Seven Oaks Tutoring – for Adult Professionals Private and Confidential
Reading , Writing and Spelling for Adult Professionals and Employees (Equally applicable to children)
If you have a hard time reading and writing, you should be able to read this. If you know someone who has a hard time reading or writing give this letter to them for me and have them read it.
I'm going to keep my words as simple to read as I can because I want you to read all of this. If you don't finish reading it now, keep it with you so you can stop and read more when you can. I have something to say to you and I hope it will help you.
I have been helping adults with reading and writing for 32 years. I have been helping children too. You may think that children learn better because they don't have the same stress that you do. But it's not true. You will learn faster because you have more drive to try. You have had a hard life not being able to read or write well. Maybe you have trouble reading words. Maybe your eyes move too fast and you skip words or say words that aren't there. Maybe you never learned the steps to reading words. Or maybe you read most words fine but you don't follow in your mind. Maybe your mind thinks about other things when you are reading.
There are many steps up in reading. You may be in a low step or you may be way up there but can't understand some kinds of reading. Maybe it's for work. Maybe you need help writing. Maybe it's just for living day to day. Maybe this letter is a little hard for you to read but you are doing okay. Maybe this letter is too easy and you think it's not for you. If it's too easy, I want you to keep reading because if you are reading it at all it's because you need help in understanding harder reading. I will tell you about that too but I'm not going to use hard words because I want anyone any one try to read it. So stay with me okay? I'm not talking down to you. I'm just not writing hard words.
I'm going to tell you about some adults that I have helped over the past 32 years. You will find yourself here somewhere.Most adults do not want me to tell their names because they didn't want others to know they had trouble reading. Most of them hid it even from their family and friends. At work they tell me they had to fake it and they were always afraid others would find out. They each have their own story.
I'm going to write the name of each story in BLACK LETTERS so you can find the name of each story if you want to. I will name each story for what the adult had a hard time in. This means that if they had a hard time with spelling, I will name the story SPELLING. Then you can find the story you want to read if you just read the story names first. Then come back and read the other stories too. It's good for your reading to read my letter because you should find that you are reading better and faster as you go. If you get lost while you are reading, just back up to where you were last doing well and read it again from there. Don't give up. If it's too easy to read, then just read it for what I have to say and see if you can find what you are looking for. Here are my stories…
SPELLING FOR A FIRE MAN John was fire man. His wife called me to help their son. After I taught their son for 2 weeks John walked me to my car and told me he wanted to tell me something but not to tell anyone. Not even his wife. He said he could become Fire Chief if he could pass the test coming up in 4 weeks. He said he would never pass the test because he couldn't spell well. He said he would come to my house to learn and that he didn't want anyone to be there. So John came to my house two times a week. I gave him work to help him at home and he did it every day. I showed him how to hear the sounds in words. I showed him how to see the words in his mind. I showed him how to write the words and learn them as well as he learned his name. He worked at home to learn faster. In four weeks he had to take his test. He passed his test and made Fire Chief. He makes 3 times as much money as he did before. He is a Fire Chief in L.A. now.
COP NEEDS HELP WITH WRITING Greg was a policeman. If you can't read that word, I'll tell you another word. He was a cop. Now can you read policeman?
Greg was going to get fired because he couldn't write well. No one could read his writing when he wrote up what he did that day or what the story was when he took someone in. They couldn't read his reports. They told him he had to spell the words and write what he had to say in the right way or he would get fired. He couldn't tell his wife that he might get fired. She didn't know he had a hard time with this. So he found me and came to my house so I could help him. I showed Greg the same thing that I showed John with spelling and he learned fast. I also showed him how to write what he had to say so that others could read it and get what the story was. He learned fast and didn't get fired. Every day he would tell me that they said his reports were getting better. This only took about 7 weeks. I have helped about 9 cops with reading and writing.
RICH OLD MAN COULDN'T READ AND WRITE Ed was the boss over 500 workers. I don't know if you can read these words to know what work they did, but I will write some words here to see if you can tell. Farm land with crops and trees and plants. The farm land was 5 miles each way. He was the boss and they called him the foreman.
Ed had an $800,000 home. His kids were adults and had their own homes now. He was 60 and had worked there for 40 years and they wanted him to keep working there. But he couldn't do the work on his feet much any more. So they wanted him to be the big boss the main room which is the top office. He couldn't read or write. He told me that for a lot of years he had someone write and read for him but they didn't know he couldn't read or write. If he wanted to write something for her to read or give to someone to read, he would write it bad so she couldn't read it. Then when she would say, “What does this say?” he would act like he had a lot of work to do and was writing too fast. Then he would TELL her what it said. He did this for all those years. He said more to me. He said that if someone wrote something for him to read he would talk on the phone and stop and tell her to read it to him because he couldn't stop to read it now. He didn't like doing this but he had too. She never said anything to him about it but he says she had to know he couldn't read and write. But now he had to go up with the big boss and work in the big room - you know… the corp office. Everyone would find out that he couldn't read and write and he wouldn't get that job. So I helped him. In 12 weeks he was doing well and said he would keep getting better and better with out my help after that. He made a lot more money when he became big boss in the corporate office. Corporate is the top boss room where lots of reading and writing is done. He turned 65 and retired. Retired is when you turn 65 and stop working and still get pay because you worked there for so long.
READING FOR ACTING Jay is on TV. There are some bigger words I need to say to tell you this story so I'll try to help you learn these words before I tell the story about Jay...
What do you call someone on TV who stands there and is funny? A comedian . Yes, Jay is a comedian.
The TV is a sound box that you can see and hear sounds. What do you call the other sound box that you can't see? Not the TV. The one that just lets you hear sound and songs? Yes, it's the radio . Jay was a comedian on the radio.
What do you call the little thing you turn if you don't want to hear that song or see that TV show but you want to see something else? You turn it to another…. Station or Channel
When someone wants to be on TV they go into a room and read and act. If they do well they may get the job on TV. What is the thing they are reading? It's called a script.
Jay was a comedian on the radio for years. He could be heard all over the US on about 30 hot channels. But he didn't read when he was on the radio. He just said what he wanted and didn't have to read. He was a good comedian. But Jay wanted to be on TV. He wanted to act but he couldn't get the jobs because he couldn't read well. He could read a lot of it, but he would read one or two words wrong and wouldn't get the job because of it. So I went to Jay's house in LA two times a week for 3 weeks. It was hard for him to learn to read the words at first, but he worked hard at home every day so he could read the script for a show he wanted to be in. He learned fast. But then I came to his house to help him one day and he wasn't home. The day after that he wasn't home. Then they called me and said Jay got a big part on a TV show and didn't have time to see me. They said he would not see me for 12 weeks. But then they said he had 2 jobs on TV and didn't need my help any more. This was good. But they never called me after that. I see Jay on TV in the morning sometimes. He is still on the radio show too. He wanted to make a school for actors who wanted to read better. But there is no time now. I would like to do that.
SHE LEARNED TO SPEAK AND READ ENGLISH Mai Lee was from China . You may not know how to read those words so I'll help if you can't. You say Mai Lee like this…. May Lee . I helped Mai Lee learn to read and write. China is not in the US where we live. China is on the other side of this big ball we live on. It's on the other side of the world. You know, everyone is little and the eyes are little. They sip tea and eat white rice . Rice is the little white things that look like worms. We eat it all the time in the US . Yes, rice.
What is it called when you learn to say words? It's to talk. Or to speak .
What are the words called that we say in the US ? Our words don't sound the same as the words on the other side of this big ball we live on called earth. We speak English.
After 12th grade, what school do we go to? Yes, it's college.
Mai Lee knew how to say words in English. She knew how to speak English. She knew how to spell in English. The words she learned when she was little were in Chinese because she was from China . But she learned how to speak and write English because she went to a school to learn English. But when she came to me, she said the people didn't know what she said sometimes. She didn't say a lot of the words very well. She also didn't know a lot of words still. She didn't like it when people didn't know what she said. She didn't like it when she didn't know what people said to her too. A lot of times when she was going to say something, she would not say anything at all because she felt dumb. But she went up to the top in college in China . So she knew she wasn't dumb. She didn't want others to think she was dumb so she didn't speak too much. When she was 30 years old, she came to me for 12 weeks. I helped her learn the English sounds and then to read English words. Then I gave her the fast way to learn a lot of English words that she didn't know yet. She wanted me to come back to China with her and make my school there. I was going to do that but I had a lot a people I was helping here in the US . She writes to me sometimes and tells me she is learning English more and more and helping others to learn English too.
DYSLEXIA Don't see little words well? Do you say them wrong? Do you say a word that isn't there? Don't see a word that is there? Do you say cat when it says rat? Did anyone say you might have Dyslexia? How do you say Dyslexia? Like this…. Dis lek see of say it without the f at the end.
I will keep my words short for you. If you are Dyslexic, I don't want to say a lot of words at a time.
Some people CAN read big words. But they can't see the little words. Some people CAN'T see the big words well. When they read a word like she they might say her.
When they see a word like was , they might say saw .
If you do this you may not know it most of the time.
Most people don't know when they are doing this.
But they will get lost when reading.
Their eyes will keep moving but they won't get it. The words may seem to go off the end of the page.
Dyslexic readers sometimes don't stop when they come to a period (A period is a dot like this .
It means to stop reading when you come to it. Then start reading again just after that.
If you have Dyslexia you may not stop.
Then when your reading may be like this… The job is good my car is black do you like to read
But if you stop when you come to this dot . It will sound like this... The job is good. My car is black. Do you like to read? It will sound like talking.
The dot is called a period
Most people with Dyslexia know what a period is.
They know they are to stop.
But they just don't see it.
So they keep reading.
And they get lost when reading.
Why is this so?
I have helped a lot of adults who have Dyslexia.
Some of them had others help them but it didn't go well.
When they don't get better fast, they give up.
You need a way to learn that is fast.
I can help you with that if you live in Bakersfield .
Here is a story about an adult with Dyslexia...
His name is long so let's call him Tom.
Tom had a hard time with all of these things I have told you about..
He would read too fast because he said he didn't look as dumb when he went fast.
But he had to go slow for me to help him.
When he went slowly I could show him how to say the words right.
It took us about 6 weeks.
He doesn't have the Dyslexia any more.
But I have to tell you something that others will say is nuts.
I have helped about 100 people with Dyslexia.
Every one of them who did the work lost the Dyslexia.
It was gone.
This means something.
This means that you have not learned the right way.
That's all. You can learn the right way and it will go away.
It's not hard. Just call me for help if you live in or near Bakersfield
COMPREHENSION
What is it called when someone says something and you can get what they are saying? Or when you read something and you can get what it is saying? This is called Comprehension You say it like this… comp ree hen shun
If it's hard for you to stay with it when you are reading, you may have a hard time with comprehension. When you start to read, you may do okay. But then your stop getting it even if your eyes keep on reading.
If you have a hard time reading words, it will be hard to comprehend what you read. You have to know what the words are saying to get it.
Just like when someone talks to you. If they don't say the words right you may not get what they said. You may know the words if they say them right. But you can't get them because they aren't saying them right.
Or if they say them too fast you may not comprehend them.
If they say them too softly you won't comprehend them.
If they have their back to you, you may not comprehend them. This means you don't hear them.
These are problems with SAYING THE WORDS SO YOU CAN HEAR THEM RIGHT.
If they say them right you can comprehend them.
All of these things have to do with PHONICS . Phonics is about making the mouth say the sounds right so you can hear the word.
If you say the word CAT but don't make the C sound then you didn't say the word CAT you said the word AT.
If you read like this, you won't comprehend what you are reading. You won't get it.
But it's comprehension that is hard here. It's saying the words right. That's PHONICS.
When you read, you have to say the words right. Before you can have comprehension and get it.
What if someone is reading to you and they are saying the words right?
If they are reading from a grade-2 book you will have comprehension because you k now what the words mean, and the lines are not long.
If you try to read the book and can't read the words then you need PHONICS.
But if you CAN read the words you will comprehend a grade-2 book.
But what about more adult books?
What about college books?
What about books and things you need for work? Sometimes it's hard to comprehend.
PROFESSIONAL COMPREHENSION Now I will write at a higher level for those of you who can read the words fine but may have trouble with comprehension.
You set out to study the newspaper, a manual, a text, or for test preparation. You have a hard time. You start out ready to face it and really learn but what happens. Pretty soon your eyes are moving along but your mind isn't following. You start to yawn. You hear the words in your head but you haven't realized that you aren't following well. You read the same lines over and over again and don't even realize you're doing that. Often that works, but it slows down your reading. You get to the bottom of the page and realize you don't have any idea what you've been reading. Maybe you are easily distracted by noises or other thoughts. Perhaps your eyes get heavy, your head feels like a rock or sort of sick and you have to take a break. It's hard to get yourself going again.
And when you have finally gotten through it and forced yourself to study all the way to the end, you realize you don't remember much. You may have taken notes as you go and this seems to help, but it all takes so much effort and isn't enjoyable. You would do fine studying something you are interested in and could study that all night long until you just couldn't keep your eyes open any more - just like a good movie. But this material does not keep your interest or focus.
But you have to study or you're not going to reach whatever goal you have made.
If you're lucky, you will memorize enough to reach your goal. But will you be able to use the information after all that study? Will you need to be able to use it? Will you feel you know the information and have personal value in some way? Or will you feel like you cheated a bit by just memorizing and maybe also cheated yourself by investing so much time and getting so little out of it?
And what about life? Does your comprehension need a boost for everyday life? Have you been hiding your problems with reading comprehension from yourself or others?
What about in seminars and classes? Do you fade away and become groggy sometimes? What's that all about? Is it because it's boring? What about seminars you were excited about attending because you had a purpose and interest in the subject matter? Why do you sometimes fade out even then?
There are reasons. You can know these reasons. You can learn how to handle these symptoms of study difficulty before they set in most of the time. And when they still set in, you can know what to do to clear your mind and get moving again. You can stay with what the material is saying and really get it. If the spelling and grammar is correct in the material, you can get it. If there is false information, it may not make sense to you, but you should still get what the author is wanting you to think or believe.
If you don't have trouble reading the words but you still fade out while studying or have a hard time visualizing what you're reading, you can change that in 2 to 10 tutoring sessions. If you live in or around Bakersfield , you can schedule a comprehension assessment right away. If you live across country it is worth the flight to schedule a one or two week stay. My name is Tracy. Call me at 661-663-8886. The assessment is $225 and takes about an hour. You will find out you are much brighter and more capable than you know.
INFORMATION RETENTION Sometimes you can comprehend but forget what you studied when recall is needed later for testing or on the job.
Now get this important tip straight from me to you: WE DON'T ALWAYS UNDERSTAND WHAT WE MEMORIZE, BUT WE TEND TO REMEMBER WHAT WAS UNDERSTOOD.
Read that again and think of some examples of this truth.
Here's my best example: Children memorize “The Pledge of Allegiance”. They say it every day at school for many, many years. But if you ask a child what each line means, you will find that very little has been understood. And sometimes none of it has been understood. That's because the words were memorized but the meaning was not grasped.
This happens with younger children when reciting nursery rhymes as well. Do you know the old nursery rhyme that goes like this?
"Little Miss Muffet, Sat on her Tuffet, Eating her curds and whey; Along came a spider, Who sat down beside her, And frightened Miss Muffet away."
That's easily memorized by children. But do you know what happens when you give the child a test on this rhyme? Here are two different kinds of tests:
Test A (the child will answer correctly): QUESTION: What was Miss Muffet eating? ANSWER: Curds and whey Result A+
Test B (the child will fail this test) QUESTION: What food do you see in your mind when you picture Miss Muffet eating her curds and whey? ANSWER: Umm…. I don't know. I just see her eating. Result: F
You can see that memorization leaves ever-increasing blank places in our visualization when we don't fully comprehend what we read.
When we have to memorize a lot of information without comprehending, we can't do well on tests. What's worse is that we cannot use the information in life. That means we are not effective in the application of this knowledge. In fact, we cannot consider it to be knowledge when it is not comprehended. It may be knowledge to the inventor or discoverer of the information and it may be knowledge to the author. It will also be knowledge to other students if they comprehend. But if we memorize and don't' comprehend, we can't utilize the information and therefore have only as much knowledge about that subject as we were able to comprehend. The opposite of knowledge is of course ignorance. And we adults not only feel ignorant when we don't comprehend, we also feel ‘dumb'.
In most cases, adult comprehension difficulties are not caused by some learning disability or with something wrong with our brain. The cause is a lack of effective training in how to study. But we can't blame our educators because they do their best to teach their students in the same way they themselves were taught. One can't teach a subject one does not know well himself. A history teacher may know the subject of history, but if he doesn't know the difference between memorization and comprehension, and if he doesn't know how to teach one to comprehend, he will have to rely on memorization to get his students through the course.
Retention has much to do with comprehension. If we want to retain information, the most effective way is through comprehension. That's one trick to retaining information. There are other techniques to assist with retention as well.
This is also true for focus and concentration. I apply specialized techniques in my tutoring sessions for any areas of difficulty - from learning the sounds to reading and spelling the words... all the way up through professional study, concentration and retention of information.
Now call me and tell me all about it. If I don't answer, I may be with a student. Leave a message and I will call you as soon as possible. My adult tutoring is private and confidential, but small classes are optional. My fees are based on program goals and results, not hourly. The assessment session is like a tutoring session. I want to have an interactive session with you to test not only your level, but your potential. Testing is $225 and takes about an hour. If you live too far for regular sessions, ask me about intensive tutoring workshops or a stay in my home for a few days or weeks.
I hope this was enlightening for you. Tracy Sherwood
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