Download resource Author: Emma Mijailovic, EAL Teacher Many researchers agree that note-taking is an important skill, as it facilitates learning from text (Kobayashi 2006, Rahmani and […]

Author: Gemma Fanning EAL Specialist Teacher Marking and feedback is a crucial part of any teacher’s workload, and is essential for EAL learners. The importance of […]

Author: Sarah Jones, EALcoordinator Studies have found that learning a skill yourself, and then applying it, not only brings immense personal-satisfaction (among other valuable benefits), but also […]

Author: Anita Bamberger The popularity of bilingual schools is increasing. This can be seen, for example, in the growing number of French schools in London, where […]

Author: Gemma Fanning, EAL Specialist The term 21st Century skills is becoming significantly part of the classroom learning environment, but what exactly does that mean? There […]

Author: Sarah Jones, EAL Coordinator, Lea Forest Academy “One look is worth a thousand words.” Barnard (1921), Chinese proverb. Images are powerful as they can usually […]

Dr Anne Margaret Smith Truly inclusive practice extends beyond adapting materials or managing the classroom so that everybody can access the course content. It is about […]

Author: Emma Mijailovic, EAL Teacher In my experience, teachers often have quite strong feelings about the use of a pupil’s L1 (first language) in the classroom […]

Author: Gemma Fanning, EAL Specialist While it can be argued that EAL learners have an entitlement to experience a full and varied curriculum through complete class […]

EAL: Excluded by inclusion By Kamil Trzebiatowski Here’s an extract: “Have you ever seen a child cry because they couldn’t understand a language? Crying their eyes out […]

Author: Emma Mijailovic, EAL Teacher When we attempt to facilitate effective communication or collaborative learning between pairs or groups, we must acknowledge that our pupils are not […]

For those of you that aren’t familiar with the Collaborative Learning site, it’s full of excellent resources that are completely free. Last month, Gemma Fanning, talked […]

Author: Emma Mijailovic, EAL Teacher Although Inclusion is a central theme of UK policy, there are limited directives on EAL provision in mainstream classes (Costley 2014) This […]

Author: Gemma Fanning, EAL Specialist Learners are often faced with the challenge of carrying out research for their class project work, and often schools invest heavily into […]

Author: Gemma Fanning, EAL Specialist Brewster, Ellis and Girard (2012) discuss the idea of playing Bingo or Dominoes as games for connecting various curriculum areas. Brewster (2012) […]

Author: Gemma Fanning, EAL Specialist Play is a crucial part of language development and ideas for play and games are an essential part of any teacher’s toolkit. […]

Gemma Fanning – EAL Specialist In Science, EAL learners need to understand scientific language, both written and oral, as well as to work with the command […]

Author: Gemma Fanning, EAL Specialist ‘Stories and storytelling are fundamental to the human experience.’ Nunan (2012). Stories help our learners to understand their world and to […]

Author: Gemma Fanning, EAL SpecialistThe language of Maths is often considered a language of its own, and this can sometimes be a difficulty for EAL students when […]

Author: Anita Bamberger, EAL Specialist Holidays and homework seem incongruous especially for the EAL students who need to concentrate extra hard in order to understand curriculum content. […]

Author: Gemma Fanning, EAL Co-ordinator An additional adult can be very effective in supporting teachers with EAL learners in the classroom. An additional adult may be a […]

Parents are integral to schooling for any child, and one of the key opportunities to discuss how a child is developing is during parents evening (Macbeth, […]

Sometimes our students who have English as an additional language seem to be having more difficulty than expected developing their language, and accessing the rest of […]

Most schools with early stage learners of English will have some form of guided reading record. This record supports the learner, parents and the teacher in […]

Author: Gemma Fanning, EAL Teacher, Dwight School London Writing essays and short stories at secondary level can be a daunting experience but when you are asked […]

In the last edition, we considered the importance of not using a Whole Language approach in isolation as a primary method of literacy instruction, but rather […]

Should I teach my EAL learners phonics? If so, how? As educational pedagogies continue to move cyclically, with new strategies moving in and out of favour, […]

As well as interpreting for peers, young learners often find themselves interpreting for adults. This does give rise to a myriad of potential issues. There are […]

11 fantastic resources to promote elements of international mindedness… Culture shock for new EAL students is more or less extreme depending on the extent of the […]

Language learning strategies are tools to facilitate language learning that should be adapted to suit the needs of each individual. There aren’t a set of language […]

Often, for busy EAL teachers, the focus is on the child, however it is important to remember that for some parents, the transition period can be […]

Across Cultures début the Learning Village at GESS 2016 EAL/ESL specialist, Across Cultures, will be showing the Learning Village – an online English language-learning portal for […]

NASSEA (Northern Association of Support Service for Equality and Achievement) have recently revised their EAL assessment framework with a few interesting differences. Designed to provide a, […]

As the season ends and holidays are almost upon us (or in full swing in some cases!) we have provided you with some new Learning Village […]

The lack of a common language between children can be frustrating so we often assign buddies who have a common language to help our learners. Someone […]

Check out Caroline Scott’s recent article on EAL new arrivals: //www.bismagazine.co.uk/strategic/curriculum_articles/non-native.html

On the last day of term I asked a student, who was leaving her school in London to return back to Italy, the best and worst […]

Many of us have learnt to spell as a child without being specifically taught the sounds. In the past, the teaching of phonics was discouraged in […]

In previous articles we discussed the need for learners to obtain Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS). These skills need to be the initial focus of learning […]

This morning my 4 year old woke up and said, “Mummy there are two languages, child’s language and adult language”. I asked her what she meant […]

The transition from EAL beginner to intermediate learner can take from one term to a year depending on the learner. A beginner EAL learner is learning […]

Recently we have been looking closely at the power of using online learning through the Learning Village by studying the assessment results of learners who were […]

Feedback is the buzz-word and, as with most things, it is not being reinvented, but constantly readapted. In recent years, we see more formal national approach. […]

Including a useful EAL Progress Review and links to different EAL assessment continua When teaching EAL, assessment procedures need to be in place in order to […]

Including some ideas for EAL beginners Whilst reading a book on reclaiming childhood (‘Their name is today’ by Johann Christoph Arnold) the chapter on ‘learning differences […]

Including 5 top tips to celebrating differences Last week I saw a film called ‘Shadow in Baghdad’, it was a film that pulled my heart strings. […]

The language show this year in Olympia made me even more aware of the gift of having more than one language. One of the stand’s motto […]

The start of a new school year can be a daunting experience for new EAL arrivals. Some may be devastated to leave their friends, schools and […]

This language learning strategy provides a very powerful platform for rapid progress using a multi-sensory approach: 1. Teach the new language. Ideally, a popular phrase where […]

New to English can be supported in many different ways. Here’s one school’s approach: Assessment All learning is based on assessment. Children arrive and sit a […]