18th October 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The National Literacy Trust has conducted a survey which suggests that one in five school children are embarrassed to be seen with a book. The students who responded to the questionnaire said that they were afraid that their peers would tease them for reading. The Trust issued a statement saying that they were concerned that students are reading less and developing a negative view of reading. We cannot be surprised then, that one of the most common requests received by tutoring agencies these days is help with reading. Many parents are aware that their children are not enjoying reading, and look to tutors to help mend their children’s relationships with books before it is too late.
This is marked change in how home tutor used to be employed by parents. Tutors were most often selected to help specifically with exam preparation, most commonly for GCSEs and A’ Levels. Now, parents have come to realise that tutors can work with their children in order to encourage a love of reading and learning, rather than simply towards exam preparation. Many also realise that where a child has developed a negative attitude towards reading, they may be more willing to accept help from a young, motivated teacher than their parents. This is often because children who are struggling with reading feel that they have let their parents down.
There are a number of methods that tutors can use to encourage a love of reading. A principle method is to get the child access to the most popular and relevant books for their age range. The success of the Harry Potter stories has been well documented, and was most successful because it combined magic and fantasy with modern school experiences which children can relate to. Another way that tutors can help their students with reading is to identify and address the particular issues that the child is having with reading. It could be that the child has experienced a loss of confidence which the tutor can address over time. It could also be that a tutor can identify a learning difficulty such as dyslexia which to the attention of the student’s parents. The right tutor can remove the pressure of reading and start to make it a fun activity again.