How to Train Homework Club Volunteers

Word‐attack skills

Learning objectives of module:

To explore the ways word‐attack skills can be strengthened

Time: 30 minutes

Materials:

A Tutor’s Guide: Reading and Writing with Children and Youth (pages 15 to 19)
A short, simple piece of writing – either the text developed in the Language Experience Approach training module (see page 11) or a simple passage from a controlled‐vocabulary text

Step One – Explain the theory

Explain that beginning readers need to develop word‐attack skills so they can decode unfamiliar words. Word‐attack skills include:

Phonics – The relationship between letter groups and sounds.
Word structure – How words are put together and the relationships among words. This helps students break down words and put them back together.
Spelling – This reinforces letter‐sound relationships.
Sight words – Words which students can read without having to sound them out. The number of sight words a student knows determines how fluently the student can read.