English as an Additional Language

(EAL)Session Outcomes:

• To know what barriers EAL students face in our academy.

• To be able to come up with some effective strategies to support our EAL students.

• To understand the importance of promoting inclusivity with our EAL students.

La Cupola del Duomo di Firenze

Discussion

• What was the lesson about?

• Why did you find it hard to understand?

• How did you feel whilst Tony was speaking?

• As you were put in the place of an EAL student, what were the main barriers to your learning?

• What could Tony have done to support your learning?

Barriers for EAL

Young perso

n

Family background:• Cultural

Expectation of girls and boys

• Do the family speak English?

• Where is the rest of the family?

School or educational setting:• Lack of Bi-

Lingual Resources

• Low self esteem

• Isolation• What is their

prior education?

Wider world:• Experience of

traumatic events

• Racism• Negative

attitudes to migrants

• Lengthy asylum claims

Local Community:• Limited access

to activities • Limited access

to facilities• Poor housing

We can’t solve all of the problems, but we can

make it easier…

How can we support our EAL students?

Get to know what you can about the student:• Country of origin• First language• Other languages spoken

in family• Number of years in the UK• Religion• Education History• Ethnicity

Teaching a new language EAL pupils need to:• See them• Hear them• Write them• Put them into a sentence• Revise them • Use them in another

context.

Using visual stimuli is very important for EAL students. They need it to make the meanings of words clear.

When speaking try to use body language and pictures to illustrate your point. Students need time to listen

to words and really tune into the language before attempting to speak it.

Draw pictures when explaining points to show the meanings of words.

Use translation tools to convert key words. You can also change the language of newspaper articles on certain websites.

Create bi-lingual vocabulary VCOPS.

Use bilingual or picture dictionaries.

Simplify text and focus on key words by underlining or highlighting.

Gap fill exercises with key words.

Labeling diagrams in English and first language

Sorting exercises for example in order of the alphabet.

Get students to write true or false about a sentence.

Matching key words with definitions or pictures.

Ordering sentences into the correct order.

Picture VCOPS/Glossaries.

In students marking, the learning question could be:‘What new English words have you learnt? Give students time to go back through their work. Add positive comments to students work in their first language e.g. you could add ‘doskonały’ onto a good diagram or sentence. This means excellent!

Use first language on PowerPoint e.g. instructions.

SMSC links: When talking about culture, get students to comment and give opinions. Make them feel included.

Give the student a buddy in your squad.

Greet students in their first language-make your classroom inclusive! It is surprising how much they will appreciate it!

Give students the research task question, allow them to research in their first language.

Using your cards, put these different strategies into three categories:

High impactModerate impactLow impact

Some examples from last year…

Praise in Polish

Gap fills

Allow them to research in first

language

The student started to

annotate the key words herself

Positive Praise

Towards the end of last year…

Reflection Time

• Out of the strategies that were identified what do you think will work?

• Have you thought of any new ideas that could be used to support EAL students?

• What are the main challenges we still face?

Remember:• Bilingualism is an asset• The first language is key to an

EAL pupil’s identity, learning and acquiring an additional language.

• Subject challenge should be kept high through the provision of linguistic help.

• We need an inclusive curriculum-make the students feel part of something