Milton Keynes, 23rd June 2010

Talk to Writing Workshop

Challenges for Users of EAL

Users of EAL

contextregister

vocabulary

Sentence level

grammar

cohesion

coherence

Manipulating syntax

Appropriate vocabularytext structure

content

Pupils’ individual vocabularies offer a rich resource for classroom activities, since many of the less common words used byindividual pupils may not be known or used by others.

Writing in English as an additional language at Key Stage 2(Cameron and Besser 2004)

• Build images and metaphors;• Strengthen the ability to imagine;• Challenge the cliché;• Provide templates to understand self and the world;• Internalise language (best writers are readers);• Build up a repertoire of patterns, techniques, inclinations,

language;• Provides a yardstick;• Act as a catalyst to writing;• Provide blueprints for the imagination.

Exploring meanings of new words

It is important to provide opportunities to explore the meanings of new vocabulary generated • Collocation • Synonyms • Word families

Collocation 1

What words will you use to describe a contemporary city street scene?

Grays Inn Road

Collocation 2• What words go with:

trafficbus

Collocation 3 

flows runs walks stops brakes crawls

traffic            

a car            

a person            

a bus            

Collocation 

flows runs walks stops brakes crawls

traffic √ x x √ x √

a car x √ x √ √ √

a person x √ √ √ x √

a bus x √ x √ √ √

Clines - verbs

amble

stroll

walk

stride

jog

run

sprint

Hyponyms

Motor vehicles

motorbike car van lorry

hatchback estate

sports car

Vocabulary

boat

ship

liner tankerferry

canoe yacht

Vocabulary

square

rectangle

oblong

quadrilateral

trapezium parallelogram

rhombus

polygon