April 9th 2018
Ahead of the 2018 IATEFL conference in Brighton, the IP&SEN SIG held a one-day event: “Reaching Out to students with SEBD and sensory differences”. These were our 4 great speakers (click on the name to see the presentations, where available):
Marie Delaney – Teaching the unteachable – From reaction to reflection
Poor attachment, loss and trauma can leave students feeling unsafe and unable to learn. Understanding, recognising and breaking these patterns allows us to unlock learning blocks and change behaviour.
Maha Khochen-Bagshaw – Building inclusive classrooms for all learners, including those with vision impairment (VI)
Learners with VI are a diverse group needing access to information and quality education. A collaborative approach and differentiation can support inclusion, while the use of assistive technology has pros and cons.
Greater deaf awareness benefits all students, and hearing assistive technology can also reduce stress in students who have Autism. Learning sign language can help students acquire English faster and can be included in the classroom routine.
Rachael Harris – Bringing it all together: A translation workshop
In this final workshop participants drew on what they had learnt throughout the day, as well as their personal experience, in order to anticipate difficulties and then “translate” a variety of common classroom activities into more Inclusive activities that would support and stretch the learning of all students in the class.
SIG Showcase Day
April 10th 2018
The first day of IATEFL was our chance to have a thread running through the whole day exploring different aspects of inclusive practice. Our speakers for the day were:
Kieran Donaghy – Values and short films in language teaching
Damian Cunniffe – How teachers can take the lead in SEN
Eva Wilden – Inclusive primary TEFL in an innovative school: An evaluation study
Emily Hodge – Differentiation at the heart of the inclusive classroom
Marie Delaney – Challenging behaviour as an SEN: Teaching students with behavioural difficulties
Giovanni Licata – Queering your pedagogy: Teachers’ queries out of the closet
At the end of the day we also had an Open Forum where we discussed SIG activity over the past and coming years, and discussing the issue of bullying through interactive role-plays.