TEACHING BRAILLE TO ESL STUDENTS

Presented by Betty Nobel Dept. Head, Program For The Visually Impaired Vancouver Community College

Background
I have been teaching Braille for 28 years I have taught students from countries such as Japan, the Sudan, Viet Nam, Cuba, Togo, Gabon, etc.

 A majority of the students I have taught had had some basic Braille knowledge and were literate in their own language. Some were not literate and had no knowledge of Braille. Most students were in their twenties or thirties, but some were older.

Braille Readiness
I have used Braille readiness materials from the Read Again series. I have taught tracking skills using the materials created by Sally Mangold. Readiness materials could be used by all students without much difficulty.

Challenges of Using Current Braille Texts

While learning the alphabet, there are words used that are hard to explain if you dont have the appropriate language. Examples include Sentences that are awkward and in different tenses. Abstract language and concepts are used. This makes Braille more difficult for nonnative speakers.

A Different Approach
Teach the person their name first. Teach the names of concrete objects in the room. Teach five words each lesson. Examples: table, chair, hat, coat, book. Use flash cards for these words. Students need to learn to recognize the word but not the letters. You can use contractions for the concrete words. This is a word recognition activity.

 Teach the alphabet as you normally would and do letter recognition of single letters, pairs of letters and then three letter words. Once you have introduced the first twelve letters of the alphabet you will have opportunities to work on pronunciation using three letter words to introduce short and long vowel sounds. Example: bad, dad, fad. Each word has a short a sound, the same ending sound but different initial letters. Can you think of any other examples?

 Introduce the letter m. Then you can introduce long vowel sounds by adding the letter e. Example: bad bade add ade lad laid mad made Use a line of words that all have the same sound such as bake, cake lake make. Continue to teach words for concrete objects regardless of the contractions they use.

Other Activities
Once the entire alphabet is learned, you can introduce punctuation and numbers by using simple sentences such as: I am a student. I come from the Sudan. My name is ---. My address is -- My phone number is ---

Other Activities Cont.

Introduce simple questions such as: What is your name? What is your address? What is your phone number? Where are you from? How long have you lived in Canada? How old are you?

More Lesson Ideas

Use an English grammar book to give you ideas. Normally, you would teach the simple present, the verbs to have and to be, and simple questions. You can introduce the the contraction, the sh contraction, the ar contraction and the wh contraction. It is helpful if you can bring some example of food such as fruit. What colour is the apple? The apple is red. What colour are the grapes? The grapes are purple. What is your favourite fruit?

Lesson Ideas Cont.

Introduce questions with do and does. You can also introduce the negative and the apostrophe: Do you like tea? No I dont. I like Coffee. Does she have a book? Yes she does. Do you have a ball? No I dont. Are you a teacher? No. Im a student.

Writing Activity
Write simple stories about every day events. My name is Bobby. I get up at 6 oclock every morning. I get dressed. I eat breakfast. I brush my teeth. I walk to the bus stop. I take the bus to school.

Writing Cont.
Now change the way you write the story. He is Bobby. He gets up at 6 oclock. He gets dressed. He eats breakfast. He brushes his teeth. He walks to the bus stop. He takes the bus to school. It is good Braille and English practice for the student to read and then copy the stories in Braille.

Introduction of More Contractions

Contractions may be introduced as the student becomes more comfortable with Braille and with English. I introduce ing when I introduce the present continuous tense. What are you doing? I am sleeping. What is he doing? He is writing Braille. What is she doing? She is baking cookies. Try to use simple examples that dont involve other contractions.

Introduction of Contractions Cont.

When I review questions with do I introduce do and like and have. From now on, I add two or three contractions per lesson. Example: Would you like some coffee? Yes I would. Would you like some orange juice? No I wouldnt. It is helpful if some of the words used with would are words like tea coffee or sandwich have been previously introduced as contrete objects so they can be recognized. In this way, the contractions are less strange.

Topics for reading writing or conversation

As much as possible, use stories about everyday life events such as using public transit, ordering food in a cafeteria, using money, visiting the doctor, and so on. When you first read a story, have the student repeat words after you. Make a list of the vocabulary from the story. As much as possible, include all four skills in your lessons: reading listening, writing and speaking.

List of Useful Resources

ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR IN USE A self-study reference and practice book for elementary students of English with answers THIRD EDITION Raymond Murphy CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS www.cambridge.org Copyright Cambridge University Press 2007

Resources Cont.
Composition Practice Book 1 A Text for English Language Learners THIRD EDITION Linda Lonon Blanton University of New Orleans New Orleans, Louisiana THOMSON HEINLE Copyright 2001 Heinle, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc.

Resources Cont.
What A Life Stories of Amazing People, Beginning Milada Broukal Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. A Pearson Education Company. Pearson Education, 10 Bank Street, White Plains, NY 10606 2001 by Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

Resources Cont.
What a World 1 Milada Broukal Pearson Education 10 Bank Street, White Plains, NY 10606 Copyright 2004 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the Canadian Braille Literacy Foundation for their generous support of this project. I have consulted with the Kazen program in Seattle. Sylvia Kashdan has been very helpful. The Kaizen Program website is http://www.nwlincs.org/Kaizen/index.htm Some of their work has been to help mainstream teachers of ESL to successfully integrate students who are blind or low vision into their classes.