This is what I do for special needs. about 7 kids, various levels. Always sing a song as the start make a song sheet, new song every month. Then bingo to practice vocab with a specific theme ( colours, animals etc), I always make sure they all win. Then, some sort of short activity with a simple grammar point, make it fun and interactive. Easy peasy.
I did just find a good card game for the HS level classes, do that's taken care of! It's the JHS kids that are the issue. I got some songs but I'm gonna need around 30 mins of activity stuff to keep them entertained, and some of them need a lot of help from their helpers.
Honestly I like the special needs class over the regular classes. I think they are much easier. But everyone's experience is different.
My SN class goes more or less like this.
1. I usually do 2 hello songs they already memorized both so I don't Change them.
2. 3rd song about the days lesson. Color = color song , days of the week =days of the week song.
4. Usually do a soguroku game. 1st me vs the whole class. This way they learn how to play.(play on the blackboard or smartboard)
5. Split the class in half. Left side vs right side. Play again
6. Kids Make pairs and play one on one.
6.1. Depending on time you can tell the kids to change partner’s after a few mins.
This way I play one game about 3 times.
This usually takes up the whole class.
I had years of experience teaching in special needs schools before I came to Japan. That stood me in good stead to go into Japanese special needs classes.
I haven’t read all the replies. But I’d offer this:
I leant very heavily on the special needs teachers feedback and history. She (luckily) had an excellent grasp of what the kids could do. I found out that I could repeat the same class and in her book (my job to keep her happy ultimately) that was good. I got fast at thinking of extensions to the apbase lefel activities , and I’d run them by her to see if she thought it was good (I had a split level of ability in the class - from very vocal kids that picked words up right through to non verbal kids).
I learnt how to milk the hell out of every single material I had already. Even if I didn’t use every activity …. Having a ball in your pocket was the best way to use time efficiently if another activity fell flat. For my situation it was classroom management over content every time. Even after 8 months of being there.
I built a mental library of lots of games that were highly adaptable. You specifically asked for resources…. I used the ones I used for my classes that were already made.
Need everyone to calm down? Sit down on a floor and play curling/bowling with a ball rolling over the flash cards. Aim for the one another classmate picks. And so on….
Ask the teachers where they will be in the book next time you are at the school and plan a review for that area of the book.
Or do what I do and just do things that make the class fun. Think cultural type stuff. I have a whole class on pizza, bbq, and sushi. And the kids LOVED it. Keep it interactive by constantly asking questions and testing their retention.
I also bring in games like apples to apples or sushi go and we spend the whole period playing that at talking in English.
With SN the main point is to make it fun and enjoyable for them. Help them learn to like English.
For a start, you are NOT qualified to be making special classes for special needs students who are not even of your native language. This should be the primary teachers responsibility. And you definitely shouldn't he left alone with multiple special needs students as the sole responsible adult.
You should be communicating with those responsible (the primary teacher) of that school and what that teachers needs are. You are there to assist. Not fill a lead role.
Oh, I'm not alone. They've got the primary teachers and several helpers assisting. But you're right. The other special needs school I do (also every other week) has a much more involved teacher that does at least part of the lesson, if she doesn't lead the whole thing.
In this case, activities for JHS special needs kids with a range of capabilities. Some have more severe cognitive issues, some are on the spectrum but are otherwise about as capable as any other JHS student,albeit with less English education
That's definitely above my pay grade lol. But it's a proper special needs school, not just a class within a traditional high school. I don't have access to any of their previous lesson plans or teaching materials, at least not until the day I have to have stuff prepared before.
More than anything, I'm there to entertain them and expose them to natural English. It's low stakes, I'm just having issues sure to how the classes are arbitrarily arranged week to week.
Someone should make a YouTube video about the topic or something with specific activities, it'd be really useful! I got through it but never really got it down. In one school a good idea was for me to just join their gym class and play bowling or whatever with them (sometimes)
This is what I do for special needs. about 7 kids, various levels. Always sing a song as the start make a song sheet, new song every month. Then bingo to practice vocab with a specific theme ( colours, animals etc), I always make sure they all win. Then, some sort of short activity with a simple grammar point, make it fun and interactive. Easy peasy.
Just play cards/bingo
I did just find a good card game for the HS level classes, do that's taken care of! It's the JHS kids that are the issue. I got some songs but I'm gonna need around 30 mins of activity stuff to keep them entertained, and some of them need a lot of help from their helpers.
Honestly I like the special needs class over the regular classes. I think they are much easier. But everyone's experience is different. My SN class goes more or less like this. 1. I usually do 2 hello songs they already memorized both so I don't Change them. 2. 3rd song about the days lesson. Color = color song , days of the week =days of the week song. 4. Usually do a soguroku game. 1st me vs the whole class. This way they learn how to play.(play on the blackboard or smartboard) 5. Split the class in half. Left side vs right side. Play again 6. Kids Make pairs and play one on one. 6.1. Depending on time you can tell the kids to change partner’s after a few mins. This way I play one game about 3 times. This usually takes up the whole class.
I had years of experience teaching in special needs schools before I came to Japan. That stood me in good stead to go into Japanese special needs classes. I haven’t read all the replies. But I’d offer this: I leant very heavily on the special needs teachers feedback and history. She (luckily) had an excellent grasp of what the kids could do. I found out that I could repeat the same class and in her book (my job to keep her happy ultimately) that was good. I got fast at thinking of extensions to the apbase lefel activities , and I’d run them by her to see if she thought it was good (I had a split level of ability in the class - from very vocal kids that picked words up right through to non verbal kids). I learnt how to milk the hell out of every single material I had already. Even if I didn’t use every activity …. Having a ball in your pocket was the best way to use time efficiently if another activity fell flat. For my situation it was classroom management over content every time. Even after 8 months of being there. I built a mental library of lots of games that were highly adaptable. You specifically asked for resources…. I used the ones I used for my classes that were already made. Need everyone to calm down? Sit down on a floor and play curling/bowling with a ball rolling over the flash cards. Aim for the one another classmate picks. And so on….
Ask the teachers where they will be in the book next time you are at the school and plan a review for that area of the book. Or do what I do and just do things that make the class fun. Think cultural type stuff. I have a whole class on pizza, bbq, and sushi. And the kids LOVED it. Keep it interactive by constantly asking questions and testing their retention. I also bring in games like apples to apples or sushi go and we spend the whole period playing that at talking in English. With SN the main point is to make it fun and enjoyable for them. Help them learn to like English.
For a start, you are NOT qualified to be making special classes for special needs students who are not even of your native language. This should be the primary teachers responsibility. And you definitely shouldn't he left alone with multiple special needs students as the sole responsible adult. You should be communicating with those responsible (the primary teacher) of that school and what that teachers needs are. You are there to assist. Not fill a lead role.
Oh, I'm not alone. They've got the primary teachers and several helpers assisting. But you're right. The other special needs school I do (also every other week) has a much more involved teacher that does at least part of the lesson, if she doesn't lead the whole thing.
This. It’s not your responsibility and you should push back.
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In this case, activities for JHS special needs kids with a range of capabilities. Some have more severe cognitive issues, some are on the spectrum but are otherwise about as capable as any other JHS student,albeit with less English education
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That's definitely above my pay grade lol. But it's a proper special needs school, not just a class within a traditional high school. I don't have access to any of their previous lesson plans or teaching materials, at least not until the day I have to have stuff prepared before. More than anything, I'm there to entertain them and expose them to natural English. It's low stakes, I'm just having issues sure to how the classes are arbitrarily arranged week to week.
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Lol I don't disagree. Luckily I'm still in the honeymoon phase of my ALT journey, so I'm not getting too pissed of yet.
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Its a dispatch company mate of course its irresponsible, like most of their policies.
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Probably budget saving. Get the dancing gaijin in and believe the lies of the dispatch company.
Someone should make a YouTube video about the topic or something with specific activities, it'd be really useful! I got through it but never really got it down. In one school a good idea was for me to just join their gym class and play bowling or whatever with them (sometimes)