Job Discussion Forums

[JimDunlop2]

This topic has come up a few times (I've instigated at least one thread)... Special needs junior high school students.

I've searched through Dave's and have come up with these threads:

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=9506
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=14691

And a cross-reference to a post on Genki English which deals primarily with special needs in the elementary school classroom　　(here):
http://www.genkienglish.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=229&highlight=mentally+handicapped

Unfortunately, I found the information there only marginally helpful. Other than the standard disclaimers to respect the self-esteem of special needs kids, and a few song/game suggestions I didn't find too much. (But maybe enough for a lesson or two). Also, I'd like to bust out of the Genkienglish materials mold a little too. The main focus IS gr. 1-6. I'd like to focus a bit more on gr. 7-12.

Further to that, I have spoken to all of my co-workers at the BoE who teach special needs to ask what they do with their students. I never get a concrete answer... Only: "some vocab, basic greetings, a few songs..." and that's about it. If I push the issuer, they also eventually admit (like me) that they muddle their way through the class each week and try to make the best of things each week.

My Japanese co-teachers are usually less than helpful themselves, because they are not trained in special-needs education, and more often than not, they themselves are dumped into the situation of teaching special needs and don't know where to begin. It's impossible to get info on what kind of condition the students have. After MUCH, MUCH probing, I discovered that this info is usually reserved for their homeroom teacher, and even HE doesn't really know what it means... All I know is that the students don't have anything obvious.. (Eg. Down's, autism, Asperger's, ADHD...) I have some students from those categories in my regular classes, and their conditions have even been pointed out to me by teachers... (Eg. "By the way, Hiroki has Asperger's. He and one other student in this school....")

Mudddling through classes is no way to teach. I'll be the first to admit: I'm no special needs teacher. I haven't been trained in it, nor do I enjoy teaching it. (I'm being brutally honest here). Neither have my co-workers. I'd say we're pretty much in the same boat. But I WOULD like to learn how to put together an age-appropriate junior high-school lesson.... (and curriculum). Many people, the least of whom are my Japanese co-teachers would appreciate it immensely!

I'm of the mind that just because someone is at a grade-1 intellectual level doesn't mean I should be teaching him the same way as an actual grade 1 student who is 6 years old.

So... Here's what I would really like....

- Some concrete lesson-plans or structured ideas that extend beyond just a few random suggestions.... (eg. "You could try: XYZ song or ABC game.") A model/sample lesson plan would be cool! (Even cooler if it included times allotted for each activity)...

- Some links to worksheets/materials/websites that deal with teaching ESL to mentally challenged individuals (preferably above elementary school level)

- Titles of books that may contain the above information (that I could purchase); titles of textbooks for the students to use (that would be age-appropriate)...


If you want to know specifically what I will be teaching...... I will be teaching a couple of lessons to a small group of grade 7-8 students this week. These will be their only English lessons this year, so I know I have to keep it small and simple. I've never taught them before but they know who I am because they've seen me at school all year. I've been told that they know their alphabet but can't read... They are at a grade 1 to 3 intellectual level, but at a much more advanced social level... The students even attend SOME regular classes with their peers (eg. music/choir rehearsals)... Hence my reluctance to use the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song, and similar materials. BTW, I'd prefer to get away from singing songs if at all possible...

I'd appreciate any input, especially from people like Lynn who seem to have had some good experience working with such students. Pls. feel freem to PM me if you wish...

Thanks in advance everyone,
JD

P.S. I've been going through the resources on ERIC... But it's a daunting task that will take me some time... It would be nice to have some "interrim" solutions as well -- hence the reason for my post.

[guest of Japan]

You're asking for a heck of a lot. My response is probably not what you are looking for. Special education is a very broad field in education. It includes life skills training for those with severe emotional, physical or behavioral handicaps. In situaltions where inclusion is possible the special education teacher is often placed in a supportive role. They merely help the students to attain the skills the regular classroom teacher gives. They also take on a more parental role in terms of disciplining and motivating.

Teacher training in the US has a lot emphasis put on dealing with mainstreamed students in the classroom. After reading about a dozen books you come a way with the feeling that nobody knows what really works.

Here are a few concrete ideas to walk away with.
- Keep learning tasks clear.
- Avoid busy work.
- Keep activities limited to a maximum time of 15 minutes.
- React to the situation not how the situation effects you emotionally.
- Provide positive extrinsic motivation.
- Encourage controlled movement in the classroom.

It seems to me that you are being asked to provide edutainment to make the parents happy. In this case I'd go with lots of games.
Try bingo (colors, numbers, animals), pictionary, really easy word searches, maybe some easy jazz chants, and some TPR activities.

I hope this helps.

[JimDunlop2]

guest: it's a start.... Thanks... I kinda gathered that there doesn't seem to be much consensus as to which methods are effective and that reading a dozen books would probably yield a dozen opinions....

The purpose here is not even to keep parents happy -- I work in the public school system -- it's more of an attempt to give the regular special needs teacher a "break" from teaching and to provide something a little new and interesting for the students -- a "break" from their daily routine... But yeah, in the end, I'd say that "edutainment" is a pretty good way to describe it.

[bearcat]

There is in my opinion, no "method" that is able to be all encompassingly effective. The reason being that even children with the same conditions can have a wide array of dificultives and challenges to learning. In essence you have to tailor things to each student's needs.

Additionally if those children are placed then into a mainstream classroom, each set of kids can vary in challenges with said child..... thus again making the need to customize things to cater to the specific classroom situation.

So for starters, I'd say treat each situations uniquely. Trial and error are to be expected and you cannot expect to be 100% effective (that's a perception as well btw).

[Celeste]

I teach a special ed. class at an elementary school (sorry, I don't teach junior high) and my usual lesson plan goes something like this:

Song - (lately we have been using "Let's sing Together" by Keiko Abe-Ford

Read book (I have a bunch of really easy little kid books- they can be used kind of like flash cards, but they are more interesting to the kids. I like flap books and rebus books because then the kids can participate a little more.)

Do TPR activity - This can be a touch it game (like simon says or Karuta) a gesture game( like charades or a version thereof) or even a follow the leader game.

Do individual seated activity- I use bingo, I use crafts, I use numbered grids and have the kids place the cards in order as I call them out. One thing that I would like to try is to do some of the "Emergent reader" books from www.enchantedlearning.com but I am not sure that my kids have quite the attention span for that.


Some problems that I run into:

Transition times. - SOme of my students have meltdowns when it is time to change activities. I get through this by telling them several minutes before we start that we will be doing XYZ next and then keep telling them every minute or so until it is time.

Attention craving - I have 15 kids in my special ed class and they have 2 teachers plus me plus the Japanese English teacher. They will still try and punch other kids if they feel they are not getting enough attention. I combat this by calling each of them by name regularly and giving lots of high fives. (a lot of my special ed. kids live in a care home, and they really want physical contact with their teachers. I have found that I have to head some of this off at the pass or I will be swamped with kids trying to hold on to me around my waist for the entire lesson.)


Noise sensitivity- one or two of the autistic kids freak out and take off flapping and running down the hallway if the class gets too noisy. I watch for signs of agitation and change to a whispering activity if I can see that we are getting close to someone pulling a runner.

Even the special education teachers that I work with don't know much about the kids' conditions. If they know, sometimes they won't tell. THey don't want people to dislike their students because of their conditions. (FRUSTRATING!!!!) We muddle along. Sometimes we have good days and the kids really learn a lot. Other days, we barely hold it together. It takes me about 4 lessons with the special ed class to teach a concept that my other classes would be bored with after one lesson. Still, I think it is worth it and I know the special ed kids are happier having their English class seperately from the regular classes. (THey used to just get dumped into a mainstream class for English time with the ALT, and this was disastrous. For the most part, they couldn;t keep up and the mainstream teachers wer not much help to them.)

[tomjones7]

I did the occasional Special Ed class at JHS, and basically prepared some lessons along the lines of elementary classes. Colours, numbers etc.
I included activities which got the students to draw or complete simple worksheets. This art-based activity seemed to go down well with them. They can then show the class their drawings etc.
Hey, you could even try Bingo !

The key is to make it simple and fun. Like an ES class, you are working with short attention spans.

Like a lot of english teaching in Japan, the purpose is to give them an enjoyable lesson, whilst hoping that a little language can stick. ESL it 'aint.

I'm sure others can give you meatier lesson plans but I hope this helps.

[JimDunlop2]

An update:

I just taught my first of two classes I'm going to have with this particular group. Please do keep the suggestions and tips coming. I am hoping that if anyone asks the same question on this forum in the future, we can refer to this thread for some good reference.

Here is the lesson plan that I used today. It's nothing too fancy or stimulating (compared to what I could've done) but it worked super-well. I don't know why, but my class was FANTASTIC! I would dare say that it was probably the best of any class I've had in Japan so far.... The students were super-enthusiastic (but listened to instructions and were quiet when the teacher told them to stop talking), and they were really eager to learn everything I showed them... You could film these kids and use them in an advert for a textbook.

I understand this sort of plan will not work for many "special needs" classes, but as I mentioned before, these students are socially at a fairly high level, and intellectually they know their alphabet 100% but are just barely beginning to be able to read easy words. I also noticed that two of the students have slight physical (facial) problems that afffects their speech... But not too badly.

Plan:
------
Class: Special needs: 3 students (2 in gr. 7, 1 in gr. 8.)

Materials: blank, white, cardboard flashcards (lined), photocopies of pgs. 2, 4-9 in the textbook.
Textbook: Let's Go 1 (Oxford University Press)


1. Greetings (2-3m)
- Teacher self-introduction (in English)
- student self-introduction (in Japanese)

2. Textbook: page 2 -- Hello/Hi. My name is___. What's your name. (5-7m)
- Repeating after the teacher
- Self introduction in English. Asking classmates: "What's your name?"

3. Textbook: pgs. 4-5. What's this? It's a _____. (10m)
- Vocabulary (using classroom objects.. Eg. ruler, book, pen)

4. Writing practice (5-7m)
- Teacher models writing a word on a lined cardboard flashcard; the first student to call out the word the teacher has written gets to copy that word onto a second, matching flashcard.

5. Memory game (15m)
- Using the word flashcards made by the teacher and students, play "Memory" where the students must turn over two cards at a time and keep them if they match.

6. Textbook (pg. 6-7) -- Is this a _____? Yes, it is. / No, it isn't. (5m)

7. Goodbyes. (1m)


Next lesson: Review of language concepts and vocab using memory game and word search puzzle; listening quiz on pg.9, if everything is OK, move on to color adjectives (Eg. This is a blue pen.)

So, if the next class goes as well as this one did, I'll be more than happy to teach them on a regular/semi-regular basis in the next term.

But please, keep the ideas/suggesions flowing. I also teach other special ed. classes that are NOWHERE NEAR the level of this one.... I have one JHS class where the kids can barely repeat what you say in Japanese, let alone English, and you can teach the same stuff over and over and they won't have remembered any of it (or very little). Then, I also teach a special-ed elementary class where the kids are literally bouncing off the walls, and I can TOTALLY 100% relate to Celeste's experience of having kids freak out, running down the halls "flapping" (and screaming at the top of their lungs at the same time).... (Happens often).