by Carys Tew, Hospital and Home Tutor and Primary Languages Trainer at York St. John University

What is the point of children with learning difficulties trying to learn a new language? Shouldn’t they be doing something more useful like numeracy or literacy? Learning a language is not a case of memorising lots of grammatical rules so that you can regurgitate a few phrases when you go abroad on holiday. It is a multi-sensory experience of culture, music, enjoyment, awareness of others and distant places, and the magic of being able to communicate in many different ways. As such, it is the right of all children to be able to take part.

Firstly, we must be aware of some of the difficulties they encounter, such as:

• poor memory
• poor concentration
• restricted vocabulary
• difficulty in writing, planning or organising their work
• poor audio discrimination

In order to support children in language lessons, we should constantly reinforce what has been taught, use a variety of short activities, give more support to individuals in writing frames, drawn outlines and text/flash cards, be aware of our own use of language when giving instructions or teaching new structures, have a very expressive face and hands, and above all, use lots of multi-sensory aids.

Hands can talk with a combination of Makaton and British Sign Language, and nearly all children can use a form of total physical response, or a combination of verbal and physical communication in games such as ‘What’s the time, Mr Wolf?’.

Music, whether traditional or contemporary in the form of rhyme, rhythm and rap should be age-appropriate, suit poor reading skills and be memorable, active and physical. Games should be chosen which include the whole class in active participation, such as chanting in different voices when an object is being hunted, passing on a hidden ring round the elastic to a traditional song, using mixed ability teams, and parachute games. Well-known stories can delight and surprise, with the use of props, multi-purpose cloths and large audio-visual screens. Many children with special needs are very limited in what they have tasted and experienced, especially when it comes to eating, and even if they can’t physically eat the new food, they can share in the experience by smelling and handling it. The interactive whiteboard can include learning with physical movement and bold audio-visual effects. There are a number of excellent programmes that encourage children of all abilities to write simple sentences and produce colourful, professional-looking printouts.

Differentiated activity sheets can be proudly collected in the Junior European Language Portfolio, and Communicate in Print2 (formerly Words With Symbols) helps to make reading simple stories in the new language more accessible. Children can make their own shape poems at different levels, and even if they can’t hold or use a pen, they can press a computer key or switch many times to create, for example, a butterfly or a thunder cloud in the language.

Self-checking Stile trays can be adapted for different levels of ability, and nearly all children can enjoy mixed group activities, such as Twister and town play mats. The wheelchair–bound with learning difficulties can still join in role play activities and, for example, explore the physical nature of travelling to the new country, with movement, transport cards, flags and national hats.

Sometimes it is not possible to include a pupil with special needs in everything in the class, and for these occasions, the teacher can prepare a box of activities, including, for example, a European jigsaw puzzle, dressing-up clothes, and story-tapes for the Teaching Assistant to use with the individual child. Intercultural Understanding can be enhanced for the children with special needs through carefully chosen background music, painting in the style of the overseas painter, looking for the (hidden?) familiar object in pictures of unfamiliar scenes, making a collage using pictures from travel brochures and using real objects from the country to, for example, weigh out different amounts of water in a maths lesson.

Rewards and feedback should be accessible to all. Rather than having knock-out games, such as ‘Simon Says’, which favour the quicker, livelier pupils, maybe the teacher should think of rewarding the ones that s/he sees beginning to respond to a classroom instruction, as well as to the pupils who can react straight away. Stickers and certificates should always emphasize what the pupil can do, for example, sign a greeting in response to Bonjour, or find the capital of Germany.

Displays should be interactive, simple and accessible to all – including the wheelchair users.

Nearly all children love performing, and should have opportunities to do so, regardless of their disability. They will grow in confidence and self-esteem, the more they are praised for what they can do.

None of the above is unusual for a good teacher of a modern language in any group or class of children. The only factor which distinguishes one child from another is the rate at which they progress. Sometimes the progress is barely visible from one month to the next, but that should not discourage any teacher from providing an exciting experience of a country, its people and language to every child in the class.

“I can, is a 100 times more important than IQ” Caroline Coyle 1995

Carys Tew, Hospital and Home Tutor and Primary Languages Trainer at York St. John University