Disabled Access Friendly Campaign

Philosophy of the campaign

• Encourage language teaching that raises awareness of the needs of people with physical disabilities
• Sensitise children to the needs of people with physical disabilities, both in and outside the classroom

In the hurly-burly of everyday teaching and writing materials for the classroom, we may forget that we the teachers can, through our teaching and contact with young people, help shape society. The best teachers – and ELT authors - have always done more than just prepare students for tests.  They raise awareness of the world in which we live and try to make it a better place.
The Disabled Access Friendly campaign targets privately owned Foreign Language Centres in Greece, where the vast majority of children attend in order to learn foreign languages, usually English.  The campaign is aimed primarily at children with difficulties in walking and who use wheelchairs. An important activity of the campaign is to provide teachers with free, downloadable material that can be used in the classroom for skills building and examination practice, but that will at the same time raise awareness about issues affecting people with physical disabilities.

Aims of the campaign

• Provide teachers with material
• Encourage improvements in accessibility

The teaching material aims to:

1. raise students’ awareness of people with disabilities and the challenges they face
2. raise awareness about different aspects of human diversity and how social integration can be an enriching experience for all
3. encourage students to notice their own and others’ behaviour and attitudes towards people with physical disabilities and to provide the means to help them act in order to improve their behaviour and attitudes to make them more sensitive, positive and supportive where necessary

We invite you to help support this campaign by :

• Sending in a simple idea or suggestion for this kind of teaching material

We would welcome any kind of contribution from teachers or other interested persons - you most certainly do not have to be a materials writer to contribute. We can all make use of our teaching or life experience to suggest ideas for a lesson or a particular text that could be used. You can send in an idea, an outline, or material which you think would make a good lesson at any level and for any age group.  Every little bit helps. We would then develop your idea into a more fully fledged lesson or worksheet.

• Sending in a more detailed lesson

You can also of course send in a more detailed lesson which can be self-explanatory or a lesson accompanied by teacher’s notes, so other teachers can teach it  or adapt the material in their own way.

You will find more information in the writers' guidelines.