1. 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

2. 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

3. Understanding students’ needs 1.Making no assumptions 2.Starting from where they are 3.Linking assessment to teaching 4.Providing choices

4. Part One: Using some diagnostic tools

5. Letter name / sound

6. High frequency words

7. Blending / Phonogram CNA an

8. Syllabification

9. Reading comprehension

16. 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. 17 Prescriptive Teaching a. Raising phonological awareness in tasks

18. 18 b. Putting sight words in model sentences http://www.hkrsstpss.edu.hk/subject/English/ sightwords.php

19. 19 c. Raising students’ awareness of sight words in texts

20. 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. 21

22. 22 Setting questions based on Bloom’s taxonomy Easy or Difficult?

23. 23 Easy or Difficult?

24. 24 Easy or Difficult?

25. 25 3. Use of visual cues / graphic organizers

26. 26 a. Turning a mind map into art

27. 27

28. 28 b. Using mind map in exam

29. 29 Think-Pair-Share (5) Based on this composition, what skills do you think the student has learnt?

30. 30 4. Allowing Multiple Representations

31. 31

32. 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. 33 5. Promoting learner autonomy and peer encouragement

34. Think-Pair-Share (2) Describe what you saw in the video Which scene impresses you most? Why?

35. 35 6. Task analysis Step-by-step approach to completing a meaningful task a. Multi-media input

36. 36 b. Vocabulary building through researching on the Internet

37. 37 c. Using a mind map to organize ideas

38. 38 d. Use of Q/A to promote sentence writing

39. 39 e. From sentences to passages (an oral presentation)

40. 40 f. Peer assessment

41. 41 7. Designing authentic learning activities Sending a post card

42. 42 8. Computer-assisted learning

43. 43 9. Building on Student Strengths Have you ever seen H.W. like this? What would be your response?

44. 44

45. 45 Dictation

46. 46 Short writing （ H.W. ）

47. Think-pair-share (3) What does the above case tell us? What could be the success factors in motivating students to learn?

48. 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

49. Capitalizing on students’ strengths

50. References 1.Reading a-z http://www.readinga-z.com/http://www.readinga-z.com/ 2.Scholastic Phonics Booster Books 3.Ben Fax Saves the Day, Fast Forward, Thomson Nelson 4.Raz-Kids.com

51. Thank you