Foreign Languages for Everyone: How I Learned to Teach Second Languages to Students with Learning Disabilities

Useful and informative.

Drawing on years of experience and research, Irene Brouwer Konyndyk has given teachers and parents alike a wonderful gift. Her book "Foreign Languages for Everyone" dispels the myth that at risk students (e.g., those with learning disabilities, ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome and other learning difficulties) are unable to learn a foreign language. Basing her work on sound educational principles, Professor Konyndyk demonstrates that there are ways to help these students master a foreign language and reap the benefits of being immersed in a foreign culture.Is it easy? No. Is it possible? Yes, but it takes dedication and love for students with different learning styles and needs. While this book is intended mainly for teachers, it would also benefit parents who are looking for some understanding of their child's learning difficulties and some strategies for helping them with their everyday learning challenges. Many of the strategies Prof. Konyndyk has developed are transferable to other disciplines as well.

I am so happy I stumbled into Prof. Konyndyk website while doing some research for my courses. I then learned about this book and it is a precious resource for any teacher. Prof. K. is a truly dedicated teachers and we need more instructors who care like she does. The book is very easy to browse and study, down-to-earth advice solidly founded on years of experience and in-depth research. I highly recommended to anyone who wants to find some interesting ways to "vamp up" class time, tapping all different typologies of learners. Either if you are a brand-new teacher or an experienced one, you will find in this book a bountiful of advice, resources and further research inspiration.

No magic bullet here.

This is a great book for every foreign language teacher who has had a student that studied and studied and still "didn't get it." It explains some of the types of language learning disabilities, strategies for helping students with ADD, ADHD, and specific language learning disabilities such as dyslexia or auditory problems. The suggestions are very common sense to any one who has taught foreign languages, but focused specifically to enable these students with learning disabilities to have success in a foreign language class where they have typically experienced only frustration and failure. I wish I'd had this book 10 years ago.

I am in the process of reading this book and find it to be very useful. As a foreign language teacher (French) the examples in the book are very practical and easy to put into practice. I have been teaching for 18 years and plan to use a lot of the suggestions and practices given. Thanks for writing this book!

I went to the author's conference presentation, and rather than call it "Foreign Languages for Everyone," I would call it "How to use learning disabilities as an excuse to teach really old-school grammar." I don't know how ACTFL published this, because it goes against so much of modern language teaching.

A professor of mine recommended this book to me and I immediately ordered it online. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like some ideas for how to teach foreign language to students with learning disorders.