Activity A

Getting to know your learner

Reflection, discussion, role-playing, use of handout

Materials and equipment

Handout 4.1: Getting to Know Your Learner
Samples of questionnaires from your program
Handout 4.2: Sample Questionnaire (4 pages)

Preparation

Copy handouts.
Gather samples of additional questionnaires if you’d like.

STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS

  1. Describe the type of intake assessments you use with learners. Explain that assessments are different from tests because you do them with a learner, not to a learner. They help you determine a learner’s abilities and performance and they help guide instruction. In effect, they are one way of getting to know the learner.
  2. Explain to tutors that the first thing they need to do is get to know their learners.
  3. Ask tutors to brainstorm what they might want to know about their learners.
  4. Have tutors role-play getting to know a learner. Working in pairs, ask one tutor to be the learner and the other to be the tutor. Give each tutor in the pair a different questionnaire. Have the tutor ask the learner questions and share information about themselves, working on getting to know each other. Have the pairs switch roles so each has the opportunity to guide the discussion.
  5. Have tutors look over a few questionnaires on a learner’s interests and abilities.
  6. Review the Getting to Know Your Learner handout.

Activity B

First meeting

Although the section following this one discusses different learning situations, tutors may already be starting to ask questions about how to handle the first meeting with their learners. They may express some concerns about it. You will need to use your judgment to determine the best time to discuss these concerns.

Tutoring tip

Learners often have to deal with formal systems and answer personal questions chosen by others. You could explore with tutors how to make that different in the tutoring situation, allowing the learner to control the process of creating a learner profile. For example, the learner and tutor could name areas of their life stories that they would like to share with each other.

The tutor could invite the learner to use drawings or create a collage to represent his stories. For detail, the tutor could add key words the learner has used around the drawings.