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A Learner with Diverse Needs whose Mother Tongue is a National Curriculum MFL

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Introduction
n Anna is a girl in your Year 7 MFL class. She has just arrived from Zurich, where she attended primary school. She speaks Swiss German but very little English. German is the First Modern Foreign Language in your school. You have inherited Anna because your more experienced fellow-linguists are anxious about the impact of native speakers on their classes. They say she may become frustrated at the slow pace of lessons, confuse other pupils with her non-standard pronunciation of German and out-perform the teacher in the target language. They claim that you are her "best bet" as you are the most accurate and fluent Germanist in the department. The Special Needs department has arranged for Anna to work with a teacher of English as an Additional Language (EAL), who could withdraw her from German lessons if you wished. The Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) has already spoken to Anna's mother and ascertained that Anna may have literacy difficulties in German. Anna's mother wants her daughter to study German at school as the family may return in a few years' time to Switzerland.

Problem 1
n How can the school's Modern Foreign Languages and Special Educational Needs Departments collaborate in assessing Anna's prior learning and in delivering her full National Curriculum entitlement?
n Towards the end of September 1998, a primary school teacher sent a message to SENCO Forum, a discussion group for Special Needs professionals, seeking advice about a newcomer to his class from Switzerland. Read the four Swiss German messages in that month's SENCO Forum Archives, selecting Next In Thread to go from message to message. Visit the Swiss Testzentrale to which the teacher is directed in one of the replies.

Problem 2
n Anna tells you that another pupil is calling her a "Nazi" because her home language is German. Such verbal abuse is damaging Anna's self-esteem and undermining your school's commitment to race equality and multiculturalism. You decide to turn Anna's bilingualism and biculturalism into assets, not liabilities.
n Read what Gillian Klein's Towards Race Equality in the School says about "first languages." Go to the Edit menu of your web browser and select "Find", then enter "language" as a keyword. When you have read the sentence with the first occurrence of "language", press any key to go on to the second and subsequent occurrences of the word. Find out how the Franco-Manitoban school system balances respect for others with pride in French Canadian culture.

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© 2008 · David R. Wilson