Further learning - Blog - Professional Development

Integral to teaching is how practitioners assess what children know. This is vital so we can understand children’s interests and what they already know and can do, and then shape teaching and learning experiences for each child, reflecting that knowledge (Department for Education UK, 2025).

Assessment is a natural and integral part of effective teaching, with teachers continually assessing learner progress and identifying next steps for teaching and learning (DfE, 2020). Teachers assess learners for multiple reasons but one of the most pressing tasks for teachers is to assess their newly-arrived EAL learners’ level of English proficiency.

You may be able to recall a lesson where learners were fully engaged and motivated. These teaching experiences are deeply rewarding for educators and essentially one of the reasons why we enjoy our jobs as teachers. However, realistically, teachers often face the reality of being unable to reach some students until they present lesson input slightly differently.

Preparing for exams, tests, or assessments can be a stressful experience, especially for those learning in a second language. Exams and assessments often require strong language skills, such as essay writing, comprehensible answers showing the understanding of main points and details, or at the very least multiple choice questions that test a learner’s ability to pick out detailed information.

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.

You might be an experienced teacher, new to teaching, or support staff, but you have never taught any EAL learners before. You are in for an exciting journey! You may initially feel overwhelmed and frustrated by the barriers to communication with your new learners, but you will soon find that your lessons have potential to be creative, interactive and a heap of fun! 

It is difficult enough to teach a classroom of new students as a substitute teacher (or relief teacher as we call them in New Zealand), but when the class contains or is composed of English Language Learners and there has been no work set, it can make a relief lesson more of a challenge. 

English is a language which has developed over 15 hundred years and has adopted words from over 350 languages. As a result, English has a rich tapestry of vocabulary and spelling patterns which can confuse learners. Having a brief background knowledge of the historical influences on the English language can support our teaching to both first language learners and EAL learners, especially around decoding words when reading. 

Linguists (including Derewianka (2001), Droga and Humphrey (2003), Knapp and Watkins (2005), and Gibbons (2009)) suggest that scaffolding writing is critical in helping English as an additional language (EAL) learners become effective writers.