Yesterday afternoon at the aftercare centre on Jeria’s farm, the lady who usually helps me on Thursdays could not come to work.   

With her not being there on Thursday I had to make a quick plan to help her group of learners.  Fortunately, I had my Do and Learn package with me as I was helping the learners in town earlier on the day.  

I commenced by introducing  the flashcards of  Lesson 1 to this group of Grade 4 learners but they did not recognise any of the words.  So I knew I had to start at the very beginning.  After only a few minutes they could read all of the first lessons, showing the actions and building their own sentences! 

The other children who were supposed to be doing their homework were watching us  all of this time and, needless to say,  also wanted to do the Do and Learn lesson!  I knew that they could already read and did not oblige.  In the first group, however, was a very small boy, the weakest of the group and I started to work with him.  I promise you I could not believe my eyes as this young boy almost immediately did Lesson 1 and 2 together.  It was truly amazing!  He read the words and sentences as fast as I could pack them out on the carpet.  I thought to myself “wow, this is impossible!”  I then took the others as well and they also placed their words and sentences on the carpet and read them with total confidence. 

So, if it means they just memorise these words initially they will recognise and say them again in future if they come across them in a lesson.  What struck me most was the children’s faces!  The joy!  And every time they read “I am clever” and we give each other those high fives – it is just so priceless! 

Of course, I wanted to take a video from the beginning but I realised this would not be possible as the attention would then be on the camera instead of on the lesson.  

When my helper returns next week I will have to make a plan to see all of the children on Wednesdays to continue with the Do and Learn material. I think, as far as success is concerned, or as results are concerned, the Do and Learn programme yields faster results because of the constant repetition of words and sentences. 

I find it very interesting to see how the children react to every new word!