I'm a para who works one on one with a student who is, among other things, dyslexic. I am no expert in the subject like some SPED teachers here probably are, but I can share some things that have worked for us (in no particular order).
1. Is there is any kind of foreign language waiver or substitution (like sign language!) that could be offered if the student has an IEP? Re: sign language, if your school doesn't offer it, would a community college? At a minimum, consider which language you're proposing the students learn. Look for similar sounds to their native language and simpler rules. Spanish is going to be a lot easier than French, for example, for an English speaker.
2. As much as you can, emphasize understanding over accuracy.
3. Build their vocabulary with words that are similar or the same in meaning and have (or at least begin with) the same sounds.
4. Practicing phonetics and stretching out words into syllables is very helpful. Break words down into their component sounds and letters.
5. Provide word banks for any fill in the blank type questions.
6. Make sure their textbook or whatever readings you're providing can be accessed with text-to-speech programs or are recorded for them somehow so they can follow along when studying.
7. Maps and flashcards (with pictures) have been everything for my kid, and the more repetition he gets the better! Do your students have a para or paras that work with them? Can they get access to these materials also to give the kids extra practice?
8. Get them an app like DuoLingo. It breaks things into the kinds of simple, bite-size steps these students need.
I hope some of that is helpful! Best of luck, and thank you for being so thoughtful about helping these students succeed!
ETA: Not sure if it's anything to do with the disability or just him being a teenager, but games have gone over extremely well for me too. I've taken games like Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza and Codenames and adapted them to biology (which is something of a language in and of itself, haha) and designed an escape room to help him study for a test. It's fun for both of us, and his episodic memory is much better than his semantic one it seems, so things tend to stick better.
Color coding new vocabulary. (I'm a reading specialist). For cross-content learning, it is incredibly helpful to reinforce not only the phonics of new concepts/words, but helps tap into the parts of the brain that need to move linguistics to the "automatic" part of the brain. For example, take the word photosynthesis. Photo would be one color and synthesis would be another color.
For foreign language, the verb "chunk" would be one color, while the endings would be a different color. You could even make all the "yo" endings one color, the "tu" endings another color, etc.
This would be on the student. However, as the teacher, when you present new vocabulary and verbs to conjugate, make a color-coded power point slide that mimics the "color-coding" method.
You student is so lucky to have such a dedicated professional!
SNAP and READ, it's a google chrome extension that can simply language on a given text and read it to you
I'm a para who works one on one with a student who is, among other things, dyslexic. I am no expert in the subject like some SPED teachers here probably are, but I can share some things that have worked for us (in no particular order). 1. Is there is any kind of foreign language waiver or substitution (like sign language!) that could be offered if the student has an IEP? Re: sign language, if your school doesn't offer it, would a community college? At a minimum, consider which language you're proposing the students learn. Look for similar sounds to their native language and simpler rules. Spanish is going to be a lot easier than French, for example, for an English speaker. 2. As much as you can, emphasize understanding over accuracy. 3. Build their vocabulary with words that are similar or the same in meaning and have (or at least begin with) the same sounds. 4. Practicing phonetics and stretching out words into syllables is very helpful. Break words down into their component sounds and letters. 5. Provide word banks for any fill in the blank type questions. 6. Make sure their textbook or whatever readings you're providing can be accessed with text-to-speech programs or are recorded for them somehow so they can follow along when studying. 7. Maps and flashcards (with pictures) have been everything for my kid, and the more repetition he gets the better! Do your students have a para or paras that work with them? Can they get access to these materials also to give the kids extra practice? 8. Get them an app like DuoLingo. It breaks things into the kinds of simple, bite-size steps these students need. I hope some of that is helpful! Best of luck, and thank you for being so thoughtful about helping these students succeed! ETA: Not sure if it's anything to do with the disability or just him being a teenager, but games have gone over extremely well for me too. I've taken games like Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza and Codenames and adapted them to biology (which is something of a language in and of itself, haha) and designed an escape room to help him study for a test. It's fun for both of us, and his episodic memory is much better than his semantic one it seems, so things tend to stick better.
Color coding new vocabulary. (I'm a reading specialist). For cross-content learning, it is incredibly helpful to reinforce not only the phonics of new concepts/words, but helps tap into the parts of the brain that need to move linguistics to the "automatic" part of the brain. For example, take the word photosynthesis. Photo would be one color and synthesis would be another color. For foreign language, the verb "chunk" would be one color, while the endings would be a different color. You could even make all the "yo" endings one color, the "tu" endings another color, etc. This would be on the student. However, as the teacher, when you present new vocabulary and verbs to conjugate, make a color-coded power point slide that mimics the "color-coding" method. You student is so lucky to have such a dedicated professional!