Tanja Nikolovski

Tanja Nikolovski, a special educator and defectologist with 41 years of professional experience, discusses her work at Ljudevita Pivka Primary School, which serves students with special needs. She has 15 years of experience teaching foreign languages, particularly English, to students with various learning difficulties, including dyslexia, autism, and speech disorders.

Tanja notes that her school receives increasingly complex cases, with students often arriving after struggling in mainstream schools. The most common learning difficulties she encounters include dyslexia, difficulties with pronunciation and writing, and general unmotivated behavior. She highlights the challenge of teaching students who have deficits in multiple areas and notes the difficulty in maintaining motivation among students who struggle with foreign languages.

Tanja uses a variety of methods to engage her students, including game-based learning, digital tools, and movement-based activities. She emphasizes the importance of making learning interactive and visually stimulating, given that most of her students are audio-visual learners. Although she has used tools like Kahoot, she finds that such competitive games are not always suitable for her students, who may become easily discouraged. Instead, she focuses on rewarding correct answers and making learning as engaging as possible through the use of pictures, PowerPoint presentations, and videos.

Due to the lack of specialized textbooks for children with special needs, Tanja and her colleagues often create their own materials, adapting them to meet the specific needs of their students. She stresses the importance of individualizing lessons and assessments, focusing on students’ strengths, whether in oral or written communication. However, she also acknowledges the challenges of preparing individual materials for each student due to time constraints and the diverse needs within her classes.

Tanja has largely relied on self-education, using the internet and resources from international projects to improve her teaching skills. She points out the lack of specialized training for teaching foreign languages to students with special needs, suggesting that more opportunities in this area would be beneficial.

Tanja’s experience underscores the importance of creativity, adaptability, and patience in teaching foreign languages to students with special needs. Despite the challenges, she is committed to finding ways to help her students succeed.