1

Franky Poon, Vice Principal

HKRSS Tai Po Secondary School

Starting from who they are:Understanding and designing strategies that support

underachievers in the English classroom

Objectives

• To introduce some diagnostic tools to assess students’ language awareness and readiness levels

• To suggest strategies which support diverse learning needs in an inclusive classroom

Understanding students’ needs

1. Making no assumptions

2. Starting from where they are

3. Linking assessment to teaching

4. Providing choices

Part One:

Using some diagnostic tools

Letter name / sound

High frequency words

Blending / Phonogram

C N A

a n

Syllabification

Reading comprehension

16

Part Two: Supporting SpLD students in an inclusive setting

1. diagnostic-prescriptive teaching

2. differentiated materials / learning tasks

3. visual cues / graphic organizers

4. multiple representations

5. strategies to promote learner autonomy and peer encouragement

6. task analysis techniques

7. authentic learning activities

8. computer-assisted learning (CAL)

9. student strengths as the starting point

17

Prescriptive Teaching

a. Raising phonological awareness in tasks

18

b. Putting sight words in model sentences

http://www.hkrsstpss.edu.hk/subject/English/sightwords.php

19

c. Raising students’ awareness of sight words in texts

2. differentiated materials / learning tasks

Read the following pages and set three comprehension questions:

1. One for the strongest

2. One for the average

3. One for the weakest

21

22

Setting questions based on Bloom’s taxonomy

Easy or Difficult?

23

Easy or Difficult?

24

Easy or Difficult?

25

3. Use of visual cues / graphic organizers

26

a. Turning a mind map into art

27

28

b. Using mind map in exam

29

Think-Pair-Share (5)

Based on this composition, what skills do you think the student has learnt?

30

4. Allowing Multiple Representations

31

32

Multiple representations and Creativity

Think-Pair-Share (1)

What is creativity?

Do you think this piece of student work is creative? Why or why not?

Can students with limited language proficiency be creative?

What kind of learning tasks can nurture creativity among students?

33

5. Promoting learner autonomy and peer encouragement

Think-Pair-Share (2)

• Describe what you saw in the video

• Which scene impresses you most? Why?

35

6. Task analysis

Step-by-step approach to completing a meaningful task

a. Multi-media input

36

b. Vocabulary building through researching on the Internet

37

c. Using a mind map to organize ideas

38

d. Use of Q/A to promote sentence writing

39

e. From sentences to passages (an oral presentation)

40

f. Peer assessment

41

7. Designing authentic learning activities

• Sending a post card

42

8. Computer-assisted learning

43

9. Building on Student Strengths

Have you ever seen H.W. like this?

What would be your response?

44

45

Dictation

46

Short writing（ H.W.）

Think-pair-share (3)

What does the above case tell us?

What could be the success factors in motivating students to learn?

48

A question to take away …..

Poon, K.C. & Lin, A (2011) “Creating a School Programme to Cater for Learner Diversity: A Dialog between a School Administrator and an Academic”

Social Justice Language Teacher Education, Channel View Publications

Capitalizing on students’ strengths

References

1. Reading a-z http://www.readinga-z.com/

2. Scholastic Phonics Booster Books

3. Ben Fax Saves the Day, Fast Forward, Thomson Nelson

4. Raz-Kids.com

Thank you