Now – after Covid 19 – the Firm Foundations books are more relevant than ever. They were written for learners who had gaps in their basic understanding of the English language with a view to giving them a solid foundation on which to build to matric.
Although many of us were able to carry on teaching uninterrupted or mitigate the effects of missed class time, the learning that took place was far from ideal. Many children lacked the self-management skills to discipline themselves to stay engaged online or had to share devices or help younger siblings while still trying to keep up with their own lessons. We are seeing the gaps that were created through that time.
Firm Foundations was written with a simple philosophy of “Grasping” and “Holding”. Using the theories of constructivism, Enquiry Based Learning and Co-operative Learning, activities are designed to lead the pupils to an understanding – a grasping – of the concepts and rules. Then plenty of exercises are given to practise the knowledge and apply the understanding so that they remember what they have learnt – they hold it.
Furthermore, the Teacher’s Guide – besides giving suggested answers for all the activities – suggests different learning and teaching strategies to help facilitate learners with different learning styles to access the lessons. Diverse approaches enable learners to create their own understanding of the content. The variety of activities keeps it interesting, but are always focused on the skills they are designed to develop and never random and ‘just for fun’. Each module targets a group of related language issues and includes diagnostic tests to check whether the learners have indeed ‘grasped’ and ‘held’ the information adequately. It tests what they have been taught.
Time and again I have seen how these two books effectively lay a firm foundation on which the learners can build for the FET phase where the basics are applied in the higher order Blooms categories of analysis, evaluation, synthesis and creation.
Nicola Kirby