Community Village

Caroline Scott BA, DipM, NPQH, MA has been working in schools developing English language skills for young learners, catering for beginner through to fluent learners in culturally rich, international minded learning environments. She has taught young learners and trained teachers in the Europe, South East Asia and the Middle East. Caroline was the founding Head of Primary at CES, A British International school in Cairo, Egypt (3-18 IPC school) and the Primary Principal at the International School of Milan, Italy (3-18 IB PYP school). As well as delivering training across the UK and overseas, Caroline links to a school in London where she continues to work with teachers and learners.

Caroline is the author of 'Teaching Children English as an Additional Language: A programme for 7-11 year olds', 'Teaching English as an Additional Language 5-11: A Whole School Resource' and 'An English as an additional Language (EAL) Programme: Learning through images for 7-14 year olds'. She has also developed EAL teacher training, resources and online learning (www.learningvillage.net) to support teachers catering for new-to-English learners in the English speaking mainstream.

Articles from this author

Girl online learning

Transitioning between home and school learning: some success stories

Author: Caroline Scott, author and director
Created: Mon 29th Jun 2020

Transitioning successfully between extended home and school learning has been the struggle of every affected school, across the globe, since the onset of the pandemic. None of us could have predicted what was about to happen back in January of 2020 and we still struggle to comprehend the enormous scale of the struggle.

School closures, however your school has approached these, have had a huge impact on learner engagement. Even the most prepared schools have struggled to engage learners to the same extent as when learning in the classroom.

Bilingual world

Working with a bilingual support partner

Author: Caroline Scott, author and director
Created: Wed 20th May 2020

If you have the opportunity to use a bilingual support partner to help families who have learners working from home, it may be useful to prepare a list of questions for this staff member to ask. Bilingual support is extremely useful when making contact with parents who speak little or no English.

Family studying in mother tongue

Discussing learning in the mother tongue

Author: Caroline Scott, author and director
Created: Wed 29th Apr 2020

We are all faced with very different learning situations at the moment and home learning has become the current norm. The challenges it poses are significant. Parents often have limited time available to support learners, limited understanding of where to start, sometimes a lack of technological know-how in accessing online classrooms - or even a lack of access to an online environment altogether. These issues are exacerbated amongst parents with limited understanding of the school language.

building blocks

Designing a supportive EAL resource

Author: Caroline Scott, Yzanne Mackay
Created: Thu 29th Aug 2019

“Scaffolding is the process a teacher uses to model or demonstrate how to solve a problem (in the case of language learning, to support learners with using the language needed to articulate themselves). After modelling, they step back, offering support as needed.”
Scott, 2019

Language learning game for induction-to-English

A pathway for induction-to-English

Author: Caroline Scott, author and director
Created: Thu 28th Feb 2019

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 in class too, but let's help our learners with some of the basics in a regular small group or one-to-one supportive English learning session...

Lego blocks

Friendship building for new arrivals

Author: Caroline Scott, author and director
Created: Tue 27th Nov 2018

The National Learning and Work Institute (2018) completed a randomised controlled trial of a Community-Based English Language intervention aimed at people with very low levels of functional English proficiency. Findings showed “a strong and clear positive impact that attendance on an intensive 11-week Community-Based English Language course has on both English proficiency and social integration for those with relatively low levels of English proficiency.” (Integrated Communities English Language Programme, 2018).

Why should we use an EAL learning record?

Author: Caroline Scott, author and director
Created: Fri 8th Jul 2016

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 acknowledging, monitoring progress and rewarding good reading habits. We do this because we know the profound influence reading has on progress in literacy (not just reading alone. Try reading Krashen, the Power of Reading, 2004).

However, have you considered the impact of a similar record for learning EAL through the use of flashcard activities?

Do your EAL learners need some help with their spellings?

Author: Anita Bamberger & Caroline Scott
Created: Mon 29th Jun 2015

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 schools, however, we learnt a lot through sounding out words independently. At a recent course on voice production, the importance of vowel sounds was emphasised as central to pronunciation. They were also emphasised as central to sounding out to help with spelling. Chunking (breaking up words into syllables) also helps to sound out and spell longer more challenging words.

The role of an EAL teacher

Author: Anita Bamberger & Caroline Scott
Created: Sat 30th May 2015

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 alongside curriculum content in the early days. Class teachers are required to make significant adjustments to their programme of learning which is not an easy task, especially for those teachers who are new to teaching foreign languages.

Can we help students to be better language learners?

Author: Caroline Scott, Author and Director
Created: Mon 24th Feb 2014

How can the new-to-English language learners and their teachers work together to provide a successful language learning experience when curriculum content is the priority? Rubin & Thompson (1982) researched and found 14 characteristics of a good language learner.

If each characteristic of a good language learner can be developed for young learners into a ‘child friendly’  question, translated into their mother tongue (maybe orally) and unpicked, question by question, each characteristic can act as a guide for learners to try out new strategies.

Teaching high numbers of EAL learners

Author: Caroline Scott, Author and Director
Created: Sun 16th Feb 2014

It’s hard to even start to highlight the challenges of teaching EAL students in such a short article but there are a few key areas to consider:

Including learners of all cultures into the classroom environment and the school