EAL Resources and Ideas

Update November 2007

Now available on the GeographyTeachingToday website:

http://www.geographyteachingtoday.org.uk/curriculum-making/secondary-handbook-extension-project/

I have written some EAL materials (with help from Helen Nurton and Jo Wraige)

English as an Additional Language (EAL) is an issue which has always impacted on schools in certain areas, particular urban areas where New Commonwealth (or other) immigrants have traditionally settled. This has been added to in recent years by the arrival of people from the A8 countries as they are known: the new EU entrants from 2004 and beyond. Languages Assessments follow through a series of 5 stages: Stage 1 to 5, although QCA have an extended scale, which includes the levels:

This page added as a result of my forthcoming involvement in a project in this area, and advance notice of a larger cohort of EAL pupils for 2007-8 at my current school.

Kingsbury High School has a useful list of helpful information (apparently their pupils speak a total of 35 different languages)

Some useful advice gleaned from the site includes the following (some good ideas here):

Use pictures, models, charts, diagrams and role-play.

Ascertain prior knowledge of a subject. Maybe a pupil in the class has had first hand experience of some of the issues being discussed in class.

Rephrase questions rather than just repeating them when the initial response is not appropriate.

Provide a model of the sort of outcome you are expecting, a one page formal letter for example, or a 30 page project.

Correct persistent spelling or grammatical errors whatever your subject specialism.

Write the objectives for the lesson on the board.

Write key words on the board; some pupils have a better literacy than aural comprehension.

Encourage the use of bilingual dictionaries.

Provide opportunities for pupils to talk constructively in pairs and small groups.

Don't continue teaching while pupils are copying from the board. Pupils unfamiliar with English may need to concentrate on every letter.

The Ethnic Minority Attainment (EMA) is a very useful site.

This online resource base for teachers has been developed by Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester LEAs with funding from the DfES.

GEOGRAPHY RESOURCES- the results of a search (over 50 resources) - thanks to Helen Nurton for the link...

Thanks to Helen Nurton for more useful resources.

There's also the NALDIC site: http://www.naldic.org.uk/docs/resources/KeyDocs.cfm

This has links to some useful downloads from the DfES site.

Thanks to SEN department at my current school for passing on a spiral bound document they had produced. This contained a range of strategies for teaching EAL students.

Coming soon on the GEOGRAPHY TEACHING TODAY website.

Some advice related to EAL in Geography

Also check out CHAPTER 27 of the Secondary Geography Handbook....

Do you work with EAL pupils ?

Do you have any suggestions for other websites which I can add to this page for the benefit of other Geographers ?

Thanks