Country Studied: Spain
Area of Focus: Blind and visually impaired children
Type of learner the Best Practice is supporting:
- Blind children and children with vision impairment.
Aims and objectives of Best Practice
The objective of these summer courses is to offer blind and visually impaired young people the opportunity to take a summer course in English. In addition, the opportunity is also offered to carry out exchanges and take this course in England, and even carry out exchanges with young English people so that they in turn can learn Spanish.
Although the main objective is to provide young people with vision difficulties the same opportunities as the rest of the young people to learn a language and provide them with an important tool for their future, it should be noted that the program has an equally important secondary objective: Offer these young people the possibility of meeting people, socializing and giving them an enriching personal experience that improves their autonomy and self-esteem.
The academic content is combined with outdoor recreational and cultural activities with the collaboration of instructors with knowledge of English. The academic activity lasts six hours a day, completing 60 hours per seminar. This initiative is fully subsidized by ONCE and aims to promote the training and integration of people with disabilities.
Short descriptor of Best Practice
For more than 20 years, since 1999, the organization ONCE (National Organization of the Spanish Blind) has been organizing intensive English courses in Galicia. But they do not only organize this intensive course. Over the years, different initiatives have been added:
-The Educational Resources Center (CRE) of the ONCE in Madrid organizes a meeting to approach the English language and culture, in which 24 young people (between 18 and 21 years old) who are blind and visually impaired will participate: twelve members of the ELEVEN from all over Spain, and as many young people, cared for by the Royal National College for the Blind of Hereford (in the United Kingdom). The activities of a cultural, leisure and coexistence nature, will be maintained entirely in English, and they will seek the twinning of the cultures of both countries.
-In the CRE of the Organization in Pontevedra, intensive English courses are developed for the promotion and improvement of languages of 60 students, between 12 and 17 years old: 49 affiliated, six non-affiliated and five blind from countries in the south of the Union European (EU). These are 60-hour courses organized according to the age and level of the participants.
-In the same framework of the Pontevedra CRE, the first exchange phase is carried out between 10 affiliated students (eight girls and two boys), between 15 and 17 years old and with an intermediate command of English, and as many blind students from the National Council for the Blind Ireland (NCBI).
– Finally, the coastal town in the south of England hosts the intensive English course organized every year by the ONCE CRE in Alicante for a group of 12 students from all over Spain (six girls and six boys), between 14 and 17 years old. In the activity, there is collaboration with the Valencian Youth Institute (IVAJ), within its youth tourism program “Language Courses Abroad”.
3 Key learning Principles that were used in this Best Practice to support learners with LD
- Give individualized attention.
- Student-centered methodology.
- Promote the use assistive technology.
- Adapt the rhythm of the classes.
- Adapt the English material to our students.
- Give a lot of importance to emotional intelligence.
- Motivate the student and focus in self-esteem.
- Promote autonomy and independency.
Strategies used as part of Best Practice
- Individualized Learning Plans and assistive technologies.
- Built on an deep knowledge about blindness and vision difficulties.
- Guidance on creating and implementing individualized learning plans.
- Use of a lot of alternative and adapted material.
- Very well prepared teachers.
- Adaptation and creation of specific class material.
- Adaptation and evolution of the methodology, technologies and material thorough the years.
The methodology used in the English improvement courses held at the CRE of Pontevedra is eclectic, that is, the different currents of foreign language teaching are combined: direct or natural method, communicative, traditional, audio-oral, etc., extracting the most interesting aspects appropriate to the characteristics of all those attending the course. Of all these aspects we will highlight the most important one, which is the use of the foreign language as a vehicular language, not only in the classroom but also in recreational activities and audiovisual activities, that is, providing students with total linguistic immersion, which constitutes the basis of a good learning.
Results and impact
It is worth highlighting the great motivation and involvement of the students, who are aware of the characteristics of the course, frequently using English as a vehicular language not only in the classroom but also in recreational activities. This, together with the didactic approach designed by the teachers, has meant that these courses constitute not only a didactic experience, but also a highly satisfactory and enriching human experience for the teachers.
As an example, we collect a testimony from one of the teachers of this course: “I don’t know very well how to define or explain all the experiences that I have from these years, but I suppose that one of the most important things for me are the memories and the lessons that all the kids in the course have given me, their enthusiasm, their strength, their energy and so many times maturity. The truth is that I feel very lucky for everything that I have taken with me throughout these years, the entire team center (who make me feel at home), English teachers and all those beautiful instructors with whom I have shared unforgettable moments, those of today and those of yesterday, so many classmates who, like the boys, have made me grow, smile and dream.”
Evidence as to why this was considered Good Practice
The program has been in operation for more than 20 years, and every year the demand has grown.
Over the years, not only has the number of places available increased, but the types of courses offered have diversified.
The level of satisfaction among participants, family members and teachers remains very high.
Resources used as part of Best Practice
- https://www.once.es/dejanos-ayudarte/la-discapacidad-visual/revista-red-visual/numeros-anteriores-revista-integracion/2014-integracion-63/Cursos-de-ingles-para-jovenes-discapacitados-visuales-en-Pontevedra
- https://portal.once.es/empleado/publicaciones/asi-somos/asi-somos-1/asi-somos-174/once-por-dentro/campamentos-deportivos-cursillos-de-ingles-y-de-formacion-un-verano-para-crecer-disfrutando
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