Intervention ideas for the third term We’re halfway through the year and our learners have just completed one of the toughest assessment periods of the year. Subsequent to the assessments and examinations, we know where the shortfalls are and should now be able to create a plan of action to provide didactic support or intervention. Intervention does not need to be a daunting task, but should rather be considered as an opportunity to step back, reassess strategies and to use alternative methods to reinforce a concept. How would you do that, you might ask? Celebrate the accomplishments or the aspects that learners understood well. Then look at the assessments and at questions that were most troublesome to your learners. Did they misunderstand key words or the whole concept? Examine the question and key words step-by-step with them and show them how to answer the question. Point out key words and how you would like them to present their thoughts. When you present questions or instructions in worksheets, point out the importance of catch phrases and the structure of their answers. These could all be deemed important methods of intervention. Intervention sessions can of course be done within the regular class periods, but also attended once or twice per week after school.
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Talk to learners’ parents about the reasons for these lessons and perhaps invite them to gain ideas in helping their children at home. With modern technology, you can even share short video clips of explanations via email or communicative applications. LANGUAGE INTERVENTION PRACTICE Reading comprehension can be a struggle for many a young learner. The skill to understand the content of a passage relies on more aspects than just comprehension. It encompasses building blocks such as phonics (understanding the relationship between letters and sounds),fluency (the ability to read accurately, at an acceptable pace and with intonation when needed),vocabulary (the knowledge of words and their meanings) and phonological awareness (e.g. the skill to analyse, synthesise and manipulate sounds in words). In the Foundation Phase, we incorporate auditory and visual perception to ensure that a learner is able to hear or to see the difference in sounds and words. This might include discerning the initial, medial and last sounds in words, stating which words have the same blends, identifying rhyming words or completing silly riddles with a rhyming word. E.g. The cat sat on a mat….and wore a ____(hat).
Review the sounds and various blends discussed earlier in the year and use those words in your handwriting lessons. Depending on the grade level, review the various blends used to form the vowel sounds, e.g. the sound of “A” could be written as ai, ay, ei in eight, etc. Make posters as a group – to add to the classroom wall for reference and make copies for informal dictionaries. Make a list of words containing each different blend or spelling rule and add additional words as you find them in books. Add tabs on the side of the dictionary – labelling the pages with tabs, e.g. “sounds like A” to make it easier to access. Clarkness.com incorporates pictures within the text through the rebus method. Pictures appear within the text and eventually will be replaced by the words. Read these stories in print or on an electronic device. These stories start off as short pieces and build in length at a leisurely pace. Being able to read many short stories in succession boosts the young reader’s confidence and excitement for reading. Use new words (from story books, readers, etc.) on a poster and have learners review their meanings or use these words in sentences. Are you aware of any synonyms or antonyms to add? As soon as
