2. IN 3 GROUPS / IN PAIRS. ELT approaches and adjustment (accommodation) strategies in teaching learners with low vision. 30 min.
1) IN 3 GROUPS. The following case describes a classroom situation which may be improved. Your task is to read it and to find in the text 2 lists of strategies:
- at least 5 useful ones practiced by the teacher / the student / his mother;
at least 5 harmful ones that prevent the boy's communicative development.
A 14-year-old boy named Oscar has been enrolled in an EFL course (a group for A1-A2 learners) where he is the only learner with low vision. He studies in a special school for children with low vision and blindness but according to his mother's words, his language performance there is poor. The mother (whose English is about A2) agreed to become a teacher assistant to help her son to succeed in language studies. The boy has a profound range of vision loss: about 0.025 (20/800 or 0.025%) of vision acuity. As the teacher found out, Oscar uses Braille to read and write in English lessons in his school. He can see letters if the font is 24 or larger in his corrective glasses but he has never been taught to read or write English letters. His mother decided that they will not start learning them in the course. Generally, the boy has normal speaking and cognitive abilities but his social and emotional development is delayed. He is shy and dependent on his mother. But when he knows a topic, he is ready to share his opinion.
The group teacher allowed the boy's mother to choose seating. Their desk is quite far from the blackboard and faces the classroom windows. They come to the course once a week.At the lesson Oscar usually does the following activities:
- listens to warming-up questions and answers them (he does not usually use vocabulary items from the previous class);
- listens to grammar explanations and participates in grammar and vocabulary drill exercises (e.g.: substitution, transformation);
- participates in dialogues (his mother or another learner reads one role and he repeats his lines after the teacher);
- describes pictures in English (after his mother briefly describes them to him in a mother tongue);
- listens to texts read by other learners and answers comprehension check questions;
- participates in creating dialogues: his mother produces lines in cooperation with him;
In the same time Oscar is often distraсted, his statements are short and contain errors, stammering is typical. His mother chides him for them. But when the teacher praises him for something, his answers become significantly better both in fluency and accuracy. The teacher thinks that the boy has a great potential to be unleashed.As for the rapport in the group, another boy sometimes asks Oscar questions (about his glassess) that can be interpreted as rude. Every time the teacher spots it, she stops that boy. Because of profound vision loss Oscar never communicates with children in the group. The only exception is answering someone's direct questions or saying hello and good-bye. The teacher needs help with accommodation strategies that would raise Oscar's performance.
2) Read the following article and revise your strategies above. Were your answers correct and complete?
3) IN PAIRS. Read the articles below. Exchange information and provide at least 6-8 accommodation strategies to enhance Oscar's communicative, emotional and / or social development.
1) Teaching English to blind students
2) Instructional Strategies for Students with Visual Impairments
4) As A CLASS. Watch the following videos depicting the modern realities of inclusive education in Ukraine. What strategies that can be used to solve the case have you found?
