Literacy is essential for success in this world, and it's important that students get the help they need. If you're a reading tutor, always have several reading activities in mind. Students respond to different activities, so if you know a few activities for tutoring in reading, you'll be able to experiment and find something your student will like. Focus not just on the basics of phonics, but also on reading comprehension.
Letter Recognition
Letter recognition forms the basis of reading. Young readers may confuse certain letters, such as the lower case "b" and "d." Start with practicing letter recognition with students. Using flash cards, do a brief review of the letters as you lay them out on the floor. Give a student a bean bag and allow him or her to throw the bean bag so that it lands on one of the letters. The student then has to say what the letter is. You can also do this on a white board if you have a sticky ball that will stick to the board.
You can also play a game where you hide the letters all over the room. Put some of them in obvious places like on top of the table, but have others in more difficult areas, such as under a rug. Call out a letter and have students compete to be the first to find it.
Phonics
Understanding phonics takes students to the next level. Not only will they recognize letters, they'll be able to sound out words. Chose a letter and write it on the board or a piece of paper, and then ask if the students can say what sound it makes. Have them list all of the words they can think of that start with that letter. If they're struggling to think of some words, give a few hints to prompt them. For example, if the letter is "T," you could ask, "What's in your mouth?"
You should also do exercises that put the letters together. ABC puzzles can work well for this. For example, take a picture of a cat and cut it into three pieces, with each of the letters of the word on a separate piece. As the student pieces the puzzle together, he or she can sound out the word "cat."
Reading Comprehension
Even though they may be able to read a book, students should also be able to understand what they've read. One way to do this is to always talk about a book after you've finished reading it. At each tutoring session, plan to read a short book. Prepare a few questions based on the events of the story.
Another way to practice reading comprehension is to take a paragraph and cut each sentence out. Students must then arrange the sentences in the correct order.
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