If you have come into EAL suddenly and are not sure where to start, it could be a struggle to provide effective provision. I mostly teach pupils of a pre-intermediate (A2) level in KS3, as well as IGCSE ESL and based on what I have learned from my previous experience in ELT, here are some very basic tips to help get started in Secondary EAL.
Assessment
First things first – assess your learners’ language levels. It’s essential that you have a clear and comprehensive idea of what your learners already know in terms of reading, writing, speaking and listening. You work to fill in the gaps and develop their weaknesses. Many language resources use the Common European Framework as a point of reference for language levels, however, this might not fit with the academic nature of content in EAL, but it is a good starting point, especially for Primary. The Bell Foundation has also produced its own framework which has a useful interactive resource (see link below)
Primary resources:
https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-tests/starters/preparation/ (KS1)
https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-tests/key/ (KS2)
Secondary resources:
https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/test-your-english/
https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/learning-english/exam-preparation/
Bell: https://www.bell-foundation.org.uk/eal-programme/eal-assessment-framework/
Know the subject content
EAL learners need to know the functional language essential to engage with content, so take a look at the topics and tasks across the curriculum and ask yourself a few questions:
What does the learner need to know to understand this content?
Depending on the learner’s level/age they might need to recognise a variety of verb tenses, question forms, passives, linking words, modal verbs, conditionals and, of course, a wide range of subject-specific vocabulary (more in depth below). A good grammar reference book is going to come in handy (especially due to the fact there is a wealth of resources online for ELT which you can tap into once you know the ‘lingo’). Also think about what the learner already knows about the topic and investigate how much they already understand.
What will the learner need to do with the content?
Talk about it? Make a speech/presentation? (Can your learner say the words and phrases needed? Do they understand how to manage intonation?) Do they need to write about it? An essay or a report? Is it in the Present, past or future tense? What elements of the format do they need to know about?
Understanding the content across the curriculum and recognising the key functions, regardless of subject, is helpful to select the language most needed by learners. Obviously, verb tenses are a must if learners are to distinguish and express past, present, future and anything in between in any subject, in fact, I usually start with past simple and present perfect tenses before much else. Conditionals are useful in science to hypothesise about what the results of an experiment will be (If we combine substance X and substance Y, then the product will be …) and they are equally important in history to express ideas about past consequences (If Henry VIII had not closed the monasteries …). The passive is pretty much everywhere: When heat is applied … / The land has been eroded... / The piece was composed in …, so by identifying the language learners can use across many subjects, we provide the most useful language learning opportunities.
Prepping Reading texts
Providing the questions before reading the text gives learners a focus for reading. In ELT it has always been common practice to set a generic, global comprehension question for the whole text (a gist question) and then to follow up with detailed comprehension questions only once the text has been generally understood. See more here: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/theories-reading-2
To make texts more accessible teachers can provide glossaries of challenging words, can highlight key words and ask learners to find definitions or can provide simple explanations of challenging words within the text itself.
Some useful resources and examples can be found here:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/reading-and-young-learners
Vocabulary
Vocabulary deserves its own section as it is well known that it is a fundamental part of understanding and creating texts.
Select the absolute key vocabulary items from the topic or tasks (don’t overload learners, but try to build in recycling of previously-learnt language at every opportunity) and try to think about which words your specific language learners might struggle with most (Learner English by Swann and Smith can really help understand specific language interference). Remember, the key question to keep in mind as you prepare lessons is: What do the learners need to do the task?
How can you present these new words?
Using simple images (e.g. pixabay.com for free images).
Using short, simple definitions.
See many more ideas here
How can you practise them?
With gap fill exercises, or labelling diagrams, pelmanism and many other activities – see here.
Quizlet.com is also a brilliant way to build vocabulary knowledge once it has been introduced (make use of the ‘write’ option to practise listening skills!)
Word building allows learners to understand and manipulate parts of words (prefixes, roots, suffixes) and these can be focused on AS YOU TEACH new words. e.g. settlement, overthrown, decolonisation and overexpansion and highlighting similarities with previously taught words as you move through the course.
When presenting and practising vocabulary, it is important not to forget that learners need to know how to pronounce the sounds clearly, so provide opportunities to hear and say words frequently. Most online dictionaries provide an opportunity to listen to words, as does Quizlet which I mentioned above, but this is also a useful site for common words: https://howjsay.com/
Here’s an example of a vocabulary focus I did with my Year 7 learner for a geography-themed lesson which includes some of the above features:
The following lesson was a reading text on the pupil’s home town with a gap fill using some vocabulary from above, as well as a writing task to describe how the city had changed over the years (using present perfect, past simple and present tenses – so quite a challenge!).
Last note on vocabulary is to remember collocations – words frequently used alongside key vocabulary. Presenting the vocabulary item alongside its commonly associated words allows learners a chance to learn relevant and useful ‘chunks’ of language, e.g. densely populated, a wide range, a lasting consequence, low concentration, a dramatic improvement.
If you focus on what pupils need to know and do with language across the curriculum, it should help to make your EAL lessons a more effective learning experience.
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