How much can English Comprehension be improved?

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2Girlsmum
Posts: 1034
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:41 pm

How much can English Comprehension be improved?

Post by 2Girlsmum »

We have been working with dd on this since before Easter - once or twice a week for a couple of hours each time. She seems to be stuck at just under half marks, and I really can't do more. I've tried different papers and levels from different publishers. I've tried getting her to read it aloud, mark unknown words and phrases which we talk about, and I've tried talking about reading the questions CAREFULLY. She is great at NVR 57-60/60 in tests, and scored 48/50 at a mock maths test recently. Her grammar is almost perfect but comprehension.......

In life she is fairly oblivious to what is going on around her so maybe it's her. Help! I think that she had a good chance of failing to reach a minimum score. She has gone from 4B to 5A at school since summer, but that is her grammar dragging the score up.
2Girlsmum
Posts: 1034
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:41 pm

Re: How much can English Comprehension be improved?

Post by 2Girlsmum »

Meant to type 5C not 5A (wishful thinking!)
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: How much can English Comprehension be improved?

Post by Amber »

A couple of hours of solid work is quite a long stretch! A 10-year old can concentrate for around 12 minutes before starting to wander - unless it is something they are fascinated with - and it doesn't sound as if your DD is! I do 1-1 work with Year 6 pupils for one hour at a time and never just do one task in that time. By the end of it, though I think my lessons are truly fascinating, we are both ready to finish. I would definitely do less - it operates on the law of diminishing returns much past 30 minutes. I am working on comprehension too, but don't do many comprehension papers because they are tedious and dull. There is another way - choose something she is interested in and use that as a basis - devise your own questions and don't make her write the answers down all the time - just talk about it as you might with an interested adult or at a book club. I have used First News articles, poems, stories, internet downloads, all kinds of things to grab interest. I know you have a particular aim in mind, but being able to talk about something you have read in a meaningful way is a good skill for life anyway, so your time won't be wasted.
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