Learner’s Book Warm up • Show learners some positive images associated with blindness and deafness that are relevant to the culture in which you work, e.g. a picture of a guide dog, something written in braille, signs seen in public places (shops, libraries, etc.) to indicate that assistance is available, a video clip or a picture of someone signing, etc. Ask learners to tell you what they understand from these images. Pre-teach blind and deaf, if necessary. • Once you have established the association of the images, ask learners to tell you what day-to-day challenges blind and deaf people face. Then show how each item is used to address these challenges.
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Talk about it
• Focus on the two questions and ask learners what they think life was like for blind and deaf people in the past. Elicit or give information yourself (if learners do not know) and write notes on the board. Then contrast with the information generated in the Warm up to show how things are different today. Keep your notes about past and present attitudes visible on the board (in preparation for the first reading activity). • If necessary, search the Internet for websites giving information about historical attitudes to blind and deaf people, conditions and education. Note: Today, in many countries, people who are blind can be found in a variety of professions: judges, lawyers, accountants, secretaries, librarians, teachers, doctors. There are famous blind musicians, such as Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles and public figures like the British MP, David Blunkett. Facilities for blind and deaf people have improved immensely – in many countries people have guide dogs, public service provision and care in the home. There are national organisations that protect the rights of blind and deaf people, especially in the work place. Answers Learners’ own answers.
2 Read
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• Tell learners that they are going to listen to and read about a person from history who worked very hard to change attitudes towards blind and deaf people. If you think learners may have already heard of Helen Keller, give them a few clues from the text to elicit her name; if your learners won’t have heard of her, tell them her name, nationality and that she was completely blind and deaf for most of her life. To generate interest, write the following statements on the board and ask learners to tell you if they think they are true or false: 1 During her life, Helen travelled all over the world. 2 She met a US president. 3 She spoke English and could read four other languages. 34
Cambridge Global English Stage 6 Teacher’s Resource
Audioscript: Track 8 See Learner’s Book pages 14–16.
Answers 1 true 2 false – she met 12 US presidents! 3 true
• Tell the class to listen and read the whole text quickly, looking for the ideas that have already been mentioned in Activity 1. Draw learners’ attention to the notes on the board about past and present attitudes. Stress to them that, at this point, they only need look for this information and not to worry about words they do not understand. • Start the audio and tell learners to read the text while listening. • After reading/listening, conduct a short feedback session pointing out information generated from Activity 1 that also appears in the text. • In preparation for learners reading the text again (to answer the comprehension questions), pre-teach the following words, paragraph by paragraph. • Write the words on the board and ask learners to find the words in the text. Then read out the definitions and elicit the corresponding word. Differentiated instruction Additional support and practice • When pre-teaching the vocabulary, conduct a reading race: read the definitions in the order that the words appear in the text and ask learners to find the word, e.g. Find me a word that means ‘twelve of something’. Do this one part at a time. • After learners have written the answers for questions 1–12, put them in groups of four to check their answers together. • Allow time for this before giving feedback on the answers. Where possible, use the pictures in the book to illustrate the answers. Extend and challenge • Learners could work in pairs to do the comprehension questions 1–12. Part 1: dozen, respect, independent, vision When you can look after yourself (independent) A word that means ‘twelve of something’ (dozen) When you think very well of someone and listen to their opinions (respect) A word that means ‘the ability to see’ (vision) Part 2: manual, sign language A way of communicating for deaf people using hand gestures (this may have come up in Activity 1 and could be mimed here as a reminder) (sign language). An adjective meaning ‘by hand’ (manual). Part 3: bent down, tapped (these actions can be mimed, no definitions needed). • Tell learners that they are going to read each paragraph again to find more details. Draw their attention to the questions after each part. They should read and then answer the questions in their notebooks.