Catering for Learner Diversity in the Primary English

Catering for Learner Diversity in the Primary English Classroom Language Learning Support Section Education Bureau 10 th March 2015 1

Programme rundown Part I Introduction - What is learner diversity (LD)? - Why do we need to cater for LD? Part II Strategies on how to cater for LD: - Varying material design - Varying teaching process Part III Catering for learner diversity in reading and writing lessons in everyday teaching Part IV Conclusion 2

Part I Introduction What is learner diversity (LD)? Why do we need to cater for LD? 3

What causes differences in learning? Age Personality Gender Ability? Interests Learning styles Intelligence Motivation Learning strategies Socio-cultural background Life experience 4

1. Do teachers use the same strategy to teach all students and students have to adapt to the way teachers teach or fail? 2. Do teachers use a wider variety of teaching strategies to meet the needs of different students? http: //www. eenet. org. uk/resources/docs/square_holes. php 5

Part II: Strategies on how to cater for LD HOW can we cater for learner diversity? What do schools do in order to cater for learner diversity? 6

Catering for learner diversity at different levels Curriculum Development Institute, EDB, 2007 Systemic Level Guidance and exemplars provided by C&A Guides, EMB 334 web Funding and support provided (e. g. staffing, grants, professional development) School Organisation Level Wide choice of subjects, Ap. L courses & OLE Forming a task force to co-ordinate and lead Ethos building to value diversity and individual differences, as well as uniformity School Curriculum Level Human Resource Deployment: e. g. Identify the core and extended / elective parts of the curriculum for different students • A dual class teacher system • Assign a teacher to one level instead of a range of levels • Arrange a teacher to the Learning & Teaching / Assessment strategies: e. g. Multi-level activities, coconstruction, learning portfolios Student Motivating strategies same class for 3 years • Employ teacher assistants Extended timetable for remedial • Student learning profile to record progress (formative) • Recognise non-academic achievements and participation in report cards Enhancement programmes for more able Make adaptation to assessment, e. g. separate core and extended content in the assessment papers, introducing challenging questions in exam Strengthen communication with parents on student progress Professional Development Opportunities and Assessment to motivate learning Developing interdependent, collaborative learning community; celebrating diversity Flexible groupings Devising a Whole-school Policy • Pedagogy, Environment Class / group Level • Forming learning support team KLA / Panels devise plans to cater student diversity Strategic plan (e. g. 3 yr plan) Modification, tailoring or differentiation within the subject, OLE Learn from other teachers by sharing, peer observation, reflection on lessons and student feedback Timetabling Partnership with community to motivate student participation in a wide range of learning activities and competitions Facilities, Physical conditions for appropriate learning environment 7

What effective strategies have you or your colleagues adopted to cater for learner diversity? Have you … q used different contents set on the same theme? q set graded materials and different tasks? q varied task requirements? q varied the format of questions (e. g. MC, cloze, Qs requiring short or long answers)? q given students choices (e. g. additional practice, level of challenge, modes of expression)? q asked questions of various challenge levels? q presented information in a variety of media (e. g. diagrams, colour -coding)? q arranged multi-sensory activities? q provided learning scaffolds for your students? 8 q used flexible grouping techniques?

Learner differences Set realistic expectations Vary teaching materials Vary teaching process Stretch the potentials of all students 9

Addressing LD at the classroom level Vary • Readiness teaching • Interest materials Vary teaching process 10

The Equalizer (Carol Ann Tomlinson “How to Differentiate Instruction for Mixed Ability Classrooms”) Foundational Transformational More structured More open Simple Complex Fewer facets More facets Smaller leaps Greater leaps Concrete Abstract Slower Quicker Less independent More independent 11

Set 1 Ss read a story taken from The New Pandora’s Box – The Accidental Time-Travellers A • Fewer words • Simpler sentence structures • Familiar vocabulary • Fewer ideas and events • Without many details B • More words • Complex sentence structures • Unfamiliar vocabulary • Multiple ideas and events • With more details 12

A B Less able More able Simple Complex 13

Less able More able No. of words • Fewer • 32 words • More • 119 words Sentence structures • Simpler • ‘He whispered to Jolly…’ • More complex • ‘One morning before the assembly, he whispered to Jolly in the classroom, …’ Vocabulary • Whispered • Complained + Monsters from ancient Greece + Special personalities + Assembly + Upset Ideas and events • Fewer • Without background information • One monster: Laziness • Multiple • Two paragraphs giving the background • Two monsters: Laziness & Naughtiness Details • With more • Laziness never did his homework by himself. He slept and ate all day. 14 • Jolly went to the staff room and • Without many • Laziness never did his homework by himself. • Jolly complained to Ms Cheung.

Content differentiated BUT inclusion of all the target language items A C B Reporting verbs to write dialogues, e. g. ‘whispered’, ‘shouted’, ‘complained’ Modal verbs, e. g. ‘can’, ‘should’ Reflexive pronouns: yourself 15

Set 2 Write about the TV programmes that you like and don’t like in at least 80 words A • Definite pre- determined patterns, format or steps • Fewer options B • Making decisions about the process and the product • More options 16

• Definite pre-determined patterns, format or steps Writing is divided into 4 paragraphs A • Fewer options What to write in each paragraph is governed by the words/phrases given Introduction: Who & What Body: Programmes I like - How many (2) - What they are (names) - Why I like them (reasons) - What I think (opinion) Body: Programmes I don’t like - How many (2) - What they are (names) - Why I don’t like them (reasons) - What I think (opinion) A conclusion to end the presentation 17

• Making decisions about the process and the product B • More options Students can decide: - How many paragraphs to write - What to write - How to write Not necessarily in the order of: - name of the programme - reasons - what they think No prompts are provided 18

A Structured Open B C 19

Set 3 Read the story about Lucy and answer the questions A Allow students to work on a topic/concept more slowly Include fewer concepts B Move students quickly through familiar or minimally challenging material 20

Same: Time allowed for A and B: 10 mins No. of questions: 7 Different: A: 7 MC Qs B: 5 MCs = 2 long Qs B A Version 1: 7 MC Qs 21

Set 4 A Tell what the different characters in the story “Jack & the Beanstalk” did in the story Deal with key information about a topic/an area of study, more specific events, or tangible ideas Represent ideas in a way that students can learn through the senses B Focus more on the meanings, implications, principles or interrelationships of the information/ideas/events 22

A 5 pictures from the story B Pictures are provided to help Ss visualize what the lines say Tangible ideas Ss can learn through the sense of seeing Focus more on the meanings of the information Ss’ comprehension of the points based purely on understanding of the words 23

Set 5 Describe the characters in a story (name, picture, one or two sentences to describe each character) A Give more teacher assistance e. g. modelling B Give little teacher help 24

A Give more T assistance by providing practice in relevant sentence patterns Ask Ss to go straight into writing the sentences B Picture of Penny 25

+ + + Material or Worksheet Design 26

Example 1 Writing Task: “Fight the Virus” Ss have to read an episode of a phone-in radio programme: a worried mom rang to ask Dr Wong what she should do to help her son stay strong You have to tell your son to exercise regularly. Moreover, he should eat more fruit and vegetables so that he can get more vitamins and minerals. Then he’ll get stronger. Ss have to invent a machine to help fight the virus Exercise Ss study the topic they Eating choice are interested in 27

Students’ Inventions se i c r Exe hine c a M ck o r on ing b m i l c Healthy Food M achine: 1. The m achine can turn snacks into hea lthy food. 2. If yo u pour water i it, it wil n l turn (i t) to energy and (sta rt the machin e. ) 28

Group writing: Choose the group’s favourite food for the school picnic and introduce it Example 2 Think of: what you want to eat at the school picnic how much the food costs why you want to buy the food 29

Choose the group’s favourite food for the school picnic and introduce it Then finish the shopping list Write notes about your choice Present your ideas to your classmates 30

Task: Making a pictionary on “Food” P 1 students worked in groups and members of each group chose food they like to eat. ch oic e Members contributed to areas they are good at (drawing, sentence writing) int ere st Example 3 a 31

Task: Making a class dictionary Ss can select the words they want to learn more about • • Words/phrases Parts of speech Meanings Sentences from: Textbook/ Dictionary Example 3 b 32