Become an ALTA Reading Circle Guide

The ALTA Reading Circle offers a valuable opportunity for volunteers to support ALTA students in an informal setting where they can build on their reading skills. Volunteers, known as Reading Circle Guides, meet once a week for two hours with current or past ALTA students. They work in small groups or one-on-one to provide extra support and help them become more fluent readers and build a lifelong habit of reading.  

ALTA has a library of reading circle material at different reading levels for loan to guides or students may bring with them any reading they want to do, such as a religious text, course books, Highway Code or notices from their children’s school).  

Volunteer requirements  

• 2 hours each week at an ALTA Reading Circle venue 

• Attend one-day of training at the ALTA Belmont Training Centre in January 2025. This includes an introduction to the Guided Reading method using ALTA-created guided reading packs for a range of reading from biographies and factual readers to magazines and simplified novels. These model effective ways to practise reading and teach different comprehension strategies.   

For Reading Circle Guide Rosemarie Olliverre, her time spent helping students was both rewarding and enlightening. Today, she shares the experience she had working with students at an ALTA Reading Circle.  

“I saw Reading Circle as an opportunity to get students to discover the joy of reading. We read books, mostly from ALTA’s library, newspaper articles, and inspirational stories which kept the students motivated. It was a time to learn about the life experiences of different people and broaden their horizons. The classes were stimulating and enjoyable as we would always take a few minutes to talk about triumph over difficulties.  

When students did not recognize a word, we would cover and reveal it syllable by syllable as we had been trained to do to show syllable division in action. Often, we would come across phonics they had cards for and had been taught, so we used the opportunity to reinforce the sound in the word.  

We would pause and discuss the reading material. They enjoyed the discussion particularly when they could relate to it. I noticed too, that while reading they were automatically applying the phonics and internalizing other rules.   

On one occasion without any prompting, a student who had been struggling with suffixing pointed out the ‘drop e rule’ as the words ‘drive’ and ‘driving’ had appeared in the same paragraph. This alerted me to the value of simply seeing the words in print and within the context of an interesting story. Application is a key stage of learning.  

What then are the benefits of the Reading Circle? Reading for enjoyment in a relaxed setting allows students the opportunity to apply the skills acquired in the tutoring classes. They can apply rules and phonics much the same way we speak a language without consciously applying rules.  

During the reading process they get a chance to internalize the phonics as they listen to themselves. They absorb the sounds of the letters, and this helps tremendously in sounding out words.  Like learning a new language, immersion integrates the skills learnt and makes the words come alive.” 

If you or someone you know is interested in becoming a tutor, joining a class, or becoming a sponsor, call 624-2582 or email altapos.tt@gmail.com.   

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