Tips to Becoming a Good Adult Reading Tutor

A reading tutor is someone who helps people, from preschool-aged children whose parents want to give
them a leg up in reading to adults who are lacking the literacy skills that they need to succeed,
learning to read. This article will focus on the skills necessary to become a reading tutor who
works primarily with adults. While you will never get rich by becoming a reading tutor, there is
little that is more satisfying than helping someone learn what is quite possibly the most important
skill that they will ever have. Reading is so fundamental that we often forget just how important
it is—we read street signs and menus without pausing for a second to consider what we are doing.
It is second nature for us to read constantly. Imagine what it must be like for someone who cannot
participate in this most common of our daily skills. The best way to come to an understanding of
this is to go to a foreign country (one that speaks a non-English language but uses Roman
characters) and feel the hopelessness that comes with not being able to understand anything that is
written. This is the life for adults who do not know how to read. A reading tutor works with
sub-literate adults and helps them become proficient readers.