In a message dated 9/19/02 10:35:58 AM, [email protected] writes: << Of course this is a somewhat tangential discussion to the one about literacy. Very often, illiterate learners will compensate for their inability to read by being strong in other areas, but it is often true that illiterate learners are very visual people too, and able to employ their right brains phenomenally. A friend I work with, Brent Cameron, (http://www.wondertree.org) has had a lot of success facilitating these kinds of folks to learn read by helping them to see words as pictures and encouraging them to become elaborate with the language. Other learners who are more kinesthetic can learn to read by making letters and words out of tactile substances like wood or metal and actually manipulating them into words. >>
In teaching adults to read, I have also observed that their right-brain functions are often very high. One young man learned to read much more quickly when I gave him positive feedback for reading aloud with feeling. One man in his forties, reading at only a third-grade level before entering the program, had gotten his pilot's license by memorizing all 800 test questions, with the help of a friend. Another student had an infallible ear for tone of voice and every nuance of interpersonal interaction--he could describe things he had observed on the job, and always knew how someone's interpersonal behavior was less than effective. I think that when we approach the world via the printed word, some of these abilities languish. Joelle * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
