Online Literacy and Numeracy Resource Centre for Trainers and Assessors
Activities
Sample initial appraisal session
for Certificate II
foundation literacy and numeracy learners
Icebreaker
Getting to know you
Two things I do well.
My favourite film or
book.
One most exciting or unusual
event of my life.
The name of the place
where I was born.
Name __________________
Someone I admire
or would like to
meet.
Favourite food.
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Online Literacy and Numeracy Resource Centre for Trainers and Assessors
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Name: ____________________________
Self appraisal
Question
Yes
No
Sometimes Don’t
know
I generally feel OK about my reading skills.
I generally feel OK about my writing skills.
I generally feel OK about my spelling.
I read books and magazines in my spare
time.
I use a dictionary to look up words that I
don’t understand.
I can read the newspaper to follow news
stories.
I can use the classified section of the
newspaper to look for jobs.
I participate in discussions on general
current news events.
I can write a simple business letter.
I can write a letter to a friend or relative.
I can follow instructions to fill in application
forms.
I can tell someone simple instructions or
write them down.
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Written appraisal
Hello!
My name is ____________, and I am delighted to be working with you
during your course. I would like to introduce myself to you so that we can
get to know each other a little better. I’ve been working with learners just
like you for several years now, and I’m looking forward to working with you
over the next few weeks.
On a personal level, I am married with two grown up children who have
recently moved out of home – so my wife and I rattle around the house on
our own! Now that I have a bit more spare time at the weekends, I can
potter about in the garden and sort out the weeds a little more effectively. I
love reading and going to the movies whenever I get the chance. Every
now and then, a need to re-earth calls out to me and I head off to the hills
where I enjoy bushwalking and picnicking.
I would very much like to hear a little bit about you and your interests, and
perhaps learn some of the reasons you have enrolled in this course. Are
there any particular skills you would like to improve while you are here?
What do you plan to do once you have completed this course? By
answering these questions I hope we can work together to create a
meaningful study program for you.
Please write back today.
Best wishes
___________________________
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Name: _________________________________
Self appraisal activity
Tick the box which best describes your current ability in the following situations/tasks.
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Task
Can do
now
Need to
revise
Need to
learn
Work out how many hours you’ve
been alive.
Complete your tax return form.
Adjust a recipe for four people to
cater for 50.
Change 25% to a fraction.
Change 87% to a fraction.
Change ¾ to a decimal.
Change 7/12 to a decimal.
Change 0.4 to a fraction.
Change 0.16 to a fraction.
Convert 500 grams to kilograms.
Convert 0.039 kg to grams.
Convert 60 cm to metres.
Convert 785 mm to metres.
Convert 250 ml to litres.
Convert 1.005 L to ml.
Convert 0.068 seconds to
milliseconds.
Draw the lines of symmetry on a
square.
Draw the lines of symmetry on a
hexagon.
Name the number of right angles in
a rectangle.
Measure the angles of a triangle.
Estimate the angle between your
index and middle fingers.
Work out the area of this room.
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No.
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
Task
Can do
now
Need to
revise
Need to
learn
Explain how to work out the area of
the room.
Work out the volume of a tissue
box.
Work out the area of a circle.
Understand most graphs.
Draw a line graph.
Draw a pie chart.
Work out the average age of
learners in the class.
Work out the median age of the
class.
Use the memory function on a
calculator.
Construct a cube using paper,
scissors, ruler and sticky tape.
Use the street directory.
Explain how to use the street
directory.
Draw a rough plan of your house.
Draw a plan to scale of your house.
Work out the bearings between
towns on a map.
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Activities
Name: ____________________________
Written appraisal activity
Learners complete Part A and Part B
(Background questions)
Part A
When was the last time you studied maths?
What level did you complete?
How did you feel in these classes?
What were the things you liked most about maths classes?
What were the things you disliked?
Are there any areas that you have difficulty with?
What areas would you like to learn more about?
What do you want to do after this course?
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(Skills questions)
Part B
1. Without using a calculator, work out the following (show how you worked it out).
a. 12 x 27
b. Add $23.05, $8.32 and $16.98
c. 2943 –187
d. 45100  110
e. How many grams in 1.078 kg?
f. What is 5% of $58?
g. 3.5 x 100
h. 9.665  10
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2.
Birth rate is the number of births registered per 1,000.
Look at the graph:
In 1978, in what age group did most women give birth? _____________________________
Which age group had the most births in 1998? ____________________________________
What was the birth rate for 15-year old women in WA in 1998? _______________________
Compare the line graphs for 1978 and 98 and comment on trends.
3. Construct an appropriate graph to represent the following data:
Trends in prevalence of smoking by adults in Australia
Drug: Nicotine
2001
2004
2007
Females
21%
21%
18%
Males
25%
24%
21%
What trends do you see for male and female smokers over this period?
Can you think of reasons to explain these trends?
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4. A recipe for beef curry for 6 people requires 1kg of meat, 1 ½ tablespoons of curry
paste, 2 ½ cups of coconut milk and 2 onions.
To make a larger curry for a party of 30 people, how much will you need of each ingredient?
5.
a) Draw a net (2 dimensional plan) for a cube with a width of 2 cm.
b) What is the volume of this cube? ____________________________
6. How many 200 ml glasses of punch can you fill from a 5 litre bowl? ______________
7. You want to pour a concrete pad for a double garage measuring 6 m by 5 m with a
depth of 5 cm. (You may use a calculator.)
a) How much concrete will you need? _________________
b)
It costs $125 per m3 for the concrete. How much will you have to pay? ___________
8. If you receive a 15% discount on a $70.00 pair of shoes, how much will you have to
pay? (You may use a calculator.) _________________
9. You work three days per week from 9:15am to 3:00pm with an hour’s unpaid break.
c) a) You earn $15.00 per hour. How much do you get paid per day? ____________
d)
10.
How much do you earn in a year if you work for 46 weeks a year? _______________
Estimate:
a) the height of the doorway _______________
b)
the area of the top of your desk. _____________
11. The hotel maintenance person gets paged to do repairs. She first visits the 23rd floor,
then gets called down 16 floors, then up 9 floors. Which floor is she now on? ________
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Trainer’s notes
If this is a formal training program leading to a qualification, an assessment will have been carried out prior to
enrolment. By carrying out an initial assessment in a group setting at the start of a program, the trainer will be
able build on the information already available in order to develop support strategies for improving learners to
achieve positive literacy and numeracy outcomes.
Description
A good example of a literacy and numeracy initial appraisal, using several of the templates and activities and
including an extra icebreaker activity.
Equipment needed
Copies of activities/appraisals for each learner.
Instructions
Literacy
A good way to encourage learners to get to know each other and feel comfortable in the group is to do an
icebreaker such as ‘Getting to know you’.
Icebreaker - getting to know you:
Each learner writes their preferred name under the smiley face and then fills in the boxes.
After 5 minutes, they discuss information written in the boxes with a partner. This can serve as an opening to
further conversation.
Partners take it in turns to introduce their new friend to the rest of the class. Only disclose those things written
about.
This activity allows each class member to talk to the rest of the group about someone they have just met,
rather than about themselves. It breaks the ice and helps others in the class to find learners with whom they
have something in common.
Self appraisal:
Learners complete the questionnaire.
Written appraisal:
Based on the model letter that the trainer hands out, the learners respond by writing a letter to the trainer,
introducing themselves.
Numeracy
If placement isn’t necessary, keep the activities informal to foster learner interaction, initiate rapport building
and observe interactions.
Introductory activity - background information:
In pairs, find out about your partner and include the following  why he or she enrolled in this course
 what experiences he or she had with maths classes in the past
 his or her plans after completing this course.
Pairs feed information back to the whole group.
Include discussion focusing on differences between the previous learning environment and structure
compared to the current situation. Highlight concepts of:
 peer and group support rather than competition
 self-paced learning
 responsibility for own learning
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 ground rules.
Self appraisal:
Learners complete the questionnaire. See task sheet.
Cooperative small group learning activity
‘School fete’, ‘Herb garden’, ‘Flats’, ‘Shop location’ and ‘Mystery number’ are all activities that encourage
cooperative group learning. Rotate these activities around the groups in the class. Then consolidate by asking
groups to feed back strategies and observations to the class.
(Copies of these activities can be found in the Activities section in the Staff room.)
Written appraisal:
Learners complete the task sheet.
An example of a graph related to question 3.
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