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Everyone is talking about differentiation for EAL in whole class teaching, but how do we actually approach it consistently and effectively?
At Across Cultures we have been developing some systematic ways of approaching this in a structured, yet flexible format. In the downloadable plan you'll see a framework to support EAL teachers with planning for content learning alongside language learning. The plan is based about the theme of sea pollution and provides a writing frame for a persuasive text.
This lesson follow a particular format:
1. Pre teach vocabulary of the text type. There are many games for supporting learners with remembering new vocabulary.
2. Introduce the theme, text type and ensure comprehension of text.
3. Reproduce sections of the text day by day with support of writing frames, the vocabulary learnt and the text.
4. Recreate the entire text without support.
"Parental involvement is invaluable for any new arrival in transition. The learner’s family may be the only group of people who truly understand their transition. The parents may have very little understanding of what happens in an English-speaking school or the approach you have to education. Parental involvement will help you to understand more about the child’s life as well as build a valuable rapport and level of trust between all parties.”
(Scott, 2012)
Beckmann (2009) defines the term ‘cross-curricular teaching’ as ‘instruction within a field in which subject boundaries are crossed and other subjects are integrated into the teaching (how and for whatever purpose or objective)’.
Similarly, see here for guidance on CLIL (content and language integrated learning) teaching.
For multilingual learners, the process of learning English alongside learning about curriculum concepts in different subjects is often a complex and demanding one. Many EAL learners may compare themselves with fluent peers, which may cause anxiety or negative feelings towards learning and thus inhibit or delay the language acquisition process (Suleimenova, 2013). Read more on this in our article EAL barriers to learning and wellbeing.