Dear readers,

Welcome to the double issue of the ELTA Newsletter, for December 2007 and January 2008. The topic of this issue is double, too: Young Learners and Special Educational Needs (SEN) Children.

The articles you are about to read are the fruit of hard work of Vera Savic, a member of ELTA Board and lecturer of ESP at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Jagodina, who is the Guest Editor of this double issue. You'll see how much effort she has put in sharing her feelings, beliefs, and impressions on inclusive education with us. The iceberg above is the symbol of our knowledge about language learning, but especially of methodology practiced with children with additional educational needs who we all have in our classes. We hope that you'll find the articles useful and interesting, and that they will motivate you to contribute to the Newsletter.

New Year brings novelties into our Newsletter, too! Starting from March 2008, each month will have present a different English speaking country. The list of the topics is as follows: February - Cultural Awareness; March – UK; April – USA; May – Canada; June – Australia and New Zealand. The Editorial Team invites you to be one of our future Guest Editors! If you are in doubt, here are the Guidelines for Guest Editors, which will set your mind at ease. There are also Guidelines for Writing an Editorial, so you don't have to worry. In any case, we are here for you only, so take a moment and write to us to the well-known address melt@elta.org.yu.

As the editor of December/January Newsletter, I wish to express my enormous gratitude to all who helped me with this issue, and the previous ones.

The Editorial Team wishes you all the best in the New Year, Merry Christmas, and a very enjoyable winter holiday!

P.S. Have you made your teaching New Year resolutions yet?

Maja Hadzic
on behalf of the Editorial Team

Editorial

Dear teachers of English,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the December/January issue of our Newsletter devoted to inclusion in English language classes. As a Guest Editor I have chosen this very under-discussed topic in ELT and hope you will find the texts both informative and inspiring for your teaching practice.

What exactly is inclusion or inclusive education? Who are the children with special educational needs? How do impairments and disorders affect a child’s development? What is AD/HD? What is dyslexia? What are attitudinal barriers and stigmatization? What is Individual Educational Plan? What is cooperative teaching?

If you are not sure you can answer these questions or are eager to learn more about the above concepts, you will find the articles in this Newsletter very helpful. What’s more, you will get some useful suggestions about how to teach classes in which there is a big diversity of students’ abilities and needs and how to help your students with special educational needs (SEN for short) overcome their learning difficulties and develop both academically and non-academically.

What inspired me to suggest the topic of inclusion in ELT? First of all, teachers’ stories while sharing their experiences in workshops and seminars, as well as their eagerness to respond to the challenges of diversity in lower grades of primary school. Then, my experiences from study tours to Finland, the country renowned for the success of its students in international tests (PISA), and at the same time a country which applies the policy of equality in education and gives children with SEN the same opportunities to develop in regular schools as their peers.

So I started exploring the topic, both from the theoretical and practical points. My new awareness is that children with SEN have the right to proper education (guaranteed both by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Law on Basic Education of the Republic of Serbia), and that placing them in regular classes gives them great opportunities for learning and development through interaction with their peers. Their learning difficulties and failure in EL learning are often the consequences of inadequate support. Meeting their needs requires a lot of commitment, energy, professional knowledge and skills. Not only do English language teachers need specific knowledge and skills to accomplish this demanding task, but the crucial pre-requisite for the success in an inclusive EL classroom is their cooperation with class teachers, specialists in schools or local communities, and parents.

The main objective of the articles in this Newsletter is to draw attention to the need of proper inclusion of children with SEN into primary ELT, in the hope that inclusive practices will involve all children with learning difficulties and help their development. We will all agree that success in EL learning in the lower primary grades largely determines a child’s positive attitude to learning English as a foreign language throughout his or her schooling.

I wish you inspiring reading and invite all of you to contribute to the topic with your experiences and reflections on own practice as well as with ideas for further action.

And a big thank you to all authors of articles for their wonderful contributions to this Newsletter – once again you have proved your honest commitment to the welfare of all our students!

Yours sincerely,

Vera Savić,
the December / January Newsletter Guest Editor
ELTA Board Member

We would hereby like to thank all the contributors and encourage them, and all of you, to continue making our newsletter and magazine fantastic as it is!

You can take part, as well, and share your thoughts with us! Send us your comments and suggestions – here are some guidelines to help you:

1.What are your favourite sections of Newsletter / MELT and why?

2.What do you think about this issue?

3.Any further comments or ideas regarding Newsletter / MELT?

The editors are happy to receive all your suggestions and articles at melt@elta.org.yu

Read the guidelines and fill in the form.

A day of Oxford University Press
Belgrade, November 10, 2007
This seminar a good chance for Serbian English language teachers to hear and meet top-quality methodologists give a talk and bring closer world trends in ELT. This year, there were four presenters. Read more (Ms Word 38KB)

LEARNING STRATEGIES – PART OF YOUR LEARNING PERSONA
by Ivana Ćirković – Miladinović
I was the presenter at the Happy Hour session that took place on Monday, 15 October, at the British Council building dealt with Learning strategies. The aim of my workshop was to discuss what learning strategies students mostly use and whether in-service teachers have some benefits from language learning strategy research. Read the whole article (Ms Word 42KB)

A Joint Report: The Latest Get-together in West Bačka Region
by Jelena Raković
Jelena Rakovic and Tatjana Glusac agreed to invite teachers from the West Bačka District for a meeting on a Saturday morning and show them some of the techniques for teaching writing. Read the whole article (Ms Word 45KB)

30th May- 1st June, Sava Center, Belgrade
6th IATEFL ELTA Conference
The Classroom That Beats the Odds
The Conference will provide English language teachers from various countries with another opportunity to share how they cope with everyday challenges when teaching English. As always, the Conference will be a great opportunity to hear many wide-known methodologists and book authors.

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 31 January 2008. The Conference announcement can be found here.

3 December 2007, 1815 – 1930
British Council
Happy Hour workshop for English language teachers
‘English Language Learning Can Be Fun’
Facilitator: Diane Simmons Tomczak
Need inspiration for making your class fun and motivate your students? Attend this workshop and Diane Simmons Tomczak from Pearson Education will help you achieve this! Apply via sanja.eric@britishcouncil.org.yu

5 December 2007, 1815 – 1930
British Council
Hot Corner workshop for English language teachers
‘Storytelling’
Facilitators: Dejan Novaković, Jelena Stanisavljević
Storytelling has existed as long as humanity has had language. Stories are frequently used to teach, explain, and entertain. Jelena and Dejan will show us how to successfully achieve this with limited resources. Apply for this workshop via sanja.eric@britishcouncil.org.yu

22 December 2007, 1000 – 1400
British Council
Seminar for English Language Teachers
“Minimal Resources”
Facilitators: Anica Đokić, Marija Kovač, Jelena Raković
This workshop consists of more than a few amusing activities adaptable to different aspects of language learning with one thing in common: the necessary equipment is not expensive, it is easy to find and adapt to classroom use and it is both teacher- and student-friendly. We hope that Marija, Jelena and Anica will successfully show you some of the simple and brilliant tricks that they used in their own classrooms. Apply for this workshop via seminars@elta.org.yu

Celebrating Christmas and New Year around the world
by Aleksandra Sekulić
"I tried to collect as much information as I could to share it with you so that those of you who are also interested in this could find a lot of information in one place. I hope you’ll find something useful". Read the whole article (Ms Word 216KB)

Research Terminology
from www.wilk4.com
The following list of phrases and their definitions might help you understand the mysterious language of science and medicine. These special phrases are also applicable to anyone working on a Ph.D. dissertation or academic paper anywhere! Read the whole article (Ms Word 44KB)

Strange Signs Found in England
from www.wilk4.com
Mother tongue plays tricks with its native speakers, too! These are the signs from all over England – in a Laundromat, in a safari park, on a church door…Read the whole article (Ms Word 56KB)

Label instructions
from www.wilk4.com
In case you needed further proof that the human race is doomed, here are some actual label instructions on consumer goods! Read more (Ms Word 28KB)

Working with children
by Jelica Stanisavljević
I graduated from university in June 2006 and only two months after that I started working in a state elementary school. When I realized that I would work with the first grade, I was terrified… With this story I wanted to share my experience and to encourage all young teachers… Read more about Jelica's experience (Ms Word 44KB)

Reviewing Vocabulary by Writing Haiku
by Vera Savić
Creative writing is enjoyable and enhances motivation in language learning, while writing own haiku poems can improve mnemonic techniques. Haiku writing is suitable for a wide age-range, from teenagers up to university level and adult education, as well as for mixed-ability classes. Read more (Ms Word 63,5KB)

Three holiday printables from www.FamilyEducationNetwork.com
by Maja Hadžić
Maja Hadzic has chosen three fun and interesting printable pages for your primary learners. They are topic based, but lend themselves very well for many possible additional exercises that may follow.

Sharpen your Holiday's Memory Game    Jingle Bells    Find the Christmas Object

Attitudes towards children with disabilities:
A challenge to inclusive education
by Vanja Stanišić
Living in the Balkans, it is easy to recognise the stigma associated with being disabled and negative attitudes people have towards disability. A majority of the population still has difficulties to accept diversity, and understand it positively, as an opportunity for learning and enriched experience. Read more (Ms Word 104KB)

Learning experiences from England
by Ana Kocić
One of the more interesting concepts of linguistic analysis applied at the School of Education, University of Nottingham is corpora analysis, i.e. analysing a large body of authentic written and spoken data in order to gain insight into the language structure. Read the whole article (Ms Word 47KB)

English in Medical studies in English: 10th Anniversary
by Sofija Micić
In 80 years of the existence of the School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, the history of compulsory teaching of foreign languages is almost 20 years long. In 1996, there was another mode of educating students of medicine introduced, that of Medical Studies in English. Read the whole article (Ms Word 37KB)

Change in and through English language education
by Miloš Đerić
This year (2007) I took part in Hungarian 17th annual conference held in Budapest, October 5th to 7th. I am honored to say that I was the representative of ELTA Serbia and I delivered a session, entitled “Learning Styles- More Secrets to Divulge”. Read the whole article (Ms Word 32KB)

Christmas/New Year/ Winter classroom activities
by Maja Hadžić
Christmas in English classrooms is celebrated around the world, regardless of the nationality or religious beliefs of the teacher. Here are a few ideas from Maja Hadzic on making your classes brighter and more interesting. You can prepare the material yourself, or you can show your students how to prepare them and let them do the work beforehand. Read the whole article (Ms Word 79KB)

Approaching Children with Special Educational Needs in Primary ELT
by Vera Savić
Not only do English language teachers need specific knowledge and skills to accomplish this important task, but the crucial pre-requisite for the success in the EL classroom is their cooperation with class teachers, specialists in school or local community, and parents. Is this the case in our schools? Read the whole article (Ms Word 227KB)

Working with the first generation of first-graders in state schools:
Challenges and trials
by Aleksandra Sekulić
I started working in a state primary school in 2001. In 2003, when the school reform in Serbia started, the principal of my school decided that I was the best person at school to work with the new first-graders...(Ms Word 42KB)

DYSLEXIA- How to deal with it?
by Milos Đerić
Our colleague shares his impressions of a language conference in Greece in 2006. A comprehensive guide through teaching English to children with dyslexia. Read the whole article (Ms Word 36KB)

Inclusion and Excellence in Education
-  The Finnish Experience –
by Vera Savić
Finland is well-known both for its success in education and for the well-developed system of inclusion; second, I have visited the country three times on my study tours to Helsinki, seeing for myself how the Finnish system of education functions in practice. Read the whole article (Ms Word 162KB)

TWI for the CHILDREN, Inc.
by Bobby Houser
When I first started working with children with special needs, the term was “disabled children” and I thought I would have to plan everything around their “disability”. What a surprise I had when I realized that I only needed to adapt the game, dance, sport, or craft to their ability. Read the whole article (Ms Word 64KB)

Teaching writing to low proficiency efl students
by Ivana ĆirkoviĆ - Miladinović
This article describes a combination of two explicit teaching methodologies, a genre-based and activity-based literacy pedagogy which are suitable for educational context where the students are low proficiency English as Foreign Language (EFL) students. Read the whole article (Ms Word 43KB)

Understanding and responding to children's needs
by Vera Savić
Understanding and Responding to Children’s Needs in Inclusive Classrooms – A Guide for Teachers (2001) is a guide which gives both theoretical outline and practical ideas on helping children who have learning difficulties. It is aimed to assist teachers who already have children with special educational needs in their pre-school or primary classes or who have limited experience in teaching such children and want to learn more. Read the whole article (Ms Word 45KB)

Education, Investment in the Future
by Ivan Ilić, Ivana Milošević
Read what Ivan Ilic and Ivana Milosevic have to say about their impressions during a student exchange programme between Finnish and Serbian students of the Faculty of Education. Read the whole article (Ms Word 361KB)

Children are the same Everywhere
by Finnish Students
This is a report written by three Finnish students of Education, based on their experiences during their stay in Jagodina in 2006 – their thoughts on the Serbian education system, Serbian hospitality, and teaching. Read the whole article (Ms Word 204KB)

It’s been a While
by Petar Cvetković
Here's a poem from a young member of Mensa, and a student of the Faculty of Education in Jagodina. Read the whole article (Ms Word 42.5KB)

Jobs and teenage life in our town
by Miloje Tadić, Bogdan Stefanović, Milan Janicijević, Uroš Radenković
This presentation was prepared by a group of eighth-graders from a primary school, in their fourth year of learning English. It is a part of their project entitled 'Jobs and teenage life in our town'. Their English teacher, Aleksandra Sekulic, is very proud of them because they had done the task on their own. The hard-working boys are: Miloje Tadic, Bogdan Stefanovic, Milan Janicijevic, Uros Radenkovic. They are all in class 8/3, primary school 'Bosko Djuricic' in Jagodina. Download the whole presentation (PPS File 589KB)

Fish coup
by Saara Launio
After trying something traditional from Finland, try decorating cookies and making this delicious perfect-for-holidays gingerbread house. Read the whole article (Ms Word 24.5KB)

Decorating cookies
by Ms Creative
After trying something traditional from Finland, try decorating cookies and making this delicious perfect-for-holidays gingerbread house. Read the whole article (Ms Word 58.5KB)

Gingerbread house
by Ms Creative
After trying something traditional from Finland, try decorating cookies and making this delicious perfect-for-holidays gingerbread house. Read the whole article (Ms Word 34KB)

Increasing Meaningful Access Through Comprehensible Input
from www.FamilyEducationNetwork.com
Providing curriculum access does not absolve districts of their responsibility to teach students how to read and develop other core academic abilities and skills in areas such as mathematics, writing, and the use of technology. This means that below-grade material can be used if doing so better assists students in learning a core academic objective. Read the whole article (Ms Word 26.5KB)

Teaching children with additional educational needs
from www.teachingenglish.org.uk - Gail Elis
This article is about teaching English to children who may have learning difficulties or other additional educational needs. It deals with the rationale behind teaching English to such children and provides teaching strategies for the institution and the classroom. Read the whole article (Ms Word 56.5KB)

The Child as a Learner
from www.teachingenglish.org.uk - Isela Shipton
This two-part article explores how young children learn languages and what we as teachers can do to help them and their parents to make this process more enjoyable and positive. Read the whole article (Ms Word 143KB)

Katarina Perić
by Irena Miladin
Katarina Peric is a graduate student at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade. She teaches in a private language school in Lazarevac. She shares her views and experience with us regarding methodology, children, teaching profession…Read the whole article (Ms Word 53KB)

What English Means To Me
by Jaime Weiler
How does a native speaker and teacher of English feel about his/her own mother tongue? Jaime Weiler says that "English is a joy, a burden, and a pastime. It took on meaning the first time I left the US to teach in another country, and I will continue to question and analyze it for the rest of my life". Read the whole article (Ms Word 26KB)

What English Means to Me
by Vera Savić
The set of values I had acquired through English complemented my native values in the most harmonious way. I realized that English had shaped my personality into a mosaic that could not be undone. Vera Savic shares her emotions toward English with us. Read the whole article (Ms Word 27KB)

Do you know who is who in ELTA?