The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

English as an additional language

Elizabeth Holmes

Getting to the heart of professional learning and literacy

‘New teachers are starting a journey, not being prepared, glazed and kiln baked by CPD to be career ready.’ Diane Leedham , English, Literacy and EAL teacher and advisor, and all-round voice of sense and reason on edu-twitter, has clear ideas about helping children to learn and thrive. I caught up...
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Owen Carter

EAL teaching: ways to build vocabulary

Are you looking for resources and ideas to help support your EAL pupils? EAL teacher and educational sociolinguistics researcher, Hamish Chalmers, is back with a second webinar on EAL teaching. Schools are struggling to cope with the increase in the number of pupils with English as an additional...
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Lizzie Gait

Supporting EAL pupils in the classroom

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...
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