Students with Special Needs in the Language Classroom Essay examples --

Students with Special Needs in the Language Classroom Students that show the need for special education are those who have more difficulties that the rest of the students in understanding curriculum that is at their age level. Reasons for the difficulties could be the result of a series of internal causes or the result of an inadequate educational approach. To overcome these deficiencies, the student needs a series of conditions that offer special adaptations to ordinary curriculum, such as including a list of specific resources that the students can use that differ than those which the school offers on a daily basis. The language teacher has to pay special attention to the use of written and oral language in the foreign language in the classroom. There are effective motivation devices that, with correct use, help the slower learners include themselves in the progress of the class, as well as ensure that the gifted students do not lose time or get bored. There are also useful devices for those studetns with special needs; in carefully selected materials they can find the help necessary to reach the objectives layed out for their situation. The teacher should pull the maximum benefit from the interaction among students through performing and acting out role-plays, readings, recordings or songs, description of illustrations, photographs, etc. Also the teacher could find beneficial the oral comprehension exercises, in which the students must find some particular information. The teacher must consider that the student's learning difficulties mainly have interactive origins. This means that the difficulties depend as much on the student's own characteristics as on the environment in which the student de... ...rn themselves into investigators by reflecting on their own actions, primarily thinking about: * If they adapt the course contents to the levels of the students, with the lessons being taught more or less to the middle level of the group * If they teach specific lessons for students with special needs * If they apply the curriculum openly, concentrating on the students' interests * If they study at great length every situation that arises in the classroom * If continuous attention is given to diversity in curriculum diversivication programs * If the faculty's suport is necessary to carry out the personalized attention * If they use materials other than the textbook * If they look into psycho-pedagogical studies * If they carry out and use the results from the initial evaluation as an information source for future action