Writing - Conclusion

The conclusion is as important as the introduction because it represents the last memory the reader will have of your work, therefore, becomes your signature and the establishment of the reasons why the topic you chose is worth to be read and mainly, the inspiration that could lead the audience to do something about it. Following the example we have been working with, the conclusion goes like this:

To sum up, there are several learning disabilities describe by professionals many of them are group in physical or mental disabilities and others in the I.Q. scores. Moreover, the classification is not enough but the impact these disabilities have in the learning process is what really concerns educators. Equity of access to education is one of the main purposes of the human rights declaration and in several others legislations. Ecuador has focus the new legislation in creating better places of learning a second language inside their public and private education institutions but the learning disability population have being greatly ignore in the curriculum. In Guayaquil only 3 institutions are inclusive regarding equity to education but there is no specific information about the equity of access to second language acquisition education.  That is why the importance of creating a curriculum for special education professionals teaching SLA in Guayaquil has being neglected and needs to be considered in futures legislations. To conclude, SLA a process that have no difference in students  with  standards abilities than in students with learning disabilities according to Prof. Wilson Torres, NYU graduate in Special Education. He emphasizes that the process in the same but the time that takes each student will vary. Moreover, he indicates that comprehensible input is far more essential than the curriculum content. He considers than an appropriate context is crucial and that a critical concept for second-language development for students with and without learning difficulties is comprehensible input. Torres indicates that the expertise of educators in different disciplines can help establish changes in the curriculum,develop appropriate strategies to help the ELL student, and monitor student progress, not only for special education learners but also for standard students. 

Now try it out with your text!

Writing - Body

Now that we have 50% of the content of an essay, we should focus on the body. This part is extremely important because it explains, discusses, or provides evidence to support the thesis statement. Based on the example given in the last two posts, the body in that scenario would be:

Usually, when people think of the word "disability", they immediately picture someone in a wheelchair. But there are many different types of disability.  According to the World Health Organization, a disability is "any restriction or lack (resulting from any impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being". However, there is no single definition of the word “disability”. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in the United State defines it as 'a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term impact on the ability of a person to carry out normal day to day activities.That includes learning and when people present difficulties, they require special educational provision to be made for them. The types of difficulties are:cognition and learning; social, emotional and behavioral; communication and interaction; and sensory and physical.           

Generally, impairments which cause or contribute to learning disability can happen before (pre-natal like Down Syndrome), during (peri-natal like cerebral palsy) or after birth (post natal like meningitis). The knowledge of these causes is important because they determine the support students might need. Within the spectrum of difficulties associated with cognition and learning there are: Specific learning difficulties (SpLD) such as short-term memory, coordination and organization, Dyslexia which is difficulty with words, Dyscalculia that is the difficulty in understanding simple number concepts and learning number facts and procedures, and Dyspraxia that is associated with the difficulty in handwriting, drawing, throwing and catching. They may have problems with following sequential events and instructions. In addition to specific learning difficulties exist a series of other problems less commonly known such as moderate learning difficulties that is problems with speech and language, low levels of concentration and under-developed social skills. Children whose Intelligence Quotient (IQ) fall below 70 are deemed as having moderate learning difficulties. Furthermore in the spectrum of cognition and learning difficulties exist severe learning difficulties which are people who need support in all areas of the curriculum and often in areas of self-care and social skills as well. These are children whose IQ falls below 55. Finally to end the classification of cognition and learning difficulties exist the profound and multiple learning difficulties which complex learning needs, profound sensory loss and challenging behavior. Children with multiple and profound learning difficulties need support that may include medical and therapy staff. They require a curriculum that is broken down into very small steps: they are usually taught in a specialist setting, increasingly with opportunities for part-time inclusion in mainstream schools. On the other hand, cognition and learning Difficulties are also compound of social, emotional and behavioral difficulties which  may become apparent in the following ways: age inappropriate behavior or that which seems otherwise socially inappropriate or strange, behavior that interferes with the learning of the pupil or their peers (persistent calling out in class, refusal to work, persistent annoyance of peers), signs of emotional turbulence (unusual tearfulness, withdrawal from social situations) and Difficulties in forming and maintaining positive relationships (isolation from peers, aggressiveness to peers and adults). In addition to the types of difficulties in education describe exist 2 more: Communication and interaction difficulties, and sensory and physical difficulties. The communication and interaction difficulties are considered to generate a great impact affecting learning, socialization and emotional development; thus presenting literacy difficulties. Communication and interaction difficulties include a large range of impairments that frequently overlap. These include: developmental language delay, developmental language disorder, phonological/Speech difficulty, receptive language difficulty and expressive language difficulty. Developmental language delay which affects comprehension, expression, interaction with a slowprogress. Developmental language disorder is when the development in one or more aspects of language (comprehension, expression, interaction) will show an uneven or unusual pattern.  Phonological/speech difficulties in which child’s ability to produce intelligible speech and will include those with specific difficulties, including verbal dyspraxia and dysarthria. Receptive language difficulty when a children may have particular difficulty attaching meaning to words and developing concepts or have difficulties understanding complex grammar or implied meaning. Expressive language difficulty when a children may have difficulty accessing vocabulary, using complex grammar, organizing ideas, structuring sentences and conveying intended meaning. The last types of difficulties in education to be classified are the sensory and physical difficulties which subdivide in visual Impairment, hearing Impairment, multi-sensory Impairment and physical Disabilities. Visual Impairment (VI) are difficulties from partial sight through to blindness. For educational purposes, a pupil is considered to be VI if they require adaptations to their environment or specific differentiation of learning materials in order to access the curriculum.Hearing Impairment (HI) is a range from those with a mild hearing loss to those who are profoundly deaf.For educational purposes, pupils are regarded as having a hearing impairment if they require hearing aids, adaptations to their environment and/or particular teaching strategies in order to access the concepts and language of the curriculum. Multi-Sensory Impairment (MSI) is a combination of visual and hearing difficulties. They are sometimes referred to as deaf blind but may have some residual sight and/or hearing. Many also have additional disabilities but their complex needs mean that it may be difficult to ascertain their intellectual abilities.Physical Disability (PD) is whensome pupils are able to access the curriculum and learn effectively without additional educational provision. They have a disability but do not have a special educational need. For others, the impact on their education may be severe.

Considering the mentioned difficulties and when any of them is presented, special education is needed for specially designing instruction, support, and services that can provide students individual instructional programs to meet their unique learning needs. This becomes the path to enable students to successfully develop to their fullest potential.According to the Ministry of Education, the special and inclusive education, as they call it, is a process that has as a requisite a citizenship that embraces the individual differences, the multiple group identities, and a unifying political community. This inclusion works on 4 dimensions:Personal dimension todevelop civic ethics characterized by responsible habits, Social dimension to developthe capacity of living and working together, Special dimension to develop the capacity of perceiving oneself as member of a diverse, regional, national and, local community. Temporary dimension to develop the ability to place today's challenges in the context of past and future in order to achieve long-term solutions.This is how inclusion involves the creation of a pedagogic environment in which the school, teachers, administrative personnel, curriculum, assessment, students, and parents are responsible for the success in the educative process.Ecuador has 342.094 people with some limitation and recognized by the Consejo Nacional de Discapacidades (Conadis). However, the Misión Manuela Espejo that travelled through Ecuador in 2009,registered 293.743 people with some kind of physical, mental, intellectual, or sensorial deficiency.In September 25^th, 2012 a new law that replaced the one of 1992 was entered at the Registro Oficial. It basically gives these people the chance to voluntarily contribute to social insurance at IESS (Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social), less years to retire, decreased number of inputs to ask for amortgage, and establishes the prohibition of private medical insurance companies to exclude them.In Ecuador there are 163 institutions for special education that take in 10.035 students with disabilities. Additionally, according to the Ministry of Education, 10.740 kids have been inserted in 4.690 schools classified as regular; and 1.794 have been registered in 655 centers for learning skills. Since May 2007, there have been many improvementsin this population segment,not only on education, but also in economical support. There is the Joaquín Gallegos Lara bond of USD 240 monthly that 15.123 people with at least 65% of disability receive.In addition, the reform of the Código Laboral has contributed to the insertion of more people with disabilities at public and private companies, where at least 4% of the personnel must have a disability. (Figure 1, 2,3)

           
                    According to Muriel Salville-Troike in the book “Introduction to Second Language Acquisition”, second language acquisition or also known as SLA is a term that refers both to the process of learning that language and when individuals or groups learn another language subsequent to their first language. Knowing a second language is compound by competence and performance of the language. Competence is referring to the knowledge of the language such as grammar and vocabulary. Performanceis referring to the actual production of the language moreover the proficiency using the language, minimum details such as accents and pronunciations of the language are still in debate because of subjectiveness involve. On the other hand learning and second language is not only a process that occurs in a classroom context, according to Stephen D. Krashen it can be classified in formal and informal learning. Formal learning refers to the type of learning that occurs in schools, language centers or with tutors and Informal learning refers to the social environment in which the student learn the language. Many authors discussed the several theories that exist about the process of SLA and the effects of the motivations, environment and age of the learners but there is no specific studies about these process applied in special education. Moreover we can say that SLA is a process not only compound by several factors and that will vary depending of the learners background, age and education, on the other hand, it is accurate to infer that the definition of SLA not only applies to English but also to any other language learn after the first one.

            
                        Regarding the people that speak English, the website exploredia registered that in 2012 there were 914,398,325 speakers in the world, moreover these population increase annually and English is the SLA most spoken in the world. There is no official data about the amount of Ecuadorians who speaks English or how many people is bilingual in Ecuador, but it is clear that English is the target language that Ecuadorians wants to learn not only by the increasingly amount of English centers created daily. In addition, in 2009 the Ecuadorian Education’ Minister applied The English Language Learning Standards (ELLS) in the curriculum and requirement of language teaching and learning. The Ecuadorian in-Service English Teacher Standards document is created from a document developed by the Teachers of English to Speakers of OtherLanguages (TESOL) as the organization’s K-12 ESL Teacher Standards. These documentedare used around the world in not only Spanish speaking countries but also in English, Arabic and French speaking countries. These TESOL is use widely around the world as a document of reference to develop a curriculum in SLA of English based on 5 language domains. According to the ELLS which is based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages the proficiency levels are divided in benchmarks and Ecuadorians students should learn and acquire the language in the following order: Level A1 at the end of 9th year or also called Educación Básica GeneraI, Level A2 At the end of 1st year of Bachillerato, Level B1 at the end of 3rd year Bachillerato. In addition, the new curriculum focuses in acquiring 4 basic skills: listening, reading, speaking andwriting instead of the all curriculum which was based on the lesson content use in the books of each institution. In Ecuador the official language is Spanish and almost all of the schools which are bilingual teach Spanish and English.  In the past, in order to gain knowledge in two languages in Ecuador, schools must have a Bilingual Programs and there were different types of programs that varied from school to school, now days Ecuador is trying to acquire a second language through the new regulations imposed in 2009. (Table1,2,3,4,5)

Even though it takes time to learn a language, it is necessary to recognize that some students do have disabilities that may make them eligible for special education.However, it is not easy to find special curriculums designed for them.  Among the ones that offer specially designed programs there isCAPELL (Connecticut Administrators of Programs for English Language Learners). This initiative is committed to ensure a free and appropriate public education for all students, including those who have special learning needs or disabilities so that the process and developmental stages of second language acquisition can be easier to handle. Another option is the use of multidisciplinary teams that areincreasingly working with educators because studentsthat learn a second languageand those with learning disabilitiesoften show similar difficulties withlearning, attention, social skills, andbehavioral and emotional balance. This team should at least include parents, general educators, special educators, and an ESL educator in order to assess whether the weaknesses evidenced by the student are attributable to inadequate instruction, limited language proficiency, or to a learning disability.The Council for Learning Disabilities (CLD) is an example. As an international organization of professionals, it represents diverse disciplines for enhancing the education and quality of life for individuals with learning disabilities and others who experience challenges in learning.

Locally, Guayaquil has several institutions declared as inclusive. For example, Liceo Los Andes and Unidad Educativa CREAR are private, while the Centro Fiscal de Educación Regular Inclusiva Anne Sullivan is public. In the first two, second language acquisition of English is practiced with everybody, while in the last one, 800 students with and without disabilities are received. The example that these institutions establish in the city is definitely a big step towards a better future for special education and how the community (school, parents, kids, and professionals) can contribute to the formation of this people that have fought so many years to be heard in society.   

As you can see, the body is the largest piece of an essay and contains a lot of information based on facts, statistics, and quotations that help as a support for the things that are communicated. Now let's try to write the body of your own work. Share your results in the comments. 

Writing - Thesis Statement

Creating a thesis statement is not easy, but it contributes in two principal goals every work has: 

• For the readers: a proper identification of the main idea
• For the writer: an organization of the written work 

The following detailed checklist will help you in the brainstorming of establishing your thesis statement:

• Chronology: think in the relevant data you have already gathered so you can identify an order of events or patterns. 
• Procedure: is there any information about an existent scheme on your topic?
• Cause: what is the person, place, or thing that is causing your topic to exist? 
• Effect: how is your topic affecting others?
• Problem: what is happening with your topic that it became an issue? 
• Solution: what can be done to solve the problem your topic is causing? 
• Comparison: are there any statistics or evidences of other cases in another place?
• Contrast: how does those cases differ? 
• Similarity: how does those cases resemble? 
• Advantages: pros
• Disadvantages: cons
• Analysis: considering the above elements, how is your topic interesting to your audience?

Writing - Introduction

Writing is a productive language skill that requires a lot of creativity and art to some extent because it does not allow immediate feedback like speaking does. That is why the impression we generate in our audience is vital for keeping it interested in the ideas we want to spread with our text. In that context, the introduction of any paper is essential and it should include:

1) Hook: interesting but specific description that leads the reader into the paper topic. 

Example: Study of the Current Disability Situation in Ecuador" (ESADE) published by the National Council on Disabilities (CONADIS), found that people with disabilities number 13.2 percent of the population in Ecuador (2009). Referring to special educations individuals no studies have been conducted yet, but the need of equity in SLA for this population is imperative based on the Ecuadorian's Constitution. SLA is a complex process which is developed over an extended period of time and it will vary depending on the student and also it is contingent on many factors that can affect the process.

2) Transition: sentence that connects the hook with the thesis.

Example: Since language depends largely on the context in which it takes place and is acquired in varying degrees of proficiency; it is useful to examine the various factors that affect it as they relate to the individual student’s learning and academic growth.

3) Thesis statement: Sentence (or two) that summarizes the overall main point of the paper. 

Example: People with special needs have bigger difficulties learning a second language not only because of their cognitive problems but also because Ecuador lacks of specialized centers in this area. The following booklet will discuss the importance of creating a curriculum for special education professionals teaching SLA in Guayaquil.

If you are ready to start writing, watch this video to help you with the outline that will support your whole work

Connectors

Also called discourse markers, connectors guide readers through the piece of writing by emphasizing the important elements and connecting ideas, sentences, and paragraphs. If these connectors are not present in the text, readers may have to spend too much time trying to understand the message the author wants to express, thus making the literary work ineffective at its ultimate objective: to communicate. As English learners, we are still developing our writing style, so it is time to widen our vision of the tools we can use in our works. The following categorization of discourse markers will give us a hint on how to use them.

ADDING

and

also

as well as

moreover

too

furthermore

additionally

SEQUENCING

first, second, third…

finally

next

meanwhile

after

then

subsequently   

ILLUSTRATING

for example

such as

for instance

in the case of

as revealed by…

illustrated by

CAUSE and EFFECT

because

so

therefore

thus

consequently

hence

COMPARING

similarly

likewise

as with

like

equally

in the same way..

QUALIFYING

but

however

although

unless

except

apart from

as long as

if            

CONTRASTING

whereas

instead of

alternatively

otherwise

unlike

on the other hand..

conversely        

EMPHASISING

above all

in particular

especially

significantly

indeed

notably

Now let's try with these exercises:

There is no more food left. ______ there is plenty of drinks.

Wash the potatoes first. ______ you can boil them.

We have been trying to contact Michael for the past few days. ______ we managed to trace him to a hotel in town.

Life in the country may not be as exciting as life in the city. ______ you are close to nature which provides peace and quietness.

Lopez has experienced poverty and hardship before. ______ he has a sympathetic heart towards the poor and needy.

Here is a more didactic explanation of some of the words shown before:

False friends

With thousands of words, meanings, and translations, some languages share pairs of words or phrases that look or sound similar, but differ in meaning. These are called false friends. On the other hand, those words that have the same linguistic derivation are cognates. We have to be very careful with these situations because we could cause confusion inside or outside the classroom.

Many Spanish words are similar to English words, like:

abbreviation - abreviación

education - educación

ignorant - ignorante

ocean - océano

urgent - urgente

However, some Spanish words look like English words but they have a very different meaning, like: 

Spanish 

asistir

English translation

attend

Confusion with

assist: to help

Spanish 

dirección

English translation

address

Confusion with

direction: a course along which someone or something moves

Spanish 

éxito

English translation

success

Confusion with

exit: salida

Spanish 

decepción

English translation

dissapointment  

Confusion with

deception: engaño

Spanish 

pretender

English translation

to expect

Confusion with

to pretend: fingir

The exercise #9 from the link of Oxford University Press can help us with these confusions.

http://www.oxfordlanguagedictionaries.com/view/Document.html?filename=/oldo/resources/es/swordgames.pdf

This video can also guide us with more examples:

Parts of Speech - Part 2

Continuing with English parts of speech, we will go through the other 4 categories.

5. Adverb: modifies verbs, adverbs, or adjectives and it usually answers questions like where, when, or how. In writing, adverbs are vital because they give the reader a more descriptive narration. It is easy to identify them because they are usually built by adding -ly to an adjective. However, there are some exceptions, like:

afterward

already

almost

back

even

often

far

quick

fast

rather

hard

slow

here

so

how

soon

late

still

long

then

low

today

more

tomorrow

near

too

never

when

next

where

now

yesterday

• Conjunctive Adverbs: also called transitions because they link ideas, words, or paragraphs. Some of them are: 
                   
accordingly
however
again
indeed
also
moreover
besides
nevertheless
consequently
on the other hand
finally
otherwise
for example
then
furthermore


therefore

6. Preposition: links a noun to another word. It can be difficult for non native speakers to use them because of their idiomatic use, but here we can find some guidelines: 

• Use "in" before seasons of the year, months and years not followed by specific dates.

in the winter

in June

in 2014

• Use "on" before days of the week, holidays, and months, if the date follows.

on Saturday

on Christmas 

on January 3rd 

• "Like" means “similar to”, so it is followed by an object.

like Andrea

like me

• Use "of" to show possession of using the possessive form of a pronoun.

I hear a puppy's bark = I hear the bark of a puppy.

Incorrect: I wore the dress of Nina.

Correct: I wore Nina's dress.

The most common prepositions are:

about

between

above

beyond

across

but

after

by

against

despite

along

down

amid

during

around

except

as

for

at

from

before

in

behind

inside

below

into

beneath

like

beside

near

of

since

off

through

on

toward

onto

under

opposite

underneath

out

until

outside

upon

over

with

past

within

7. Conjunction: word that links other words, phrases or clauses, and decides the importance of the various other words in the sentence. 

• Coordinating conjunctions connect two words or groups of words with similar values. the seven coordinating conjunction in English are: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

 Connects two words: Anne and Sally went to the park. 

Connects two phrases: The band rocked all night and made the people get crazy. 

Connects two clauses: I just gave him food when I came back from the supermarket, and he still wants more.  

• Subordinating conjunctions connect two groups of words by making one into a subordinating clause that answers when or why about the main clause, or imposing conditions or opposition on it.

I can finally take vacation after I finish this project. (when)

The morning was cold, so the dogs did not want to take a walk. (why)

• Correlative conjunctions are always used in pairs. They are similar to coordinating conjunctions because they join sentence elements that are similar in importance.

both = and

either = or

neither = nor

not only = but also

whether = or

8. Interjection: short exclamation inserted into a sentence but not grammatically related to it.

Wow! You arrived on time, that is a miracle!