Job Discussion Forums

[just_a_mirage]

I am hoping that some of you might be able to help with with ideas for teaching a student of mine who is going blind. In a nutshell, he lost an eye to cancer several years ago, and now is losing sight in the remaining eye. He now has less than five percent vision. He has been my student for several years, since he had sight, and it is very difficult to see this, as he is only 15. I am now tutoring him, to augment his school work, as the goal is to get him speaking English well enough to study in the States. There are no schools for the blind here. As you can imagine, this has been devastating to this active young boy who loves sports and soccer. He is probably about a low intermediate or intermediate intermediate level. I am trying to think of activities we can do to improve his English. They will, for the most part have to be speaking activities as he does not know Braille or have any devices that assist sight impaired people. I would really appreciate any and all suggestions that any of you might have. He is a good kid, who has suffered a terrible blow, and I really want to help him succeed in life. He is very depressed, and I would like it if we cold find some activities he could enjoy while learning at the same time.

[microbabe]

Poor kid. I found this not sure if it is of use-

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/talk/questions/teaching-blind-students

Good luck,

micobabe

[spiral78]

Very sad. I've struggled with serious eyesight issues since childhood and your student's situation is among my greatest fears.
It must be very scary and frustrating for him - bravery is really needed in such a situation - I think the prospect of going to study abroad would be a great incentive for him.

On the language learning front:

Perhaps some useful listening and then discussion after?

Have you access to internet sound/video when teaching him?

I have successfully used short, predictable, repetitive clips like weather reports with students at this level. The Canadian Broadcasting company has archived some quite cool stuff called 'extreme weather' that is far more interesting than it might sound
Short sports clips might also be interesting to him. He can listen as many times as needed, and there are lots of discussion points available, both of linguistic and content aspects.
If there are prospects for him to study in the US, such listening could be really useful and perhaps motivate him a bit.

[HLJHLJ]

There's also lots of computer programmes available that could help, like screen readers. I know they are available for free in the UK, perhaps it's possible to download them for free anywhere? The voices are often a bit robotic sounding, and the word stress can be odd in them, so he might find it useful to practice using them, as he will likely be expected to use them if he studies abroad.

Edit: a quick search turned this up http://www.screenreader.net/ but there may be others.

[just_a_mirage]

Thank you so much for the ideas, I know they will help. I appreciate the time you gave to help me out with this. You guys are great!