How we got started
Caroline Scott, Author and Director at Across Cultures originally began writing an induction to English, funded by the Local Authority of Tower Hamlets in 2002.
This funding was awarded to accommodate for the distinct need for additional support for new-to-English learners in the mainstream. After writing her first draft, Caroline went on to develop this further, eventually providing training for many schools in Tower Hamlet sand beyond. Caroline eventually left Tower Hamlets to start an international School overseas. There, she was able to develop ideas further and, with significant additional research, she wrote her first book, 'Teaching Children as an Additional Language: A Programme for 7-11 year olds.' She later went onto write her second book, 'Teaching English as an Additional Language 5-11, A Whole School Resource' which encompassed many more facets of language learning including language learning strategies, additional assessment and differentiating further for all levels of language across all curriculum subjects.
The Learning Village, an online English language learning programme for learners in schools (www.learningvillage.net), was a natural evolution of her work. It allows increased flexibility for learners and teachers as well as significantly more content and assessment opportunities. Caroline also delivers a three day training for senior teachers/leaders on supporting EAL learning across the curriculum (the EAL 'Train the Trainer' course) as well as whole school insets and one day courses on how to achieve effective EAL teaching through the Learning Village.
Caroline Scott
Director, Author & Trainer
Caroline Scott BA, DipM, NPQH, MA has a wealth of experience in supporting young emergent bilingual learners within culturally rich, internationally minded learning environments. Caroline has taught at schools Europe, South East Asia and the Middle East, where she has also trained other teachers in supporting language learning with the curriculum.
Caroline was the founding Head of Primary at CES, a British International school in Cairo, Egypt (a 3-18 IPC school) and the Primary Principal at the International School of Milan, Italy (a 3-18 IB PYP school). She has also held a number of class teaching, EAL co-ordinator, senior leadership and advisory roles in the UK.
Caroline is the author of 'Teaching Children English as an Additional Language: A programme for 7-11 year olds and' 'Teaching English as an Additional Language 5-11: A Whole School Resource'. She is the creator of the Learning Village (www.learningvillage.net), an online learning programme for 6-14 year-old English language learners in schools where English is the language of instruction. Through this programme and her books, she designs resources for learners, as well as training programmes for teachers, to assist them in leading EAL in their school. Caroline is also the editor of the EAL Teaching newsletter, a free monthly EAL newsletter for teachers.
Currently, Caroline is working on the second edition of her first book and on extending the Learning Village to families. She has a keen interest in education technology.
Simon Lobo-Morell
Developer, CDU DIgital
Simon joined the Across Cultures team to work collaboratively in developing our online EAL learning environment, The Learning Village. Simon has over 10 years experience as a programmer and has a keen interest in languages, having also taught English as a Foreign Language in the past. Simon runs CDU Digital, a website development and digital marketing business.
Sobia Zaman
Administrator
Sobia liaises with teachers as well as manages venue arrangements for our courses. She also supports the development of content on the Learning Village... among other things! Sobia works as a Teaching Assistant part time and is a qualified programmer! She has a 7 year old daughter who is in-love with the Across Cultures cat!
Sara Marchetto
Illustrator (Learning Village)
Sara does an incredible job of bringing the online learning tool 'Learning Village' (www.learningvillage.net) to life! Sara lives in a beautiful, small village in the Italian Alps and loves walking in the mountains and practicing yoga. She started her illustration career by creating a little ugly, but adventurous, comic series about her and her primary school classmates in her first days of school. She started to publish in 2006 and, since then, she's been creating illustrations for textbooks, educational projects and fiction books, collaborating with publishers and public and private clients in Italy and worldwide. www.blog.saramarchetto.com, www.saramamy@hotmail.com