Classroom teachers face the growing challenge of catering for the needs of an ever more diverse school community. Lizzie Gait, training development lead at Optimus Education, offers tips for teaching pupils with English as an additional language.
It was estimated that in 2014 1.1 million pupils between the ages of 5 and 16 in British schools were classed as having EAL. Yet, there is no specific programme of study produced by the government to outline how this growing group of pupils should be taught. Widespread research suggests that EAL pupils’ needs are best met in mainstream classrooms where they have the opportunity to access a wide range of curriculum areas taught by genuine curriculum experts. In order to ensure that they have access to a high-quality education, teachers should be equipped with a bank of teaching techniques and practical resources. One successful method is to use cooperative learning strategies – teaching strategies which can be used with EAL pupils to help them acquire language through curriculum content. For example, you might want to use the simple but effective Travelling Mind Map!
This is a particularly powerful strategy as it combines all four language skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening.
EAL for Classroom Teachers is the latest course from In-House Training at Optimus Education. It offers practical training materials for supporting the learning of EAL pupils. This training will help participants to:
This course was written by Hamish Chalmers, a former Director of EAL at an international school in Bangkok. Hamish is currently completing a doctorate in English language acquisition at Oxford Brookes University, and can be found on twitter at @hwc001 The upcoming conference Effective Parental Engagement includes practical strategies to overcome language barriers and communicate effectively with EAL families. By Lizzie Gait
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