Larisa Overmier wrote "I'm wondering how many museums have special tours, docents, or educational materials designed for school students with disabilities or language problems, such as hearing impaired or ESL students. Please respond on the list because I think many museums have been considering these questions of late." The museum I work in has specially trained its interpretive guides to take ESL tours. This training took place with ESL teachers and went through some of the basics like not using idioms to the less obvious ways of dealing with other cultures. For instance you have to be culture sensitive in the way you usher your group to follow you or you could easily insult someone. Each group states its ASPLR (Australian Second Language Proficiency Rating) when they book a tour. At the moment the tours focus on the house museum. For some groups it is simply practice at hearing the language but for most its a whirlwind introduction to Australian history. The current person working on interpretive programs has a special interest in ESL programs. Some new programs are being developed which I could pass on at a later date if anyone is particularly interested. Jennifer