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Humanising Language Teaching
Year 5; Issue 5; September 03
Intervision
Betsie Schepers van Loon, Netherlands
If this article interests you, Pilgrims offers courses
in this area. Click here for more information.
How intervision happens
- Group of 6 – 8 colleagues
- 5-6 times a year
- 1 session = 2 hrs (2 cases, each taking up one hour)
- Each session has the same structure ( see below )
- Any problem concerning the teacher's work can be brought up (students, atmosphere in teacher's room, too much work etc.)
- No personal problems with an individual colleague can be discussed
- You need: pieces of paper in 3 different colours, marker pens, tape)
Structure of each meeting:
A = person who brings up a case
B = person who organises the structure and checks the time
C = colleagues in the group
5 min
A gives a short description of the problem (a student who never
does their homework, a teacher who never finishes work within a
given time, a colleague who feels isolated and without the support
of other colleagues, etc)
10 min
C people write questions on pieces of paper
(colour 1). No questions with yes/no answers are allowed but
only open, counselling questions (without
suggestion), such as: What did you do so far? How does it feel?
What makes you think that….? Do you know why…?
A writes his/her problem down
B collects these papers and writes them up on the whiteboard)
A marks questions with a + or -
+ means: this helps to solve the problem
- means: this has nothing to do with the problem or I already know the answer.
10 min
A answers the + questions. Colleagues can add more questions
to help A to get to the core of the problem.
C people write down on pieces of paper
(colours) what they think A's problem is.
10 min
A looks at his problem as he wrote it down . He can
change it , if he wishes to.
B collects papers and copies them on the whiteboard
Takes the questions away
A marks the problems with + or -
+ = yes this could be my problem
- = no, this has nothing to do with it
10 min
A explains why he marked the + problems and compares them
with the problem as he wrote it down.
C people write down as many as possible tips to help A solve the problem. (Colour 3)
B collects them and puts them up on the whiteboard A makes a selection (1 or 2) of the tips
In the next session, two months later, A describes what happened when s/he put these suggestions into practice.
