-Children-With-Special-Educational-Needs-

Approaching Children with Special Educational Needs in Primary ELT 
by Vera Savic

Ms Vera Savic has been teaching ESP at the Faculty of Education in Jagodina, University of Kragujevac. She is a national teacher trainer for secondary teachers of English and enthusiastic presenter at in-service teacher training seminars and conferences in the country and abroad.  
As an ELTA Board member andELTA Regional Coordinator she has been very active in writing project proposals for ELT professional development seminars and organising ELT mentorship seminars for regional EL teachers at the Faculty of Education in Jagodina, successfully combining her academic activities with wider professional interests.  
Being a coordinator in several projects of international academic cooperation (like theFinnish-Serbian STEP Project and TEMPUS Project), Ms Savic has fervently supported curriculum development in teacher education, drawing much of her professional inspiration from study tours abroad and exchange of experience with other teachers.    
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The picture shows an inclusive class in a Helsinki primary school where refugee and immigrant children are given extra classes in Finnish (takenby Vera Savic, March 2005)   
 
Introduction 
      Introduction of English as a foreign language into the first grade primary curriculum in Serbia poses a special challenge for teachers of English in many aspects, the biggest being related to teaching children with special educational needs who attend regular classes, but are still not fully involved in the formal inclusion programme.Teachers of English do not usually get adequate preparation for teaching children with special educational needs, and consequently lack knowledge and skills regarding their impairments and disorders and teaching strategies that are to be applied in order to help their academic and non-academic development (guaranteed both by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Law on Basic Education of theRepublic of Serbia). The main objective of the paper is to draw attention to the existing problem of inclusion of children with SEN into primary ELT and thus raise awareness of the support needed by primary English language teachers in Serbia.   
Children with SEN and Primary EL Classes 
      In regular primary classes, class teachers are responsible for education of all pupils. To secure theirproper education, class teachers have to meet all diversity of children’s individual needs. This demand also relates to pupils with special educational needs (SEN for short) and class teachers are prepared for the task through the academic course of Special/Inclusive Education in their initial training. In Serbia this course is compulsory in initial teacher education at teacher educationfaculties1.
      Teachers of English, however, do not get necessary knowledge and skills to teach pupils with SEN, either in the course of their pre-service or in-service training. They enter primary classes starting with grade one and are faced with big diversity of children’s needs and potentials, the biggest challenge being children who have learning problems due to disabilities or impairments. Incontrast to class teachers, English language teachers have to cope with the challenge completely unprepared. Although they share class teachers’ responsibilities only within their specific subject – English as a foreign language, taught with two classes a week in lower grades of primary school - they need adequate preparation in order to be able to provide conditions for successful learning for all.      Meeting the needs of children with SEN requires a lot of commitment, energy, professional knowledge and skills of teachers. Not only do English language teachers need specific knowledge and skills to accomplish this important task, but the crucial pre-requisite for the success in the EL classroom is their cooperation with class teachers, specialists in school or local community, and...