Illiterate adult?

Question

I am working at a MRDD workshop and there is a man there who is probably in his older 40's. I have been meeting with him once a week to help him learn how to read. He was pulled out of school when he was really young and is illiterate as a result. Other than his illiteracy, he appears to be a typically functioning adult. His desire is to learn how to read and I really want to help him with it, but I don't have the resources. (Money, books, or workbooks) Does anyone know of any websites that offer free worksheets, etc.? I am a senior college student who is an Education major, so I know how to teach him, I'm just hurting from a lack of resources. So anything that anyone knows of will be a lot of help. Thank you and God bless!

He has asked me dozens of times for more workbooks- that is what he loves. So really I am in search of good workbooks or websites with workbook papers that I can print out for him to do. He likes to be able to take the work home and do it at home and bring it back the next week for me to see and go over it with him.

Answer 1

Check with the public library that may have access to free resources for adult literacy. Also, your college library may have a section devoted to teaching resources. If you can look through textbook publishers materials you may find something. Or, ask a local school for an extra (old) copy of workbooks. The on-line resources I am familiar with are for young people not for adult interests.

Answer 2

As an Education major, you should realize that you have a lifetime ahead of you to develop your own resources. I tutored an illiterate person who had obtained a driver's license illegally and who could not read the traffic signs. I took him in my car and we wrote down several dozen signs as we passed them. (I had a helper in the car). Then, we transferred the words to 3X5 cards. The results were astonishing. He also loved baseball and we used the daily newspaper to write the names of the players and terms relating to the sport on cards. Again, great results. You need to be creative. Find out what he likes and work with it. Good luck.