Six suggestions are offered to help adult basic education teachers to develop adults' critical thinking skills. The suggestions recommend that teachers (1) seek reasons for an answer, (2) look for alternative answers, (3) take a passive role in discussion, (4) do not give an opinion unless asked, (5) ask students to back up their opinions, and (6)…

This article discusses the National Issues Forum (NIF), a national, nonpartisan program designed to encourage citizen discussion of important public issues. The programs try to recreate the town meeting concept of reaching consensus on public issues. Short workbooks are available on two reading levels for issues such as the superpowers, crime,…

This article is intended to provide adult basic education teachers with examples of functional learning activities for their students through use of the newspaper. It lists activities which are illustrations of those that can be used to teach functional skills in the key areas of reading and computation. For reading, suggested activities include…

Cross ability tutoring--having more advanced students work with slower learners--seems to provide the repetitions required to teach the severely retarded a skill. At the Eastern Shore Vocational and Rehabilitation Center (Virginia), students who read at grade 2.0 or better are paired with others, some of whom are working on writing their names or…

Over a 5-week period 43 typical trainers in a nationwide corporation were observed to determine uses and abuses of training techniques. The adult educators who were observed were technically expert, but otherwise untrained. Factors that enhance or detract from training effectiveness were identified, specifically as regards organizing and…

This document offers "reciprocal questioning" as a technique that promotes active learning and that is a practical and powerful way to help students improve their reading comprehension. First, the technique is described in detail. Steps include selection of four to five paragraphs of text; preparation of 10-12 questions over the material,…

Based on experiences with geriatric services workers, these strategies have been developed to respond to the ongoing educational needs of human service workers. The strategies are designed to help workshop leaders heighten human service providers' awareness of their clients' worlds. The three strategies outlined in this paper are the following:…

An "orientation" checklist is proposed to aid the adult basic education (ABE) teacher in preparing for instruction. The list reflects a number of issues teachers should consider carefully before meeting with students. The issues concern (1) information about the learners and their characteristics and needs that can be taken into account in…

The new General Educational Development test demands that students read critically. Teaching critical reading presents a twofold challenge to teachers. First, they must help students expand their knowledge in content areas. They must also teach students the skills involved in reading critically. Because the skills entailed in critical reading are…

This report relates the experiences of a teacher who conducted a graduate computer education class at a shopping center in Dallas, Texas. The activity asked each member of the class to spend up to 5,000 mythical dollars on a hardware system and appropriate software to facilitate his/her current job performance. Students could "shop" in three…

These guidelines are adapted from Verderber and Verderber's "Inter-Act," a manual for interpersonal communication. The examples are from English composition classes, but the general principles are applicable in any situation involving criticism. Guidelines for giving constructive criticism include making the criticism relevant and…

Suggestions are made regarding ways teachers can help adult learners reduce their test anxiety. These general comments apply to content-oriented courses and may have some general applicability to all testing situations. The suggestions include clearly characterizing the test prior to its administration, planning for last-minute questions on test…

Adult basic education and English as a second language teachers, as well as volunteer tutors, can help new refugees acquire functional English through the use of a survival kit. The Literacy Volunteers of America's guide to teaching conversational English recommends these items for a survival kit: a written copy of student's name, address, and…

English as a second language (ESL) teachers find the newspaper a terrific source for easy-to-prepare reusable materials. Travel ads with coupons from the travel section can be cut out for beginning level students to complete and mail in envelopes they address. Students can find places on maps. In addition, intermediate and advanced students can…

Teaching adults more effectively is a concern common to business, industry, professionals, and educators. An examination of research dealing with effective teaching shows that six functions can be identified and followed as steps in the instruction of adults: (1) review of previous learning and skills; (2) initial presentation of material through…