Abstract
While many children learn foreign languages with ease, and gain much pleasure from the experience, others struggle with frequent failures and frustrations. Learning in an inclusive classroom should mean feeling comfortable in a supportive atmosphere of peer acceptance and teacher support. However, pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) do not always receive the kind of support they really need, which might be a result of the interplay between many contributing factors, ranging from inadequate preparation by novice teachers to children’s severe cognitive and physical limitations, which can be challenging to manage. The present paper reports on a part of an action-research study, the purpose of which was to discern what types of teaching aids and techniques were the most appropriate in an inclusive educational setting. The participants were 28 lower-primary children (aged 7–10) diagnosed with SEN. By and large, the learners’ preferred techniques also proved to be the most effective in terms of their lexical development.
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Appendix: Thematic Units for Grades 1 and 3
Appendix: Thematic Units for Grades 1 and 3
Topic | Predominant teaching techniques | Language taught | Achievement tests |
|---|---|---|---|
1st Grades | |||
1. Clothes | Using realia | 7 nouns: a T-shirt, a dress, a sweater, a skirt, trousers, shoes, socks 1 phrase: I’m wearing… | 2 vocabulary tests: passive (pointing) + active knowledge (naming) Oral test: What are you wearing? |
2. Animals | Multisensory shared-reading and storytelling experience | 7 nouns: a giraffe, a lion, a peacock, a monkey, a parrot, a hyena, an elephant | 2 vocabulary tests: passive + active knowledge |
3. Watch! | Watching short videos | 8 adjectives: afraid, hungry, cold, fast, slow, tired, sad, happy | 2 vocabulary tests: passive + active knowledge |
4. Three Little Pigs | Acting out role-plays, being engaged in drama activities | 9 nouns: a pig, a wolf, a house, a chimney, a pot, straw, wood, brick, fire Onomatopoeia: huff, puff | 2 vocabulary tests: passive + active knowledge Oral test: jak robił wilk? (what would the wolf do?) |
5. Jobs | Gesture rhymes | Phrases: Yes, I have; No, I haven’t. | Oral test: have you got a letter for me? |
6. English Around Us | Making vocabulary associations | 9 lexical items: sprite, twist, Milky Way, monster, munch, orbit, dove, signal, play | ENG-PL, PL-ENG oral-translation tests |
7. Easter | Arts & crafts activities | 5 nouns (shapes): a circle, a triangle, a square, a heart, a star | 2 vocabulary tests: passive (drawing according to instructions) + active knowledge |
8. Senses | Sensory stimulation (e.g., looking, hearing, smelling, tasting touching) | 5 verbs: to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, to touch, A rhyme: Five senses every day To learn and play See, hear, smell, touch, taste No time to waste! | 2 vocabulary tests: passive (illustrating the senses with gestures) + active knowledge Oral test: rhyme recitation |
9. I Can | Singing TPR songs | 6 verbs: to jump, to swim, to ride, to read, to play, to sing; 3 nouns: a guitar, a song, a bike | 2 vocabulary tests: passive + active knowledge |
10. Smelling Bottles | Dual sensory stimulation (olfactory and visual) | 5 nouns: honey, tea, coffee, coconut, pepper | 2 vocabulary tests: passive + active knowledge |
3rd Grades | |||
1. Materials | Using realia | 9 nouns: paper, wood, wool, metal, leather, clay, wax, plastic, glass | 2 vocabulary tests: passive + active knowledge |
2. Valentine’s Day | Arts & crafts activities | 9 nouns: a card, a heart, a potato, a rose, a stamp, a box, an envelope, chocolate, paint | 2 vocabulary tests: passive + active knowledge |
3. Travel | Watching short videos | 9 nouns: a train, a plane, a car, a boat, a bike, a ticket, a station, a trip, an airport | 2 vocabulary tests: passive + active knowledge |
4. Countries | Listening to music | 8 names of countries: Poland, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, the United States of America, France, Spain, Italy | 2 vocabulary tests: passive + active knowledge |
5. Senses | Sensory stimulation (e.g., looking, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching) | 5 verbs: to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, to touch A rhyme: Five senses every day To learn and play See, hear, smell, touch, taste No time to waste! | 2 vocabulary tests: passive (illustrating the senses with gestures) + active knowledge Oral test: rhyme recitation |
6. Cartoon Characters | Making vocabulary associations | 9 lexical items: Goofy, Daisy, Tom, Chip, Dale, Pixie, Dixie, Tramp, Lady | ENG-PL (written), PL-ENG (oral) translation tests |
7. Picnic | Acting out role-plays, being engaged in drama activities | 7 exclamations: Hurray! Go! Yummy! I love grapes! I love sweets! I love juice! What a great picnic! | Oral role-play test + Dialogue-completion test (writing/spelling) |
8. Days of the Week | Singing songs | 7 nouns: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday | Oral vocabulary test (active knowledge) + spelling test (dictation) |
9. Shop** | Simulating real life-like situations | 3 alliterations: cheddar cheese, French fries, broad beans 5 everyday phrases: Good morning, Can I have…, Please, Thank you, Goodbye | 2 vocabulary tests: passive + active knowledge Oral role-play test |
10. Summer Holidays | Reading | (Text entitled “My plans for the summer holidays.”) | Reading/comprehension test |
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Król-Gierat, W. (2021). Learning Preferences of SEN Children in an Inclusive English Classroom. In: Rokita-Jaśkow, J., Wolanin, A. (eds) Facing Diversity in Child Foreign Language Education. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66022-2_7
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