Special School Visit

I went to New Amsterdam yesterday which is about 2 hours drive away, leaving at 5.30 am. I visited a special school, which takes about 40 children who have learning difficulties and disabilities. There are four classes: deaf children, beginners, middle and older children. The deaf children have a teacher who has done a sign language course, so I was able to try out my rudimentary signing. The children are mixed ages from 5 to 16. The curriculum in the special school is the same as for all other schools, they adapt it themselves according to what they feel the children can do. There is no guidance about how to adapt the curriculum, and no additional curriculum to meet their needs. This may be an area that I get involved in (maybe life skills), but at the moment I am just observing what the local situation is. There have been speech and language therapists and occupational therapists coming to the school, but at the moment there aren't any in the country - some of my VSO colleagues are training local people.
On the positive side, the school has separate rooms for each class, and space outside for them to play with some rather antiquated swings etc. The teachers seem more motivated than I have seen in the mainstream schools. I observed teachers dividing up the group to give the children different work according to what level they needed, this is the first time I have seen this. Usually the teachers do the standard chalk and talk lesson, with choral repetition, choral answering of questions, and the children do what they can, there is no differentiation of the work. There is individual questioning of children as well, they have to stand up to answer the question, so it really puts them on the spot. In mainstream schools it is often too noisy for the teacher and the children to hear well enough to do this - (Primary schools usually have 8 - 10 classes in one big room separated by blackboards.)
So you can see that there are lots of challenges here. I am just trying to observe and see the overall context before leaping in to try to find a corner where I may be able to contribute something useful. I am still waiting for my local colleague to be appointed so that I have someone to discuss and work with. Otherwise it is not sustainable.
At the weekend the choir that I am in is performing. I have borrowed a recorder to practise and learn my alto parts, so I am a bit more confident about it now. It is in a local church on Sunday evening. I enjoy being able to mix with local people, as well as focussing on something different from work. It is a good hobby.
Cheers, Kate
Kate