We Care About Your Privacy
By clicking “Accept all”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy.
Being able to understand and use a range of adjectives can help learners to communicate successfully. Adjectives are essential for adding information or interest to their spoken or written language. They also enable learners to differentiate between items.
Tip or Idea: Play ‘I spy…’ but with an adjective twist! Select an item in the classroom and choose an adjective to describe it E.g. “I spy with my little eye something fluffy!” Learners take it in turns to see if they can guess the item. If they need more support, you can add an additional adjective “I spy with my little eye something fluffy and blue”. For more confident learners try a less common adjective to challenge them.
Free resource to help you with this activity: Use our Adjective Flashcards to support learners to be the leader and choose their own item for an ‘I spy’ game.
SEND learners, particularly those with speech and language difficulties, can find comprehension more challenging for a range of reasons. Understanding of subject-specific vocabulary and inference can be difficult areas for some learners.
Tip or Idea: Start simple! Use single images or short sentences and talk about what is happening. Can your learner relate this to an experience they have had themselves?
Understanding the needs of your learners is essential. Learners who use English as an additional language may also have additional learning needs, and sometimes separating language needs from learning needs can be challenging. Assessment results and classroom work offer some insight; however, taking the time to carefully observe your learners’ behaviours can provide a deeper appreciation of their needs. This can help you consider necessary adjustments or interventions, or support further assessments of specific SEND needs.
Sensory needs (considering lighting, noise, textures, smells etc.) are now being seen as a central part of school design. It is widely recognised that overwhelming environments can block learning or trigger distress. Each learning environment presents its own opportunities and challenges to reducing sensory overload. Luckily, there are lots of small changes that can make a big difference to your learners!