In my previous post I have shared actionable steps for making a more equitable language class:

• Get to know your students and their cultural background
• Show images that include people of diverse races
• Include the non Eurocentric perspective
• Use authentic texts written by insiders to teach culture
• Leverage different pathways of learning to be inclusive

In this post I am going to explain a few ways to support dyslexic learners in language class, to be further inclusive. Dyslexic students may start language classes apprehensive because they know their own challenges. On a regular basis they puzzle through deciphering the components of words. This struggle is difficult for words they already know in a language they speak. Such a student wants to know how they will learn words in French with different sounds and spelling rules than their native tongue.

When teaching new words, the teacher may think they have taught the component sounds that make up the word because they have said them in class while telling a story. Or, the teacher may supply long lists of words in a vocabulary list, sometimes a long list of nouns. The dyslexic student has trouble with both approaches. When the dyslexic student hears words without text, they may not be able to break down the phonemes or even be able to mark the boundaries of words. Likewise, scanning the long list of nouns on a vocabulary list to find the word needed to express an idea is tough when scanning or reading quickly is not in their skill set.

Here is a set of lessons for talking about what we do on holidays to show better ways to teach a dyslexic language learner. * The first time that the students hear me speak about holiday practices, I show them slides with short sentences written on them, as you can see in my presentation. I tell students about my birthday and what my own practices are around it, giving context to the new vocabulary by talking about myself. (I chose a celebration that is not one of the holidays that they will speak about later in the unit because I wanted the example to be different than the one they will do.) As I read the words on the slide, I indicate each component sound with a pointer. And, I color code frequently heard phonemes to draw attention to the sounds letters make. The second time I use the vocabulary, they have the chat mat in front of them to refer to the same words and I have pictures on slides to give context. Furthermore, I put key terms in bold in longer readings.

I intentionally made a chat mat for this vocabulary that is short and simple, but I will give students personalized vocabulary to add to their lists if needed. I also put the chat mat on the Learning Management System. If there are materials that are easy to access, students will be more supported to succeed. Students benefit from reading on paper and not the screen, so print out readings as well as prioritizing books. As you walk around to check in with students who are reading, remind them to read with a finger tracing under the words and model breaking words into parts by drawing a piece of paper over the word, revealing each group of letters that represent a sound, especially for multisyllabic words. Most importantly you will see by previewing my lessons that there is a lot of repetition.

* Please note, there are slides that are skipped in presentation mode and there are hints for how to teach as well as links in the Speaker’s Notes.