What a free assessment covers
Every learner at Pen in Hand starts with a free 15-minute assessment. It is a short online meeting, not a free lesson. The aim is to find out where the learner is and what will help most, before you spend anything.
What happens
- A friendly start. The tutor meets the learner and the parent and asks what is hard at the moment.
- A look at where they are. A little reading and talking in the language, to see where the learner is comfortable and where they get stuck.
- A plan. Which paper or skill to start with, and how often to book one-to-one lessons. Each lesson is 30 minutes, and two lessons with a 15 minute break make an hour.
- Your questions. Prices, tokens, recordings and safety are all open for questions.
What to have ready
- A laptop or tablet with a camera, a microphone and a stable internet connection.
- The learner's grade, and the subject: Afrikaans First Additional Language, Afrikaans Home Language or English.
- Any recent test or exam result, if you have it. It helps but is not needed.
What the assessment is not
It is not a test, and nobody is marked. For Afrikaans, we look at the skills the exam looks at. The policy document, CAPS (which IEB schools also work from), assesses reading and comprehension, language structures and conventions, writing, and oral work.
What happens next
There is no pressure to book. If it feels right, you buy lesson tokens and book a lesson. If not, you have lost nothing but fifteen minutes.
Source
- Department of Basic Education, Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) Afrikaans First Additional Language, Grades 10-12 (2011): the assessment tasks (section 4.4).