TEFL Carrollton New York

Learning Difficulties (23) Adults and children struggle with learning difficulties; with children learning a second language, you will be closer to the process of the student developing his/her own ways of learning and figuring out ways to still master the material. With adults, it has been many years since they had to develop their own language learning tools, so they may forget what tools or tricks they need, in order to supplement what is being taught in the classroom. Additionally, simply looking at the student's difficulty is too limited; teachers and administrators need to look at the student's strengths and “islands of competence,” as well. If possible, develop a teaching plan for the whole class or individualized plan for the particular student which plays to the student's strengths. Before submitting the student's name to the school's learning disability process, tefl teachers face an extra obstacle: avoiding a response along the lines of “the student is fine, s/he just isn't good at english.” In order to avoid this, tefl teachers need to figure out what the problem is and determine the source. After this, the teacher, student and parents should meet together to develop a plan and a follow-up date to see how well the plan worked. If this does not help, then submitting the student to the school's learning disability referral process is the next course of action and possible enrollment in Special Education. Because of the stigma this may carry in how the student is perceived by family and peers, and the stigma the parents may feel in the eyes of the community, this referral should not be taken lightly. If a student must be submitted for testing for a learning disability, the parents should be consulted to provide a detailed history of the student's learning throughout life: age at which the student began crawling, walking, speaking, retaining new vocabulary, writing, etc. The parents will also be needed for any medical or psychological evaluations the school would like the student to receive. The school must also ensure that the parents understand both the process and their rights in the process, so that they can make a well-informed, thought-out decision about how best to proceed on behalf of their child's best interests. If a referral is made, the student should be tested in his/her native language and tested on all four language skill areas. Doing this test will help determine if the difficulty is only attributed to the student's learning of english or exists in the native language, as well. The test should also cover “nonverbal intelligence,” cultural factors which may inhibit the student's learning, and cultural bias in the test itself—which would predispose certain students toward success and others toward failure. No matter the findings on the examination, it is important for teachers and administrators to remember that the test does not determine the student's potential for success in life or predict the student's ability for learning other information. Parents should be told this, as well, so that they do not become discouraged over the student's abilities, think their child is “stupid,” or give up on previously-held dreams for their child's future. If a designated Special Education department or classroom does not exist, the best course of action for the teacher would be working with the school administration, student and family to develop a plan for how to help the student better learn and retain the information being covered in the class, as well as how to shape future lesson plans toward working around the student's difficulties and playing toward the student's strengths, so long as this does not hinder other students' learning abilities.