Teaching Learners with Special Educational Needs
Online professional development
Differentiated teaching: Practical ideas for the classroom
Here are some practical ideas for you to try.
Think about how you would adapt them to suit your
teaching context, if necessary.
Differentiation by task
Dictation
Give a dictation to the whole class, but vary the task.
Divide the class into three groups. The first group listens
and writes the whole text. The second group completes a
gapped text. The third group completes the same gapped
text, but chooses answers from multiple-choice options.
Vocabulary
Use a word search for the whole class, but give different
instructions to different groups. Tell some students how
many words to find. Support others by providing a picture
for each word. For students who need further support,
provide a list of the words they are looking for.
Differentiation by response
Language review
Ask students to summarize a key topic or language point
using their preferred learning style (visual, auditory, or
kinaesthetic), e.g.
• visual: a poster or mind map
• auditory: an oral presentation, leading a discussion,
or a role play
• kinaesthetic: a game, a role-play, or a 3D model.
Word stress
Practise word stress to appeal to different approaches to
learning:
• visual: students mark dots representing the stress of
•• •••••
the syllables, e.g.
giraffe     hippopotamus
• auditory: students sing or hum the stress using a
higher note or louder hum for stressed syllables
• kinaesthetic: students walk the stress around the
room taking a long step for stressed syllables and a
short step for unstressed syllables,
e.g. hippopotamus = short step, short step, long step,
short step, short step.
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Differentiation by content
Reading texts
When working on reading texts, students can be given
slightly different texts and asked to find out the same
information. This allows them to work at their own level
and complete the same task. A text can be made slightly
easier with short, factual sentences, or slightly more
complex with longer sentences and sub-clauses. Students
can choose which text to read.
What colour do I feel like today?
Create colour-coded worksheets. The reading texts should
vary in level of difficulty, but with the same activities on
each worksheet. Allow students to choose which colour
they want to help remove the stigma of ‘lower’ and ‘higher’
ability. If you notice some students always choose one
that is too easy or too difficult, encourage them to choose
another colour more appropriate for their level.
Extension activities
Prepare a list of activities for more able students who finish
early, e.g.
• If they have written a story, ask them to think of a
different ending to it.
• Ask them to do further research online about a topic
they have been reading about and report back to the
class.
• If you have been studying a new vocabulary set, ask
them to write sentences using the words.
Differentiation by responsibility
Class monitors
Give classroom jobs to different students in the class. Jobs
could include giving out worksheets or books, putting
things away in cupboards, writing the date on the board, or
operating equipment.
Definitions
Ask more able students to write definitions of key words
from a topic or unit in the coursebook and to put them
on the class word wall. Encourage them to write the
definitions in a way which helps all the students to
understand the meaning.
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 Teaching Learners with Special Educational Needs
Online professional development

Differentiated teaching: Practical ideas for the classroom

Differentiation by assessment
Different formats
When assessing a topic you have just finished, allow
students some choice in the way they show their
understanding. For example, they could record their
answers on an audio recording device, make a poster to
show what they have learned, or work in a group and make
up a role-play which demonstrates their learning.

Self-assessment through criteria

Give students the criteria you are using to assess their work
on a particular topic or skill. Explain what they mean and
give some examples. Ask students to assess themselves in
relation to the criteria and to set a new target for the next
unit of work. For example, they might decide they have a
good understanding of the grammar point, but that they
need to use it more in their written work.

Timing
If some of your students need extra time in a test, plan for
this in advance. Make sure they have the extra time, maybe
in a different part of the room, or that you have something
else for other students to do quietly while they are finishing
the test.

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