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Teaching reading to adults as part of an ESL program can be a complex task, but there are some basics that enable a teacher to help the adult make great gains. Therefore, word identification and comprehension are equally important.

Word Recognition is the place to start

Decoding or word identification is made up of being able to use sound-symbol relationships, sometimes called phonics or phonetic strategies. This is an important skill that is worth the time spent to master.

Word families- bat, cat, pat, sat, etc. are important and vowels will require special attention as it is those distinctions of short i and short e as is in pit and pet that can be frustrating throughout the reading and English acquisition process.

Sound blends such as st, fl, dr, sh, etc are an area of emphasis as are digraphs such as ch, ck, ph. These letters together form distinct sounds or phonemes.

Be sure to emphasize ending sounds as well as the more obvious beginning sounds. Listening for ending sounds is sometimes overlooked, yet it is very important.

We learn some sight words incidentally or in the course of everyday life. Certain words are just recognized by their appearance and ESL Adults can recognize and appear to "read" signs and advertisements, such as Brand Names such as NIKE, Pepsi,etc.

Here are some tips to promote the developing ESL Adult reader's identification of sight words:

- word games such as matching, "Concentration" and Bingo
- Word search games
- flashcards
- selection of emerging reader books with plenty of sight words
- picture dictionaries
- rhymes and entertaining poetry

Our English language is confusing with its many words and terms with multiple meanings. Be sure to work with ESL Adults on discerning these variations in meaning as well as going over homonyms, words that sound the same, but have different spellings and meanings.

Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is essential to the enjoyment of reading for pleasure and for understanding informational text. Several important skills contribute to higher levels of reading comprehension.

- using context clues
- ability to retell, summarize, or paraphrase what is read
- making inferences or drawing conclusions when certain information is not explicit
- sequencing events
- comparing and contrasting

All of these are important skills that must be taught as strategies for improving reading and access to information.

An important skill that relates to both word recognition and comprehension is understanding word parts: prefixes,

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