[Trainer-talk] Teaching students with limited English Skills

[Terrence Vanettinger]

She is a DVR client, supposedly she wants to go into some sort of employment.  There are English courses available in town; I had not noticed that Hadley has courses in learning English; thanks for pointing that out.  I will look into that.  She was able to speak a simple sentence back to me that I typed in Word using JAWS.  For large print, it has to be at least 6x, and she needs to be barely 1-2 inches away from the screen in order to read it.

Terrence van Ettinger, Braille and Assistive Technology Instructor
Equipping Alaskans for success 
Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
3903 Taft Drive
Anchorage, Alaska  99517-3069
907.771.7303fax 907.248.7517
www.alaskabvi.org           www.twitter.com/alaskabvi

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-----Original Message-----
From: trainer-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:trainer-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John Rempel
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2011 2:45 PM
To: List for teachers and trainers of adaptive technology
Subject: Re: [Trainer-talk] Teaching students with limited English Skills

Hey Terrence, I have some questions that might help to better determine how to help this woman.
1. What are her goals with the computer? Is she using it primarily for personal use, or is she seeking employment down the road with the skills she's acquiring?
2. Is she able to access large print?
3. Is she in the process of improving her English skills (i.e., Hadley's free courses on learning English)?
4. Are there any other resources in the community that would help her to improve her English skills?

Many of the language barrier issues will move way beyond simply learning the keyboard. If her language barrier is getting in the way of her learning the keyboard, how will computer related terminology and concepts be taught? If she is low vision,. can she benefit from words or sentences that have been increased in size, both on the pages she's typing from, as well as on the computer? If she will be a speech user, how well can she understand the speech synthesizer? You may be dealing with literacy issues, keyboard skills and the inability to understand accents and speech synthesizers all rolled into one. If you have unlimited time, dealing with all three may work.
Otherwise, the language barrier may need to seriously be addressed first before she can consider being a competent computer user. Is there anyone available to provide a reading and spelling comprehension test? I realize that I probably provided more questions than answers, but with the little bit of information that was provided it's hard to come up with a meaningful action plan for this woman.

John




On Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 6:20 PM, Terrence Vanettinger < Tvanettinger at alaskabvi.org> wrote:

> Hello, everyone,
>            I am working with a student who has very limited command of 
> the English language.  She does not speak up any more than necessary, 
> and it is often difficult to determine how much of what I say she is 
> actually able to understand.  I am trying to start with the basics of 
> typing, but feel I am hitting a barrier when trying to explain finger 
> positions to her.  Does anyone have any ideas on what might work well 
> when working with such situations?
>
> Thanks,
> Terrence
>
> Terrence van Ettinger, Braille and Assistive Technology Instructor 
> Equipping Alaskans for success Alaska Center for the Blind and 
> Visually Impaired
> 3903 Taft Drive
> Anchorage, Alaska  99517-3069
> 907.771.7303fax 907.248.7517
> www.alaskabvi.org<http://www.alaskabvi.org/>
> www.twitter.com/alaskabvi<http://www.twitter.com/alaskabvi>
>
> Please consider supporting our mission when you fill out your 2011 PFD 
> application.
> [Description: cid:image001.png at 01CB9164.4E00BF20]
> www.pickclickgive.org<http://www.pickclickgive.org/>
>
> The Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Call or visit our 
> website to learn more about how our work transforms lives.
> This message contains information that may be confidential or privileged.
> If you are not the intended recipient, copying or distribution of any 
> of its contents is prohibited. If you have received this message in 
> error, kindly contact the sender.
>
>
>
>
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