Download resource

Please enter your details to download this resource
Login
 

Enter your details to access this video

Or if you already have an account login to watch the video (if you don't you can register here).
Login
Download Changing shoes activity
Email share link LinkedIn share link Twitter share link Facebook share link
Approximate reading time: 1 minute

Scenario: You are moving to a new country (pick a country which has a different script such as China, Saudi Arabia or Bangladesh).  You can only take a suitcase with you.  Discuss your thoughts on the following groups of questions;

How would you feel about moving?

  • What would you take?
  • What would you leave behind?
  • Who would you miss?
  • What activities would you miss?

How would you feel about learning the language?

  • Do you think other people would speak English?
  • What if no one spoke English – how would you communicate?
  • Do you think you would be able to make friends?
  • How would you feel if people laughed at you when you tried to speak their language?

How would you feel about your work?

  • How would you understand the lessons?
  • How would you feel if you couldn’t write the alphabet/characters?
  • Which lessons do you think you would understand more easily?
  • What things could your class and teacher do to help you learn?
  • Each group could give a short oral presentation and together come up with a plan for the new arrival.

Plenary: Feedback the information from the groups. 

Progress the thinking: “Using your understanding of how someone may feel about arriving in a new place and not being able to speak the language – can you think of actual things we can do in our class or school to help our new classmate settle in?”

Put together an action plan as a class with up to 5 concrete ways they can help.

This article follows ''A Recipe for a Successful Start for New Arrivals in School.'

Download Changing shoes activity
Email share link LinkedIn share link Twitter share link Facebook share link

More articles from our blog

'thank you' in different languages

Translanguaging in teaching

Created: Mon 10th Feb 2025

Attending a recent woodwind ensemble concert made me think about language use in the classroom - quite an unusual connection, right? ‘How so?’ you might ask. Perhaps it was because the musicians each had a different heritage, played a different instrument, and spoke another language. Yet, they all tuned their instruments together at the start and communicated in English before creating something beautifully fluid for the audience to immerse themselves in.

Why should we use an EAL learning record?

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?

Child learning remotely

EdTech: The emergency service for education in 2020!

Created: Fri 19th Mar 2021

It's now almost exactly a year since the UK education system went into lockdown. The ruling that schools must close to almost all pupils was a shock to teachers, pupils, parents and everyone involved in the education system - and the repercussions of the immediate crisis continue to ripple through our lives.

Back to Blog