Job Discussion Forums

[bluefrog]

I have a blind student in my なかよし class and was wondering if anyone knew some games I could play with him. There are 3 other students in the class but he`s the only blind person. I`ve been trying to come up with a generic game to help him practice the language.

[Celeste]

Simon says should work okay. You can get some plastic food/numbers/animals/letters from the 100yen shop and use it instead of flash cards for any flash card oriented work that you want to do with this child. Challenging to say the least. Good luck and let me know how it goes.

[bluefrog]

Thanks Celeste, I actually did that game today! We were going over body parts and we played "Simon Says".
"Simon says `Touch your nose.`"
The teachers already have some props to use in class but picking up a few more at the 100 yen store certainly wouldn`t hurt.

[craven]

Hi Blue Frog
I'm teaching in a Mougakko at the moment, so I'll see what advice I can give to you. First off, how blind is this student? There may be some games you can play if he's partially blind. Can he read braille? Has he done any spacial or texture training (as in, can he feel objects accurately to get a sense of what they are)?
In my classes I have a mix of partially and fully blind students, so when playing games I often get another student to act as their "eyes". I have an UNO deck done up with braille markers-when we throw the cards we have to actually say outloud what cards we've just thrown. To make it English oriented I say you have to make a question whenever you change colours or play a specialty card.
Games with noise makers as buzzers (an earlier poster suggested the yakoen shop) work well. You can ask the question and have them "buzz in" to answer.
You could also play "back tags". One student has a piece of paper taped to their back and their partner has to look at it and describe it to them. When it's the blind boy's turn to look you could simply whisper what it is to him so he can describe it to his partner.
Finally...sorry this is long, I've had a lot of luck with dramas...role plays, improvising situations, etc. They're not always the best because I work with Junior High School students, but at least they're trying.
Hope this helps...I'll write again if I think of some more.

[bluefrog]

[sethness]

Sorry, you haven't told us how old this blind person is, and what the english level of these students is.

What, for example, are the typical vocabulary and grammar goals in one of the classes ? That'll help me deduce what level they're at.

If I know that, I can recommend some games.

[bluefrog]

He`s 7 years old. He`s a smart kid and picks up words fairly quickly.
The language goals are pretty basic actually. We try to teach them simple things like colors, numbers, animals, etc...