Just starting to tutor - any advice?

Hi! I just signed up to tutor adults at the L.A. Central Library and am very excited about the literacy program. I had the training last month and am just waiting for a student whose schedule matches with mine to get started. In the meantime, I've got a workbook called LitStart that I'm going to start reading to get ideas on how best to help. Any suggestions, advice, opinions, encouragement, and the like would be very much appreciated.

If your studnets are much like the ones I had--the important point, which maybe you realize already, is--the mechanics of reading are an important, but fairly small part of what you'll need to work on with the student. A far larger part will be the emotional, and in some cases social or familial, obstructions that they face. Your job isn't that of therapist, of course, yet you'll probably find yourself in something like that role a lot.

Hmmm, I would just say spend some time getting to know your students at the outset, and build a friendly relationship. Working with adults is so rich because of the range of life experiences that adult students bring. It's more of a peer relationship, a professional, supportive one.

Hi again. Well, I've been tutoring for over six months and enjoying it, although I'm taking the rest of the year off for R&R. Tutoring an ESL student in reading and writing English is no walk in the park, no matter how bright she is in her native language. :)

My new question: While we take a winter break (through the end of the year), I would like to give her a list of relatively easy-to-read books that are not obviously children's picture books. Does anyone know where I can get such a list for the US? I found a wonderful list, but it's from a group in the UK, and I think I'd probably have trouble finding the books on the list in America. TIA! http://www.nala.ie/resource/listing/Reading%20for%20Pleasure%20and%20Discussion/...

Any of these LC subject headings will probably work in most US public library catalogs or WorldCat as a subject search:

Reading (Adult education)
Readers for new literates
New literates, Writing for

'Readers for new literates' is most useful in the catalog that I use. The books are high interest, low level--that phrase might also turn up some titles in a keyword search. Don't overlook the major literacy organizations websites, too. There were good bibliographies at those, but it's been a while since I searched.