Mi primera publicacion La Revista del Infante 2018-2019 (3) | Page 86

Hi everyone, I am Alice the teacher of the deaf students!
This school-year I have decided to implement Project Based Learning to teach English subject
to deaf students in 1 st and 3 rd Year of ESO .
This teaching approach is not easy at all for teachers in large groups , however, in the ABC
Programme we are certainly lucky to have small groups of 5 students in each educational
level , so that our students learn how to work in collaborative learning approach with no so
many difficulties as in ordinary groups.
To start with, I wondered a question: how could I create a strong culture of collaboration
between my deaf students? It is something quite challenging bearing in mind that there are
strong difference between the students in terms of communication skills, and even more in
English skills. On the one hand, some of my students cannot hear or speak, some of them
cannot write neither in English nor in Spanish, while others , even though their speaking and
listening are not good enough for an oral simple communication, they are fast learners and
have good skills in writing and creating wonderful stories. On the other hand, some students
cannot sign at all. They cannot understand their high skilled deaf classmates in Spanish Sign
Language and their level of written English isn´t good enough to get though functional
conversations. Uhmmm!!!! Too many communication barriers, don´t you think so?
But after making some reflections I decided to make things simple , I followed these 5
tips to work together:
1- Make sure team members know what is expected of them. Everyone must be clear about
the goal of the day or the tasks they have been assigned.
2- Create norms and roles where appropriate – groups or pairs must decide the roles that the
student will have.
3- Monitor progress constantly.
4- Celebrate even little successes.
5- Give students ways to informally develop cohesion
People learn best through plays. I offered my students opportunities such as icebreakers,
group challenges or games, which can even linked to standards or content learning goals while
still being fun.
As a result, deaf students :
● Become more engaged, self-directed learners;
● Learn more deeply and transfer their learning to new situations;
● Improve problem-solving and collaboration skills, and
● Perform as well or better on tests
To sum up, this school-year has been funny and we have learnt a lot of English too!!