Meeting individual needs with young learners

This entry it's about the article "Meeting individual needs with young learners" by Peter Westwood and Wendy Arnold. This article it's a summary of the issues raised in a online discussion forum organized by the IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) Young Learner's Special Interest Group.

In all the classrooms of the world we can find a common element: every learner has his own individual differences. As teachers we need to promote a learning environment that enables to use methods that allow learners to adress these differences in positive ways. In the article, we can found the most commonly strategies to adapt their approach to teaching.

Differentiated resource materials: allows us to take into account the different ways of learning of each student.

Whole-group activities (Hands on): This type of activities enable all children to participate successfully in a shared experience by allowing for a range of different outcomes. Activities often focused on practical work around a central theme to which all children contribute to the best of their individual interest, abilities and talents. 

Small-group activities: Can be used as a way to organize the classroom or as a way for the teacher to meet more closely the needs and concerns of the students. Also, teh article give us the example of a Portuguese teacher that use this system for all groups rotate through a variety of activities, but one of those was with guidance from the teacher.

Students and teachers interactions: The best way to meet the individual needs of each student is through the interaction between teacher and student. it's a good way to help those students who need individually  help during a lesson. But if we want this to be effective it is necessary that the teacher has a good knowledge of the characteristics and needs of their students.

Projects: Project works enable children to pursue their own interest, while applying basic skills at their own level of competence. In this picture we can see an example of a  water cycle project.  

Multiple intelligences (MI): Many teachers use the Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Model, that recognize children's unique abilities ans strengths, to help them to recognize and respond to individual differences.