Hi Guys, I have been asked by a neighbour of mine, to teach his wife's sister grammar. This lady is in her early twenties and claimed to have written her ssce in the village. She can neither read nor spell a two-letter word not to talk of speaking it. Her uncle thinks I can do it. The problem is, this is our third week and there no single or iota of improvement from this girl. Meanwhile, her much younger cousin whom am also taking the same subject, but even more advanced class is showing tremendous improvement since we started.

I have searched the internet and applied some of the methods, but this girl? I am thinking of giving up on her but I would just love to help her improve. That is the only motivating factor for now.

So, I am asking the teachers here; how do you teach an adult how to read and write? Your expertise advice would be highly appreciated.


PS: I am not a teacher, neither do I have any degree on grammar. I do this for the sake of it. Also, I use this class to brush up my own communication skills too. I am an ICT expert.

d same way u teach kids

Alright let me see if I can be of any help. I once taught in an evening adult school. The thing is this, it requires lots of patience because you're not dealing with a younger person/child but an adult. You start with the alphabet A-Z.
She has to know how to recite the alphabets and know both vowels and consonants, thereafter you proceed with two lettered words which will have to be a combination of both consonant and vowel i.e BA, BE, BI, BO, BU, CA, CE, CI, CO, CU, DA, DE, DI, DO, DU and so on till you get to the letter Z and this you both can work on for about a week or there about depending on how she picks up.
Furthermore, when you guys are through with that stage, you proceed to three lettered words where you start adding a consonant to each of the two lettered words or better still you give her a take home assignment where she has to write down three letter words which you'll be studying with her the next day.
Lastly, add fun to the class, make it interesting, encourage her and don't let her know you're fed up or tired of her before you know it, she'll start writing meaningful words and can start pronouncing them fluently. All you need do is to have patience because it may take months before she could make a sentence on her own.

Thanks guys. @gee001, you gave me a hope. I am going to apply these methods. More please...

Following