Professional Development Programme, 2017
Effec:ve Strategies for Catering for Learner Diversity in the Primary
English Classroom
Benjamin Moorhouse and Simon Chan English Language Educa:on Division,
Faculty of Educa:on, The University of Hong Kong benmoorh@hku.hk
Workshop Objec:ves
1. Planning and designing units and lessons to cater for diverse learning needs using the teaching, learning and assessment cycle
2. Incorpora:ng effec:ve learning and teaching strategies into the classroom to create a
holis:c learning environment for English through differen:ated instruc:on
3. Providing learners’ choices to develop
student ownership and learner autonomy
Run Down
1. Learner diversity and previous / current prac:ces 2. Learning and assessment cycle
3. Differen:ated instruc:on 3. Providing choice
4. Hands on task – Pick ‘n Mix ac:vity 5. Q and A
Let’s start with a video
• We are going to watch a short film called ‘The Present’
• I want you to watch and write down your opinions about the boy.
• h^ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=whh0MQZ4Q2A
What is ‘learner diversity?’
In the classroom, "diversity” applies to learning styles, background , educa:onal backgrounds, language, and support at home.
“ The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each
individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences…” (University of Oregon's Johnson Hall, 1999)
• “Learner differences have tradi:onally been understood as differences in ‘ability’, a fixed, cogni:ve characteris:c of students. The shin now is to ‘capability’ which focuses on each student’s poten:al” (Scarino & Liddicoat, 2009)
Differences in Learning Styles
• Visual Learner
– Prefer to find informa:on from a video rather than listening to someone
– Think of ideas and informa:on in pictures – Like to draw and illustrate work
• Auditory Learner
– Prefer to listen to obtain informa:on
– Do not like to read lots of factual informa:on
– Remember informa:on by talking aloud and discussing in groups
• Kinesthe:c Learner
– Prefer to discuss informa:on while they are learning it – Prefer to learn by role-play and ac:ng
– Prefer to learn by building models and making things Other learning styles: verbal / logical / social / solitary
Differences in Social Interac:on
• Avoidant learner
– Takes li^le responsibility for own learning
• Par:cipa:ve learner
– Accepts responsibility for own learning and relate well to others
• Compe::ve learner
– Compete for rewards / recogni:on and suspicious of peers
• Collabora:ve learner
– Work in harmony with peers
• Independent learner
– Prefer to work alone and require li^le direc:on
Other Differences
a) Interest – mo:va:on, artude
b) Readiness – a^en:on span, age and maturity c) Ability – linguis:c differences, SEN
d) Personality – introvert, extrovert
e) Social - race, religion, family background f) Gender
• finding out why students do not learn well and why some learn be^er than others
• using appropriate strategies to make each student learn be^er, including removing barriers to learning
• not intended to even out abili:es and
performances, but to enable all students to
learn and perform to the best of their abili:es.
(CDC, 2002)
Curriculum and Diversity
• “Catering for learner diversity through developing a wide range of open-ended
learning tasks and ac:vi:es, and employing
teaching strategies that suit the specific needs of both less able and more able learners, as
well as the needs of learners with different learning styles” (CDC, 2004, p.5)
Previous Prac:ces
• Teach to the middle
• Teacher directed whole class instruc:on with students passively receiving informa:on
• Rare group work or ac:ve learning
• Standardized lockstep instruc:on
• Regular high-stake tests
Two students – Same Class Different Experiences
• Kate comes from a middle class family. She went to an English
medium kindergarten, has an English speaking domes:c helper and a^ends aner school English classes twice a week. She loves reading English books and her favourite author is ‘Roald Dahl.’
• Hugo lives with his mother and grandmother. They are new arrivals from Mainland China. No one in his family speaks English. He learnt the alphabet song in kindergarten.
• Both students get allocated to the same class in a local primary
school. Aner about a month, the students have their first dicta:on.
Kate scores 100 and Hugo scores 15. Kate receives a reward. Hugo has to copy the words he got wrong three :mes.
– What impact could this experience have on Kate and Hugo? (views towards English, artude, mo:va:on, engagement, social
rela:onships)
– What assump:ons might the teacher have about Kate and Hugo? Are these assump:ons fair?
– What changes could be made to help accommodate the needs of both Kate and Hugo in the same class?
Equality vs Equity
• Equality in the classroom – Everyone is
treated the same regardless of background and abili:es.
• Equity in the classroom - Factors specific to person or group should not interfere with their poten:al for academic success.
Mindset of a teacher who differen:ates
• All students have areas of strength
• All students have areas that need to be strengthened
• Each students brain and body is unique
• It is never too late to learn
• Students bring their own prior knowledge and experiences to everything they do
• Emo:ons, feelings and artudes affect learning
• Students learn in different ways at different :mes
Adapted from Gregory & Chapman, 2013
• To effec:vely cater for our learners, what is the first thing we need to do?
We need to really know our learners well
Learning, teaching and assessment cycle
CDC, 2004, p.192 Gerng to know our students’
individual differences
• Academic achievement?
• Interest?
• Artude?
• Learning style?
• …
Differen:ated Instruc:on
• Content (What is taught) ! Focus on core parts of unit and vary them to meet need or readiness of learner - quan:ty, complexity, support given, task requirements
• Process (How it is taught) ! Flexible groupings, more or less scaffolding, interest centres, provide extra :me
• Product (How students demonstrate their learning) ! Open-
ended tasks - Give op:ons of how students can demonstrate their learning, use rubrics, allow students to work alone or in groups,
word processes vs handwrite, differen:ated dicta:on and/or exams
• Learning environment (The way the classroom feels) ! Create a language rich suppor:ve environment, develop rou:nes, set out clear guidelines, make learners aware that their classmates have different needs (Tomlinson, 1995)
Assessment
Differen:ated Instruc:on in Ac:on Vocabulary Learning
Learning
Environment
In different areas of the curriculum we can differen:ate in different ways
• Vocabulary
• Grammar
• Reading
• Wri:ng
• Listening
• Speaking
How do you differen:ate the curriculum in these different areas?
Content
More able learner
Find more words in same category /
theme
Provide longer word list (beyond
the words in the textbook)
Less able learner
Focus on a few
words to learn Provide a shorter word list
Vocabulary
List A: Original word lists List B: Less able List C: More able (Find 5 more free Eme acEviEes and add them to your list) 1. play football
2. play basketball 3. play badminton 4. play table tennis 5. play mini golf
6. play Chinese checkers 7. play Chinese chess 8. play the piano 9. play the violin 10. play the recorder
1. play football 2. play basketball 3. play badminton 4. play table tennis 5. play mini golf
6. play Chinese checkers
1. play football 2. play basketball 3. play badminton 4. play table tennis 5. play mini golf
6. play Chinese checkers 7. play Chinese chess 8. play the piano 9. play the violin 10. play the recorder 11. ________________
12. ________________
13. _________________
14. _________________
15. _________________
Choice:
• Students can select the word list they want to study
• Students can select the words they want to study
Differen:ated Content: Word Lists
Process
Kinesthe:c learner
Board race / Spelling race Magne:c le^ers
Visual learner
Picture cards
Palmanism game
Picture word banks Auditory learner Prerecorded
tape of word list
Kinesthe:c learner
Board race / Spelling (Dicta:on) race
• Write the target vocabulary on the board
• Form two teams
• Teach says the word
• Students run up and hit or write the correct word
• Any other ideas?
Visual learner
• Picture cards
– Word cards with picture support
• Palmanism game
– Students need to match the picture to the word
• Picture Word Bank
– Provide space to draw a picture to go with the words
• Colour coded words
– Provide syllables or different parts of speech in different colours
• Use on-line tools - ‘Google images’ or ‘Flikr’ to search for pictures
– These can be copied and pasted next to their word lists
Auditory Learner
• Prerecorded files of vocabulary
– Recording of the word list for students
• Explicitly teach the le^er/sound rela:onships
• Use the on-line tool – Voki
– Students can type the words from the word list into Voki and listen to them.
• Any other ideas?
Logical learners
• Make a word word of associated words or informa:on about that word:
• Build a word web for free :me ac:vi:es together
Product
Different learning styles
Kinesthe:c learner
sor:ng the words Listen and
select Listen and do
Visual learner
Make a picture dic:onary Match words
to pictures Listen and
draw Auditory
learner Listen and
write
Different
abiliEes Differen:ated Dicta:on
Bonus words More or less
support
Differen:ated Dicta:on
DictaEon A 100% DictaEon B (60%) You only need to dictate the first six words
DictaEon C (120%) Write two more acEviEes you know
1. play football 2. play basketball 3. play badminton 4. play table tennis 5. play mini golf
6. play Chinese checkers 7. play Chinese chess 8. play the piano 9. play the violin 10. play the recorder
1. play football 2. play basketball 3. play badminton 4. play table tennis 5. play mini golf
6. play Chinese checkers
1. play football 2. play basketball 3. play badminton 4. play table tennis 5. play mini golf
6. play Chinese checkers 7. play Chinese chess 8. play the piano 9. play the violin 10. play the recorder 11. ________________
12. ________________
Student Choice:
• Students can select the dicta:on test they want to take / or the words they want to learn
CreaEng a language rich environment can benefit all types of learners and
learning styles
We can display and provide resources to support our learners:
• Vocabulary displays
• Alterna:ve word lists
• Picture dic:onaries and word banks
• Centres – Games / Audio sta:ons
How can you create a language rich environment in your own classroom? Can you coordinate with other subject teachers?
Learning
Environment
Vocabulary Displays
Break
CC Daniel Go, Tea Break, 2012, Flickr.com
Differen:ated Instruc:on in Ac:on Learning to read
Learning
Environment
Reading
Content
More able
Extended texts Addi:onal reading material
Authen:c
texts Different skills focus
Less able
Simplified
texts Different skills focus
Original text
Downie, M., Gray,D., and Juménez, J.M. (2014) Lighthouse for Hong Kong Book 7.
Educa:on Publishing House p.16
Adapted texts
Simplified version
Japanese children celebrate Children’s Day on 5th May. Their parents put up decora:ons at home for them. Many years ago, Children’s Day was only for boys. Girls had a special day in March.
The day was called ‘Doll’s Day.’ Now, Children’s Day is for boys and girls.
Simplified version
Japanese children celebrate Children’s Day on 5th May. Their parents put up decora:ons at home for them. Many years ago, Children’s Day was only for boys. Girls had a special day in March.
The day was called ‘Doll’s Day.’ Now, Children’s Day is for boys and girls.
Higher frequency words Simpler sentence pa^erns
Less pronouns and referen:al words
Extended version
Japanese children celebrate Children’s Day on 5th May. It is a day to celebrate the happiness of all children and
their mothers. On the day, parents put up carp-shaped streamers at home and people eat mochi rice cake. Un:l recently, this holiday was known as Boy’s Day and was
only for boys. In the past, there was another special day for girls in March. It was called ‘Doll’s Day’. Now, boys and girls celebrate together in May. The 5th May is a
na:onal holiday in Japan. Children do not need to go to school and adults do not need to go to work.
Extended version
Japanese children celebrate Children’s Day on 5th May. It is a day to celebrate the happiness of all children and
their mothers. On the day, parents put up carp-shaped streamers at home and people eat mochi rice cake. Un:l recently, this holiday was known as Boy’s Day and was
only for boys. In the past, there was another special day for girls in March. It was called ‘Doll’s Day’. Now, boys and girls celebrate together in May. 5th May is a na:onal holiday in Japan. Children do not need to go to school and adults do not need to go to work.
Addi:onal informa:on
More complicated connec:ves More challenging vocabulary
Process
Flexible groupings
Mixed ability / Ability groups
Collabora:ve reading strategies. e.g. Jigsaw
reading
Levels of teacher support
Reading aloud, shared reading, guided reading, independent
reading
Different types of ques:ons
Ques:ons that require different levels of processing / language
ability / responses
Different ac:vi:es Worksheets, games, board games
Types of ques:ons
• Look at the following ques:ons about the passage
– When is Children’s Day?
– What was the special holiday for girls called?
– Would you like to have Children’s Day in Hong Kong? Why?
Why not?
– Why do you think many years ago that Children’s Day was only for boys?
– If you could choose the ac:vi:es people do on Children’s day, what would you choose? Why?
• Which ques:ons are more challenging to answer and why?
• Use blooms taxonomy to make ques:ons about your passage
• Make 3 different ques:ons.
• Using Kahoot.it
Flexible Groupings
We can cater for diversity using different kinds of groupings for different tasks. How might the following groups help cater for diversity?
• Ability groups vs Mixed ability groups
• Pairs vs Small groups
• Friends vs not with friends
Product Different ways to respond to the text
Verbal response
Retell the story orally
Answer oral ques:ons about the
text
Wri^en response
Closed / Open-ended
Short answers / Long answer
Summarizing / sequencing
Visual response Draw the sequence / summarize as a comic
strip etc.
Products: Open-ended tasks
• Produce a comic strip about children’s lives in Japan.
• Make a Venn Diagram to compare the life of children in Hong Kong and Japan.
• Summarize the informa:on about children in Japan onto a poster
• Make a short drama to show one part of children's life in Japan
What kinds of learners do these different products cater for?
Using e-Learning to cater for diversity
Learning Environment
– Reading skills and strategies posters
– Ques:on word poster
– Reading strategies flip-book / bookmarks
sparklebox.com
Differen:a:on of other English language skills
• WriEng – Open-ended wri:ng tasks / provide resources / Consider purpose, audience and context
• Speaking – More or less scaffolding and support / Open-ended tasks with real communica:ve
purpose
• Listening – Selec:on of audio recording / number of :mes they play the recording / Different ways to respond to the text
• Grammar – More or less scaffolding and
support / Different focus structures / Addi:onal grammar items
Choice
• To cater for the student and parents’ views of fairness, students can be provided with choices
• Choice can help enhance students’ mo:va:on and help develop their autonomy
– Choice can help us consider students’ learning styles ensures students are gerng the most out of the tasks (Czeriawksi & Kidd, 2013)
• “Hart (1996) highlights, “’choice’ and ‘diversity’ are the two key themes of ‘differen:a:on’, were to be the means of achieving equality of opportunity for all.” (p.13)
How do we give students choice?
• Provide students with different tasks to choose from or the order they do them:
– Task 1: Sort the words into the fruit and vegetables columns. You can add more words
– Task 2: Write down all the fruits and vegetables you like and don’t like
– Task 3: Write a journal of all the fruits and vegetables you ate this week
– Task 4: Make a picture dic:onary for all the fruits and vegetables you know
Dicta:on Prac:ce
Choose 3 ac:vi:es to prac:ce your spelling.
Write your words in
alphabe:cal order. Write your words in
rainbow colours. Write a sentence for each word.
Write your words with red vowels and blue
consonants.
Write your words with a rhyming word next o
them.
Write your words in CAPITAL le^ers.
Write your words with
silly
le^ers.Write your words with
bubble le^ers.
Write your words 3 :mes each.
Moorhouse, 2016
Hands-on Task
– In groups, design a Pick ‘n Mix ac:vity with
different ac:vi:es that cater for different learning styles, abili:es and interests under the topic of
food for primary two learners.
– This ac:vity should bring the idea of choice and differen:ated instruc:on together.
– When you have thought of your a:vi:es, please present them.
Other things to consider
• Clarity of instruc:ons (oral and wri^en)
• Type of feedback provided (mark, grade, comment, sugges:ons)
• Homework rou:nes and prac:ces
• Summa:ve and forma:ve assessment
• Others?
Take away points
• Use the teaching, learning and assessment cycle to get to know your students’ needs
• Crea:ve a posi:ve learning environment where diversity is celebrated
• Arrange and conduct diverse ac:vi:es and tasks through differen:ated instruc:on
• Provide choice when possible to allow
students to take ownership and autonomy over their own learning
• Let’s do a poll
– Go to www.men:.com – Type in 35 95 53
• What will you take away from this workshop and implement in your English classroom to cater for learner diversity?
Thank you! ☺
Benjamin Moorhouse and Simon Chan Faculty of Educa:on,
The University of Hong Kong benmoorh@hku.hk
Key References
• Curriculum Development Council. (2004). English Language Curriculum Guide: Primary one to six. Author: HKSAR.
• Cowley, C. (2013). The seven T’s of PracCcal DifferenCaCon. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Pla|orm
• Czerniawski, G. & Kidd, W. (2013). Homework for Learning: 300 PracCcal Strategies, Maidenhead: Open University Press.
•
• Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence reframed: Mul:ple intelligences for the 21st century. New York: Basic.
• Gregory and Chapman (2013) DifferenCated InstrucCon Strategies . One size does not fit all. Corwin
• Gomes, W. C. (2012). Differen:a:on. Modern English Teacher Vol.21.3
• Hart, S. (1996). Differen:a:on and the secondary curriculum: debates and dilemmas. Routledge
• Moorhouse, B. (2016) Giving young learners a choice of homework. Modern English Teacher. Vol.25, Issue 3 (26-27).
• Moorhouse, B. (2017). Reply: Differen:a:ng tasks for young learners. Modern English Teacher. Vol.26, Issue 1.
• Theisen, T. (2002). Differen:ated instruc:on in the foreign language classroom. Mee:ng the diverse needs of all learners. Communiqué. Issue 6
• Tomlinson, C. (2001). How to differen:ate instruc:on in mixed-ability classrooms. 2nd ed. Alexandeia, VA.
Associa:on for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
