The Disabled Access Friendly Campaign
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The Disabled Access Friendly Campaign - Katie Quartano Tesol Greece 34th Annual International Conference
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The Disabled Access Friendly Campaign
- 1. The Disabled Access Friendly Campaign Free EFL material that raises awareness about mobility disability Katie Quartano TESOL Greece 24th Annual International Convention Innovation – Motivation – Education Athens 30th-31st March 2013
- 2. Why did I become a teacher? I started teaching because.............
- 3. I want to teach more than English! Promote Encourage children to • Social improvement • Take responsibility • Respect for others • Think critically • Fairness and equality • Be aware of the world • Initiate improvements
- 4. Person Education is a process by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, and intellect sharpened. Community Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community better than you found it. The world Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Nelson Mandela
- 5. •It’s important to raise social awareness in the classroom. •ELT and our schools are powerful tools to change attitudes for the future.
- 7. The Disabled Access Friendly campaign can help! www.disabled-accessfriendly.com
- 8. The aim Sensitise students so they can • Understand more about people with mobility disability • Project themselves into someone else’s position • Initiate changes
- 9. The tool ELT English is part of the national curriculum Most children have extra English lessons
- 12. Bonnie Bardaka private language school teacher young learners
- 14. can / can’t / can she? Helen’s new friends by Paul Shaw Level Age Topic Grammar Vocabulary Functions Skills A1 Young Learning Review of Hobbies, Forming Reading, learners about ‘can’- ability Frequency questions, Writing friends adverbs Short controlled answers sentences
- 17. •Language A1/A2 level •Topic appeals to young children •Text prompts children to think about mobility disability
- 18. A dog on wheels by Katie Quartano Level Age Topic Grammar Vocabulary Skill A1 Young A dog which Simple General Reading learners has a present disability I have four legs but my two back legs don’t work! So I use wheels. My dog friends in the park say “Max, why do you have wheels?” Glossary wheels to roll
- 19. Questions • Grammar • Comprehension • Vocabulary • Critical thinking Good questions to ask Max = Bad questions to ask Max = Why do you use wheels? Do you need help?
- 20. Angela • Critical thinking Good questions to ask Angela = Bad questions to ask Angela = Why do you use a wheelchair? Do you want to play with me?
- 21. “My students didn't know much about disability so it was hard for them to care about these issues.” “They are now aware of simple things that make a difference.” “Now I say to my Grandpa: Please Grandpa, don’t park your car on the pavements.” “Now I say to my sister: Marianna, don’t call the children with disabilities special because they don’t like it and they aren’t different.”
- 23. As I was driving the motorbike, the wind got under my helmet because it wasn’t done up tight enough. I decided to go back to basketball, which I had always loved, but this time in a wheelchair. The wheelchair basketball team had been getting stale and the players were not motivated.
- 24. “Mobility disability is not included in the school textbook.” “My students put themselves in the position of the wheelchair user and tried to understand his feelings and the difficulties he faced.” “I think that everyone can do something to support these people.” “I truly believe that all people with disabilities want is a positive comment and company which will not remind them of their problem. Let’s give it a try!”
- 25. Social model of disability Let’s look at removing the barriers which make people disabled.
- 27. B1. An accessible kitchen 1. Vocabulary: tap, cupboard door, cooker ...... Imagine you are a wheelchair user. Would it be easy to use this kitchen? 2. He can’t see what he is cooking. The cooker is too high. 3. If the cooker were lower, he could see what he was cooking.
- 28. I'm in a wheelchair, but I They treat me like I'm a child. Often people talk to whoever I'm with and ignore me completely
- 29. Abstract language Critical thinking www.disabled-accessfriendly.com
- 30. STE R EO TY P ES
- 31. What a person without Ideals in the Western disabilities thinks a person world with a disability thinks about himself. •Appearance •Ugly •Sexually attractive •Sexually unattractive •Wealth •Not able to achieve •Social status •Not able to participate •Strength •Nothing to offer •Have fun •Wants to be “normal” •Independence •Dependent •Control and power
- 33. Class discussion Warm up “How often do you see people with disabilities in the streets?” “I don’t often see wheelchair users because there aren’t that many.” “Most of the people I see in wheelchairs are beggars.”
- 34. www.youtube.com
- 35. capable depressed fun to be with lonely popular shy proud My best friend BODY / SOUL hero inspiring victim
- 36. “The warm up revealed stereotypes.” “The material encouraged them to recognize their own responsibilities as citizens.” “After the lessons I definitely started thinking differently. In addition I learned to appreciate my life and deal with my problems differently.” “I‘ve started noticing the ramps on the streets and that often cars are parked in front of them. I decided to take action. I think calling the police or leaving a note in people’s cars may be a good way to start.”
- 37. The deeper you touch your students, the better the results you get Disabled Access Friendly Awareness Week www.disabled-accessfriendly.com
- 38. Students’ Work • 20 signs • 20 word /video / • 25 poster projects powerpoint projects • • 41 essays 65 posters for home • • 1 wonderful memo 1 story book notebook • 3 videos
- 39. Inspection of the Thermal Springs and the City Hall of Langadas Interview with Vice Mayor Letter to Mayor
- 40. “Anyway, the deeper you touch your students the better the results you get.” “Who said that English teaching has to be divorced from the real world?” “The more we learnt, the more we liked it. I learned lots of brand new things about people with disabilities through this programme.” “I realised how difficult are some things for them that the rest of us take for granted and I really enjoyed it.” “I wouldn’t mind taking part in another one in the future.”
- 42. “The best teachers and schools have always done more than just prepare students for tests. They raise awareness of the world in which we live and try to make it a better place.” www.disabled-accessfriendly.com
- 43. YOU can make a difference Use our teaching material Contribute teaching material Share your experience & expertise Display our poster Social and professional networks / blogs Consider accessibility
- 44. Contact us! disabledaccessfriendlycampaign@gmail.com Disabled Access Friendly DAFCampaign www.disabled-accessfriendly.com
- 46. The Disabled Access Friendly Campaign Thank you! www.disabled-accessfriendly.com
Editor's Notes
- So now I would like you all to think back to when you first decided to be teachers. Can you give me some of your ideas? Now here are some of mine.
- I had a vision that I would be able to do something more than just teach the English language . For education is not only about acquiring knowledge and skills , it embraces social improvement, respect for others, the promotion of well-being, truth, fairness and equality. Good teachers want to encourage students to realise that they are not helpless to overcome the gaps between ideals and reality. They realise that education should equip children to become adults who will take responsibility for the world they inhabit, and to think and question what they see and hear. An awareness of the world in which we live and the belief that through their own actions students have the ability to make improvements, is at the heart of education.
- Let’s look at some definitions of education. First, what does it do for the individual? Secondly, what does it do for the community? And lastly, what does it do for the world?
- So I think we agree that raising social awareness is important. However this is not just taking a piece of paper in to your classroom and going through a topic that isn’t in the book It’s how you do it – how you engage your students and let them start to use their critical thinking on a topic.
- Sometimes though it seems that there are barriers that prevent us from doing more than following a rigid path in our lessons A path where teaching the difference between the use of the past simple and the present perfect seems to become more pressing than opening our students eyes to the world A path where finishing the syllabus becomes more important than helping our students become responsible adults A path where the course book becomes such an easy solution that we lose the confidence to step beyond its covers, and let’s not forget that the parents have paid a lot of money for the course book and don’t want to see that half the exercises aren’t completed A path where exams become the be all and end all in life, and your reputation as a teacher, your school’s reputation and your student’s sense of self-worth all hang on the results.
- And the Disabled Access Friendly campaign can help you do this! This voluntary campaign focuses on issues of mobility disability and paves the way to changes being made both in attitude and infrastructure so that people with mobility disability are less isolated, have better access to the world, and are empowered to live more independent lives. The campaign’s EFL website, www.disabled-accessfriendly.com, provides teachers with free online lesson plans and reading texts. These can be used as additional material, for project work and examination practice. At the same time they provide students with the information necessary to allow them to put themselves in the shoes of someone with a mobility disability and stimulate them to understand others and to think how others feel.
- Our resources provide students with information that allows them to put themselves in other people’s shoes understand others feel what others feel In this way we hope changes will be made society will become more integrated and enlightened
- Through English language teaching we have access to a whole generation , which is an amazing opportunity.
- Let’s have a look at our website: It’s very simple Free access to all No registration No passwords No verification
- Index page Level Age Topic Content Materials needed
- Maybe some of you are silently agreeing with the idea of raising social awareness in the classroom, but actually wondering how you can do it when you teach at young learner level and your students have very limited English language skills, and because of their young age , they cannot relate easily to many topics. Believe me, it is possible. Let’s look at how Bonnie did it.
- Bonnie used a story book. The illustration immediately appealed to her class of young learners. She asked them, which of these children do you think does not like sports. Of course, they fell into the trap of choosing the child who is a wheelchair user, and she led this on to a lesson teaching can and can’t.
- At A1 level A lesson on can and can’t uses the familiar pattern of whether Helen can or can’t play various sports or do various activities. The only difference here is that Helen is a wheelchair user. Helen can do lots of challenging activities: She can play basketball. She can play tennis. After all this activity when Helen would like to chill out with her friend Jenny at Jenny’s house: Helen can’t go to Jenny’s house. The picture shows that Jenny’s house has steps. This activity stimulates children to think about how infrastructure affects a person with a mobility disability. All our lessons come with simple notes for teachers, so you get an overview the lesson at a glance.
- Excuse the pun, but infrastructure is a concrete issue. What about abstract issues that affect people with mobility disability, issues like other people’s attitudes and behaviour . How can you talk about those at young learner level? Before I show you, I just want to give you a few examples of what I mean by this. A very good friend of mine is a wheelchair user, and we go out together a lot. It never fails to amaze me how friends and strangers we meet feel compelled focus the conversation on his disability. They tell him how they once broke their leg and spent 10 days in a wheelchair, and how terrible that was, how difficult – so they know how he feels. Do they think how this comment makes him feel – a permanent wheelchair user? They tell him about their cousin’s neighbour who can’t get around town at all because there aren’t enough ramps and the environment is so unfriendly. Do they think this is helpful, or something he doesn’t know already or something he is keen to discuss ad nauseum? They recommend a new restaurant in town because it has a disabled toilet . Do you recommend restaurants to your friends on the basis of the toilets, or do you talk about the food, the prices, the music, the atmosphere? They suggest vitamin D, yoga, eating seaweed, finding God. They tell him how to negotiate a small step that is approaching – are they more experienced in using a wheelchair than him? They ask him outright what’s wrong with him , how he manages in the toilet , how he gets his trousers on – where have the social boundaries used with adults without a disability gone? They make it clear that they presume his life is both miserable and hell BUT THEY SYMPATHISE.
- Let’s see how we can touch on some of these abstract issues with very young learners. Pets are always a subject that YLs will warm to? What do you think they will say about Max?
- This reader entitled “A dog on wheels”, is about a dog whose back legs are injured and it is therefore harnessed to wheels so it can move. The dog’s friends ask it inappropriate questions about its disability, and make various assumptions, along the lines of the examples I gave you. So for example the dog’s friends ask: “ Why do you use a wheels?” They say: “ Aaaah, poor dog”. The text indirectly provides children with information about how a wheelchair user feels and suggests how not to behave towards someone with a mobility disability.
- At the beginning of all our reading texts there are some brief notes for the teacher. Here is an excerpt from the text, showing how we both practice the present simple. Glossaries at more advanced levels use dictionary definitions and examples.
- Each graded reading text is followed by a set of questions that include Grammar Vocabulary Reading comprehension (none of these need examples) And critical thinking . Here is a very simple exercise that prompts young learners to think about behaviour and attitudes towards people, or in this case dogs , with a mobility disability. What are and what are not good things to say.
- The message is consolidated by transposing the idea to Angela, a little girl probably much the same age as the young learners, who is a wheelchair user. The question “ Max, why do you have wheels ” leads easily onto whether it would be appropriate to ask a wheelchair user why they can’t walk . Key Saves time for teachers. At more advanced levels the exercises take time to solve. Also we give ideas on mobility disability issues with which you might not be so familiar.
- Let’s see some feedback from Bonnie. Let’s see some feedback from one of Bonnie’s students. This very young student has taken what she has learned out of the classroom and is applying it to her family. Bonnie also told us that her class insisted on going round the neighbourhood, leaving notes on cars parked on the pavement or on ramps, and that they got their parents involved in this activity. The lesson moved out of the classroom and into the community and got more people involved than just the students who had been in the lesson. Remember that pompous statement at the beginning that said “education is for leaving your community a better place than you found it”. Bonnie seems to have managed this with her class of 9 year olds.
- What about those of you who teach at B1-B2 level? I can imagine you thinking your job is hard enough just covering the demands of grammar and vocabulary, and reading, listening, writing and speaking skills. Also you are faced with a bunch of teenagers whose hormones are rampant, who are not easy to please and whose attention is easily distracted. Believe me, you can engage them , and do a great job of both teaching English and raising social awareness. It is possible. Let’s see how Clementine did it.
- Clementine chose chose a text which would appeal to her teenage students. The text is entitled ‘Basketball’ and it is about a 17-year-old boy who started playing wheelchair basketball after having a motorbike accident. At the beginning, she introduced the topic in a subtle way so as not to lose her students’ interest. So, she asked them to read the title and guess what the text was about . The title ‘Basketball’ immediately attracted their attention as most 15-year-old students like sports and they were enthusiastic about the topic. It was only later on , as we were reading the text, that the students realized they would talk about disability . Clementine told us that the students paid attention , and participated by asking and answering questions. The lesson held their interest until the end. In terms of language, you can see from the excerpts given, that the text practices a variety of past tenses .
- Let’s see some feedback from Clementine and from one of her students. Do course books reflect student’s lives? Do course books reflect the real world? “ I think that everyone can do something to support these people”. “Let’s give it a try” This reflects the social model of disability that says that improvements to make life better for people with disabilities can be made by everybody , you, me, people with and without disabilities.
- When there is no cure for someone’s physical condition, in other words their bodies cannot be “restructured” then any failure in the interaction between that person and the physical environment must be overcome through a restructuring of the social and physical environment . A simple example: it is not the fact that someone is a wheelchair user that renders him incapable of using an ATM , it is the fact that he can’t see the screen. It’s not a difficult problem to fix. So the social model of mobility focuses on eliminating barriers that limit someone with disabilities from enjoying their human rights gaining equal access to information, education, employment, public transport, housing and social/recreational opportunities. This includes promoting positive attitudes . Whereas changes are a responsibility of government, improvements can also be triggered and promoted and achieved by all of us, and this student has realised this. A lesson like this could then lead to a class discussion on how the environmen t in general could be made more friendly to wheelchair users and what your students as individuals could do to help achieve this.
- We, including the young children we teach, are society. Let’s be active about making changes. Ask for the disabled toilets next time you go for a coffee (were planning a big reunion and one friend a wheelchair user, never mind you’ll go elsewhere) Ask for the disabled entrance at a taverna (through the kitchens with the deliveries – undignified, you’ll go elsewhere) Next time you see a car parked on a ramp, call the δημοτική αστυμομία – all they want is your name and the location of the car. Next time you see someone parking in a spot reserved for people with disabilities , ask them if maybe they hadn’t noticed the special sign. Just doing things like that helps raise awareness and makes people think. Be an ambassador for other people, opening your mouth doesn’t cost you anything.
- Let’s look at some other ideas at this level. Turn to page 53…. If you don’t shut up I will kill you If I won the lottery, I would quit teaching If I had know what a teacher’s pay was like, I would never have become one in the first place. Vocab Modifyer “too” so often misused as being synonymous with “very” by Greek speakers, The second conditional – the language is contextualised and emerges naturally from the text. Students learn that the difficulties faced by a wheelchair user go way beyond just being unable to negotiate steps. The students are asked to think about how a kitchen could be improved so that a wheelchair user could use it more easily. Going back to the social model of disability , changing the kitchen, or in a broader sense, changing the environment would mean that a wheelchair user could use it easily, and would not be so “disabled”.
- This text has been designed to raise awareness about attitudes and behaviour, and they are genuine comments from wheelchair users who replied to this question on Facebook. Why do these comments use the present simple ? Because this is what happens all the time !
- One of the joys of teaching at C1 and C2 levels is that your students’ level of language is by now sufficiently advanced to allow you to explore many more abstract issues. The difficulty is finding suitable material that not only builds and practises skills, but also stimulates your students’ interest and motivates them to participate in discussions and follow up activities. Before I show you some examples, just spend a few minutes with a partner thinking about what words, ideas or phrases come into your head when you hear the term “disabled”. What do you think and feel about someone with a disability.
- Stereotyping of disabled people includes assumptions that they feel ugly, a burden, suffer, crave to be ‘normal”, are naive and sheltered, have nothing significant or worthwhile to offer, that they envy people without disabilities, are asexual, bitter and require care and therapy, and are generally incapable of full participation in everyday life. Compare these assumptions with the ideals in the Western world of appearance, strength, social status, control, independence and wealth to which we are encouraged to aspire. Stereotyped views frequently act as self-fulfilling prophecies, forcing the disabled person into a role.
- Let’s see what Antonia did with some of these ideas. She teaches at C1-C2 level .
- She showed them a video of a couple dancing. One of them is a wheelchair user.
- She use a lesson which prompts students to think about how they react when they see see someone with disabilities ask themselves if their reaction is the same as it would be to someone without disabilities? think if they have to make a conscious effort to see beyond someone’s physical condition ? The lesson focuses on vocabulary, and students have to match personal attributes with their best friend, then allocate the words to the pictures of the two young women – one of whom is a wheelchair user. When they have done this, they are asked to consider whether the attributes had more to do with someone’s body or their soul and think about why they made the choices they did. They then do a similar exercise matching words to stereotypes of disability , and are prompted to critically think about the portrayal of people with disability .
- Remember those quotes about character building , and the one that said “ education is for leaving your community better than you found it ……”
- Evi Zacharia, a school owner, decided to do a week long project based on Disabled Access Friendly’s resources. She wrote on Facebook : “ We all enjoyed the projects for Halloween and Christmas. Now it's time to work on something of greater significance, something that will make us more worthy as people. “
- The students at all levels were involved, and the produced creative and thoughtful class and individual projects.
- "To be honest, when Mrs Evi told us we were going to do this project I thought: “WHY DON’T YOU KILL US?/ GOD HELP ME”. I have tests at school,private lessons and proficiency exams this May!!! I DON’T HAVE TIME. But, I did my best to kill my feelings. The funny thing is that the whole procedure became quite interesting! We spent a week discussing, watching videos and researching the legislation on the technical specifications that are required for the buildings. Other people in the community became aware of the project, and asked Evi for information on disability totally unrelated to ELT. Again the ideas moved out of the classroom. The response from the teachers in the school, the parents and the students was very positive. It was worth it.
- Remember that pompous statement at the beginning that said “education is a process whereby character is formed, strength of mind is increased……………” Do you think this student might change the world?
- But even if you don’t inspire a student to change the world, if from one of your lessons you manage to open the eyes of even just one child – allowed them to step in to the shoes of another – then you are getting to the heart of education and making a positive change .
- Consider accessibility I work at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. When I asked someone at her work why her building does not have wheelchair access, the reply was “what’s the point of doing anything, we don’t have any students with disabilities.” Luckily not everyone at the university thinks like that, and in January 2011 the Επιτροπή Κοινωνικής Πολιτικής και Υγείας put on a special bus for students with mobility difficulties. A year later, they have a 900% increase in the number of students using the bus, students who had previously quit their studies. You don’t have to rebuild your school – just put out a welcome mat – a bell that says ‘Ring here for assistance”.
- I want to brand our website address on your brains. The tricky part is the hyphen. Think of it as a ramp. It’s what gives someone, who has a mobility disability , access.