Teacher Discussion Forums

[caroline italy]

I have had several special needs children of various degrees of severity (blind, autistic, late speakers, etc.) in my classes over the last few years and, together with their regular class teachers have noticed how my using Total Physical Response combined with abundant use of CALL to teach the class English has had beneficial general effects on these kids. Apart from encouraging fuller integration with the other class members, it would seem to have stimulated speech production in their mother tongue. I have no idea if this is all just coincidental but I would love to compare notes with anyone in a similar position. Or perhaps someone out there might just know if any studies have been done in the field..

Kindest thanks for any help you can give me.

[Sally Olsen]

Yes, there is a special ed kindergaten in Erdenet, Mongolia that uses similar methods with good success. They design the programs specifically for each child. They also use Montessori materials with good success and lots of lots of music.

[caroline italy]

Thank you for replying. How very interesting - have you any idea how I could contact this school?

[Sally Olsen]

They were sponsored by Joint Christian Services at http://www.jcsintl.org/. There is a school for the disabled and a kindergarten. The kindergarten used to be in a ger (a kind of felt tent) but now has a building. They did develop a manual and it is in English as well as Mongolian so you might be able to get that from JCS.

There are many studies on preschools and kindgergartens through UNICEF and they are very interesting. You have dig deep to get teaching information though because they are more interested in how many children need preschool and so on.

There is an interesting thread on Japanese preschool and kindergartens in this thread at http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=7696 and an address to see a video of an Argentinian preschool.

eslforlittleones gives a curriculum as well in one of the earliest postings.