Reading Coach

What will I be doing?

• If you live in Tower Hamlets, enjoy reading and would like to help adults who are keen to develop their reading skills, then you could find becoming a Reading Coach very rewarding.
• You will be trained by Read Easy and then linked with an adult who wants to improve their reading. You will provide one-to-one coaching sessions, meeting your new reader twice a week at approved venues in Tower Hamlets for 30 minutes each time, working through a set phonics-based reading programme.
• You will need to factor in travel time within the Borough to get to the venue(s) to meet your reader and prepare for the lesson, but with actual lessons only taking one hour per week per reader. You will only be allocated one reader at a time.
• Your availability is assessed when you apply for the role and you will be matched with a reader who is free to have lessons on the days and at the times you have indicated are suitable for you, making this very flexible.

What impact will this have?

• Over 5% of the working age population can barely read or cannot read at all. Our goal is for all adults in Tower Hamlets to have the literacy skills they need to fulfil their potential and live life to the full.
• Read Easy groups are changing the lives of individual adults across the country by providing them with the support they need to learn to read. In so doing, they are opening doors for them to all sorts of new opportunities in life.
• Read Easy provides free, confidential, one to-one reading coaching for adults who struggle with reading, through a network of volunteer groups.

Commitment

• We task our Reading Coaches to commit to providing two separate, half hour coaching sessions a week, whenever possible. To make this viable we will attempt to provide venues that are local enough for both Coach and Reader to spend as little time travelling as possible.
• Some Readers may complete the course in as little as nine months, others take as long as two years, and sometimes longer. It varies a great deal according to the individual Reader, so please be aware of this. The great advantage of one-to-one coaching is that people can work at their own pace without feeling rushed. Reading Coaches are also asked to commit to attending termly Coach Meetings whenever possible, to meet up with others, discuss how they are getting on and receive extra training.

What else do I need to know?

• Benefits to volunteers from this role:. . meet similar minded people. . socialise with other reading coaches and Management Team members. . receive the personal satisfaction of teaching an adult to read, seeing their literacy improve and witnessing the boost in their confidence. . know you have given someone the skills to help them reach their potential and live life to the full.

Expenses

• We do not reimburse volunteer expenses for this role

Background checks

• A DBS check is required

Training

• As a volunteer Reading Coach, you will receive two one-day training sessions. The InitialCoach Training day will introduce you to some of the issues faced by adults with reading problems, how to use the reading manuals, how to establish an appropriate relationship with your new Reader and guidance on working one-to-one.
• Once you have been working with your Reader for a while, we will ask you to attend a ‘Consolidation Training’ day. This will provide you with ideas for how to use other resources, techniques and activities to help your Reader to consolidate his/her learning.
• The training is very interactive and volunteers generally find the sessions very interesting and rewarding, but please be aware that they are quite long and intensive days.