SEN - Special Education Needs

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Special Education Needs

CASE STUDIES

Lisa

Lisa is 12 and is bilingual speaking German as her mother tongue. Having moved to Britain a few years ago she never learned to write in German but speaks it fluently. She has been referred to the SENCO because she was finding it hard to settle in school. She achieved level 4 in English in her Key Stage 2 (age 10/11) assessments. She wanted to use her German and so appealed to the Modern Foreign Languages department for help. One of the teachers volunteered to help her during lunch breaks.

Image of German Text, Gjuten Tag

After six months Lisa and her teacher decided to try the GCSE mock exam in German. She did very well in her coursework and her speaking, listening and reading. However, she had a problem with German spelling as she spelt the words with English phonetics. The teacher has had to devise a way of teaching her to spell German correctly. She sat her GCSE in May when she was 12.5.

Study Points

Do you think it is better for Lisa to be taught German individually? Would she be better in a) her own year group class or b) in the full GCSE class?

What problems would it present for the teacher in either case?

In addition to her bilinguality she shows great initiative and diplomatic skills and has made her own arrangements for exam entry and enrolled herself on revision classes given by other teachers in the MFL department. She uses the Internet to take part in discussions with other German youngsters and makes sure she is aware of and involved in any activities other GCSE German students are doing.

Strategies