Author: Lois Francis, Ethnic Minority Achievement Adviser, Integra Schools, South Gloucestershire Council   It is often easier for learners who are new to English to cope […]

Author: Sarah Jones, EAL Coordinator   International Mother Language Day (IMLD) is a worldwide observance celebrated annually on 21st February. It promotes awareness of cultural and […]

Author: Yzanne Mackay   New Year is a time to take stock – and often to think about making changes. One of the most common New […]

Author: Dr. Anne Margaret Smith   There are many similarities between music and language, in the way they are organised, processed and produced. Music therefore has […]

Author: Sarah Jones, EAL Coordinator, Lea Forest Academy   In September 2015, Lea Forest Academy took on an additional class of 16 Year 2 newly arrived […]

Author: Yzanne Mackay   “Parental involvement is invaluable for any new arrival in transition. The learner’s family may be the only group of people who truly […]

Authors: Caroline Scott, Yzanne Mackay   “Scaffolding is the process a teacher uses to model or demonstrate how to solve a problem (in the case of […]

Author: Anita Bamberger   When considering the Chinese language, the Chinese proverb ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ is apposite. Chinese is a complex language of […]

Author: Sarah Jones, EAL Co-ordinator   The Sentence Analyser was piloted by the children and staff in the EAL Hub at Lea Forest Academy in the […]

Author: Yasmin Malik, Senior Education Consultant   Maths is often a subject that is not given the same priority as others when it comes to the […]

Author: Stuart Scott This ‘Introduce Me’ activity is a fun and rewarding way to introduce a new topic, while developing language skills. It’s ideally suited to […]

Author: Caroline Scott In cases where you have an absolute beginner to English, an induction-to-English is supportive. Yes, we need to be differentiating for the curriculum content […]

Author: Sarah Jones Introduction Lea Forest, my school in Birmingham, has been using the Learning Village for over three years. It has proved a highly effective learning […]

Authors: Caroline Scott, Heather Day, Ragini Patel Three years ago, Heather Day, an EAL consultant, contacted us about piloting the Learning Village in an inner London […]

Author: Caroline Scott, author and director   The National Learning and Work Institute (2018) completed a randomised controlled trial of a Community-Based English Language intervention aimed […]

Author: Sarah Jones, EAL Coordinator   There is a plethora of things to consider when piloting a new learning resource or scheme of work, so having a […]

Author: Gemma Fanning, Head of EAL   How can you take your EAL department forward to play a part in a whole school development strategy? Over the […]

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 Sadeghi […]

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

Author: Sarah Jones, EAL Coordinator   Studies have found that learning a skill yourself, and then applying it, not only brings immense personal satisfaction (among other valuable […]

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, […]

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? […]

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 […]

In my experience, teachers often have quite strong feelings about the use of a pupil’s L1 (first language) in the classroom – it is either encouraged […]

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 […]

When we attempt to facilitate effective communication or collaborative learning between pairs or groups, we must acknowledge that our pupils are not only exchanging information; they […]

For those of you who are unfamiliar 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 ‘Mainstreaming’ (teaching second language learners in the mainstream class, as opposed to withdrawing pupils for EAL lessons) has been a favoured approach […]

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

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 explains that playing […]

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 being able to work with command […]

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

Author: Gemma Fanning, EAL Specialist The language of Maths is often considered a language of its own – and this can sometimes present a difficulty for EAL […]

Author: Anita Bamberger, EAL Specialist Holidays and homework can seem an incongruous mix – and this is especially true for EAL students, who need both time off, […]

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

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

Author: Anne Margaret, ELT well   Sometimes our students who have English as an Additional Language (EAL) seem to be having more difficulty than expected in […]

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

Writing essays and short stories at Secondary level can be a daunting experience – and even more so when you are asked to write in a […]

In previous articles, we considered the importance of avoiding the use of a ‘Whole Language’ approach, in isolation, as a primary method of literacy instruction. We […]

As educational pedagogies continue to move cyclically, with new strategies coming in and out of favour, the battle of reading approaches rages on. There are three […]

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 isn’t one single set of language-learning […]

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

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, […]