- A Tour of Ultimate Phonics
In January’s Let’s Zoom Tutors N Tea, LU volunteer tutor, Michael, took us on a tour of the resource Ultimate Phonics.
Ultimate Phonics is a phonics-based program for beginning and struggling readers.
Here is a short presentation from this session:
If you and your learner are interested in getting a license to download and use this software, contact Stephanie at LU for more information!
More About Ultimate Phonics from Spencer Learning
To find out more about Ultimate Phonics, visit the Spencer Learning website. Here you will find the downloadable documents Michael refers to in the video:
Screen Mirroring Apple Devices in Zoom
For information on how to use the App on your phone in a Zoom call with your learner, here’s a Quick Sheet on Screen Mirroring in a Zoom meeting (for iPad and iPhone).
The Annotate Toolbar on Zoom
To find out more about how to use the Annotate Tool Bar in Zoom when using this App or in general during your session, check out an earlier blog from our Tutor’s N Tea series.
More Phonics Resources Worth a Look
For resources you can use with a learner who is working on phonics, check out the resources we recommend in hub and click on a box below.
- Taking on the writing challenge
Taking on the writing challenge
If you are working with a learner on their writing skills, this post provides some tips and resources to help you guide your learner through the writing process.
This introductory presentation was made during a Let’s Zoom Tutors and Tea mini-training for LU tutors. In the presentation, we think about the writing task. We look at the various skills that we need to be good writers. We think about the first steps for a tutor working with an adult learner as they seek to improve their writing skills.
The presentation highlights how important it is to break down the writing process into manageable steps.
As a first step, LU recommends talking with a learner about their fear of writing – what holds them back and why they find it so difficult.
As a second step, LU emphasizes the value of pre-writing activities. How setting the scene and building towards a writing activity can ease a reluctant or low level writer into the task. Pre-writing activities can also be used to reveal some of the skills a learner will need in the writing task.
To write well, we all need many different skills. As tutors, we recommend an approach that begins with identifying just one skill that your learner will work on during the initial stages of the writing task (e.g. vocabulary), and then building on this skill in subsequent sessions or stages in the writing process.
Click on a box below to read more about writing and to learn different strategies to help someone develop the skills they need to be a successful writer.
For a great writing project for LU members, check out the post: Write On 2021!
- Setting Goals
Setting Goals
Where am I now? What are my strengths? Where do I want to be moving forward? How can I get there?
In this session, we will think about:
- What goals are?
- Why setting goals can be helpful to a learner and to a tutor
- How to help a learner reflect on their goals – tools and guides
In the following session, we will develop these ideas further and think about:
- How to use a learners goal to suggest learning goals for your sessions
- Other ways you can support a learner achieve their goals – action plans, journals, check lists
- Look at tools to monitor progress towards a goal
Click on a box 1 below to get started:
- TNT November 24th – Reading Online
November 24th – Reading Online with Your Learner
A group of tutors joined me for Tutors and Tea on Zoom this week. During the session we shared ideas about reading with our learners online – the kinds of skills your learner may be working on, the activities you can choose from and the tools you can use to help your learner read online.
If you missed the session but want to watch an edited/abridged version of this session, here it is:
- TNT October 28th – Zoom Whiteboard and Annotate Toolbar
October 28th – The Zoom Whiteboard and Annotate Toolbar
A group of tutors joined me for Tutors and Tea on Zoom this week. Part of the session focused on the Zoom whiteboard and the annotate toolbar.
If you missed the session but would like to get familiar with the whiteboard, here is an edited recording of a part of the session. I hope it’s helpful.
For more information on the Annotate Toolbar in Zoom, go to this useful link in the Zoom Help area: