Small Changes, Big Impact

How We Adapted Our EFL Lessons for Visually Impaired and Sighted Students

Abstract

What is it that makes a teacher successful? There are many different kinds of great teachers, but the most successful teachers are the ones who never stop learning. The richest learning resource we have as teachers is our students. It is through our students that we can learn to make our teaching more effective, cultivate a more positive learning environment, and adapt our lessons to be inclusive and accessible for all learners. In large classrooms, this might look like differentiation and scaffolding lessons for individual students. Oftentimes, classes might also have students from very different backgrounds and ability levels. In our case, as university English teachers in Thailand, our success as teachers has been tested by our ability to learn to adapt our lessons to effectively teach classes with both visually impaired and sighted students studying together. Since we had not had specific training on this, there was a steep learning curve to develop lesson plans that would enhance the learning of all students. This new challenge called for us to transform our teaching methods to meet students’ needs, underscoring our core belief that education is a journey of lifelong learning for both students and teachers.