Describe an experience when you taught someone to do something new
I’m not very good at teaching. However, I was once successful at teaching my nephew a new skill: reading. I started trying to teach my nephew to read about a year ago, having him sound out the titles of books before we read them, having him sound out words within the books here and there, and following along with my finger so he’d be able to see where we were. However, it didn’t work. He was constantly frustrated, wanting to get to the fun part, and it seemed like we never made any forward progress. I mentioned this to my friend, who happens to be a primary teacher. She lent me some books that came highly recommended, with repeating patterns (“I see the cat.” “I see the dog.” “I see the bird.”) paired with pictures that help little readers grasp the meaning of the story. The words and pictures stuck in my nephew’s mind and his reading moved on by leaps and bounds in a matter of weeks. The books made him feel good about himself – they moved him forward incrementally because they were designed to make kids feel confident in their abilities while gradually introducing new concepts. I’m glad that my nephew approached reading for enjoyment, not as a task he must do without fun or excitement.
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