Peer tutoring and teaching · Maths CAS idea
Maths support for students new to the language of instruction
ServiceProject-ready
Help students who are new to your school's language with the vocabulary of maths lessons, through a buddy scheme and a bilingual word list.
Where the maths comes in
Maths vocabulary and how to explain ideas visually when words get in the way.
Which CAS strand it fits
- Service: Unpaid, voluntary work with others that also has a learning benefit for you.
Your CAS coordinator decides how an experience counts at your school. Strand summaries are provisional (our words, being checked).
How to run it
- Talk to the language support teacher about the need.
- Make an illustrated word list for common maths terms, checked by a teacher.
- Meet buddies weekly in a supervised space.
- Update the word list with what students ask about.
This can grow into a CAS project if your CAS coordinator agrees: see planning a maths CAS project.
How to evidence it
- Word list versions
- Meeting log
- Feedback from students and teachers
Date everything and keep it in your school's CAS portfolio as you go. More on what counts as evidence.
Reflection prompts
Questions to think about, not answers to copy. Write your reflections in your own words, in whatever form your school accepts.
- What did you learn about how language shapes learning maths?
- How did you make sure the student led what you covered?
- What part of this felt most like a partnership?
Learning outcomes this often gives a chance to show
- Global significance. How does the local need you worked on connect to a wider issue? What did you learn about that issue that you did not know before?
- Collaboration. What did someone else bring that you could not have done alone? Describe a disagreement or a mix-up in the team. How was it resolved?
- Ethics. What choice in this experience had a right and a wrong way to do it? Whose interests did you have to protect (privacy, safety, fairness), and how?
Whether you meet an outcome depends on what you actually do and reflect on, not on the idea. Outcome labels are our short summaries, being checked.
Safety and ethics
- Respect students' privacy about their background.
- Supervised sessions only.
Agree every plan with your CAS coordinator first. Safety and ethics for maths CAS.
Planning sessions? Our free standard lessons show one way to structure a topic.