help with finding the correct homonym (words that are spelled the same, sound the same, but that mean different things), but it does enable poor spellers to produce better written work. Encourage those tutor/learner pairs who are comfortable with computers to learn how to use this tool effectively.

Discussion

Materials and equipment

Flip chart and markers

Preparation

Think about why we should learn to spell. Also think about the pros and cons of using spell-check software.

STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS

Ask tutors why we should spend time on spelling in tutoring sessions. Write tutors’ ideas down on the flip chart. Ideas might include having betterlooking and more understandable written material for employers, increasing speed in writing when spelling doesn’t have to be checked as often, and so on. You could do this in a mapping or web style (see Unit 7, Writing).
Make sure that the discussion includes points about the pros and cons of using spell-check software. For instance, most spell-check software doesn’t help with finding the correct homonym (words that are spelled the same, sound the same, but that mean different things), but it does enable poor spellers to produce better written work. Encourage those tutor/learner pairs who are comfortable with computers to learn how to use this tool effectively.