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We all learn in different ways. Helping your students to identify what works best for them is really important. Do they prefer visual aids, make links with existing learning or use movement and actions to help them remember things? Identifying their own personal preferences and effective practices will benefit lifelong learning and help your students to succeed.
Tip or Idea: Talk to your learners about different ways of learning. Discuss how you like to learn as an adult and encourage them to reflect on their own learning, what they enjoy and what they think helps them most. You might even like to demonstrate different approaches to a simple learning task and see how they respond.
Free resource to help you with this activity: Explore our Learning to Learn resource. Our Doing the Learning flashcards can help to scaffold conversations about different learning strategies. The Planning to Learn resources can be used as prompts and reminders for successful learning approaches in class.
Non-verbal communication such as body language, facial expressions and tone of voice convey information beyond words alone. It is an integral part of communication, building relationships and developing shared understanding. For some learners interpreting non-verbal communication is not always simple.
Tip or Idea: Understanding non-verbal communication can depend on many factors including cultural norms, situational context and the unique combination of words, actions and expressions used. Try to put communication in context and focus on more than simply the words used.
Learners with speech and language difficulties may find it difficult to use the correct tense or find it hard to understand the concepts of time.
Tip or Idea: Take 5 minutes to chat together at the end of a busy day or lesson. Talk about what you did, what you enjoyed or what made you laugh. This gives learners the opportunity to practise using the past tense and maybe time and order words too like first, next and then.
During the school summer holidays pupils may lack opportunities to practise and revisit skills they have been learning in class. Research indicates that students can lose between one to three months of learning during their extended break! Considering ways to keep learners engaged throughout the summer is an important step in reducing lost learning. This is especially important for students with additional needs who may face challenges with learning retention, retrieval, and recall.