A copy of the slides I use for my trainin

1. Supporting EAL Students in
the MFL Classroom
Isabelle Jones, The Radclyffe School
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com
Twitter: @icpjones
icpjones@yahoo.co.uk

2. Aims
• Identify the most common EAL issues
encountered by MFL teachers in UK schools
• Suggest practical strategies to support EAL
learners in MFL classes

3. Find the language…
1. BEM - VINDOS Portuguese
2. WILLKOMMEN German
3. ‫.رحب‬ Arabic
4. েেিিেেন Bengali
5. 欢迎 Chinese
6. साइमंडस Hindi
7. ‫پاکستان‬ Urdu
‫هلمند‬ Farsi
8.

5. The Globalised Classroom: How many pupils? Where?
• 1 in 8 secondary school pupil does not have English as their first
language.
• 1 in 6 primary school pupil speaks a language at home other
than English.
• The percentage of EAL students varies greatly from region to
region and school to school. In some schools it can be 90% +
DfE school census, January 2011
http://www.naldic.org.uk/research-and-information/eal-statistics

6. EAL as a continuum
 EAL refers to any student with English as an Additional Language.
 At one end of the continuum , you find the ‘International New
Arrivals’ (INA.) This refers specifically to students who have entered the
UK within the past two years.
 Subgroups:
- ‘first generation’ : children who were born in another
country and have since resettled in the UK with their family.
- ‘second or third generation’ : children who were born in
the UK into a migrant or ‘dual-heritage’ family.
- ‘migrant worker’ : children whose parents have moved
to work in Britain.
- ‘asylum seeker’ / ‘refugee’ : children who have moved
with / without their parents to escape famine, persecution
and other tragic events.

7. EAL as a continuum : Other criteria
• Language spoken at home
• Existence and role of older relatives
• Literacy in the first language
• Other language spoken
• Parents’ level of education and literacy in both English and first language
• Schooling history and experience
• Traumatic experiences

8. The Challenges : Through MFL we need to…
Nurture language development
Coach students in how to learn
Build stable and productive social groups
The good news?
EAL good practice is MFL good practice!

9. Language Acquisition
Stage 1: Pre-production
This is often described as ‘the silent period’ and can last up to six months. English language learners may
have up to 500 words in their receptive vocabulary but they are typically not yet fully able / confident in
speaking. Some students will, however, repeat everything you say. They are not really producing language
but are parroting.
 NC English – P Levels
Stage 2: Early production
This stage may last up to six months and students will develop a receptive and active vocabulary of about
1000 words.
 NC English – Level 1
Stage 3: Speech emergence
Students have developed a vocabulary of about 3,000 words and can communicate with simple phrases
and sentences. This stage will tend to last up to three years.
NC English – Level 1 → 2
Stage 4: Intermediate fluency
English language learners at the intermediate fluency stage have a vocabulary of
6000 active words.
NC English – Level 3 – 4
Stage 5: Advanced Fluency
Starting as a new speaker of English, it takes students an average of 7 - 10 years to
achieve academic language proficiency in a second language. At this stage,
students have the range of listening skills necessary to participate fully within the
curriculum and can be fairly assessed using only the National Curriculum for English.
NC English – Level 4 and above

10. EAL support?
• Peer support not always available
• Many schools have no EAL department as
such
• EAL expertise varies greatly from school
to school
• Languages are not always seen as a
priority for support

11. Type of EAL support?
Restricted timetable/
Withdrawal lessons
In English/ in home
language
Teaching Assistant
Peer support
Class teacher

12. Frequently asked Questions
1. Is it better for students to wait until they have a working knowledge
of English before they can attend MFL lessons?
2. Can you have EAL students in top sets? What assessment issues
can EAL students have?
3. What are the potential strengths of EAL students?
4. What kind of pastoral support do many EAL learners need?

13. Fighting Common Misconceptions
1. EAL students will take approximately 5 – 7 years of English-speaking education
to acquire academically-fluent English. This will occur naturally through nurturing
immersion rather than segregated intervention. MFL lessons will be more
accessible in Y7-8 for EAL learners as they often represent a fresh start linguistically
(impact on progress and setting)
2. EAL students have a temporary additional need which is primarily language
acquisition. EAL students are not automatically SEN or ‘special educational
needs’, and should not automatically put in lower sets . Lack of data/ unreliable
data can be an issue if EAL learner is assessed through the medium of English.
3. EAL students will have potential strengths as well as additional needs. There are
many cognitive advantages to being bilingual. Research shows
that bilingual learners have better classification skills, concept
formation, analogical reasoning, visual –spatial skills , creativity and
divergent thinking, story-telling skills, language awareness.
However, not all EAL learners are truly bilingual.
4, There is a social-emotional and cultural dimension to catering
for the needs of EAL students.

14. Common experiences of EAL students:
If I keep quiet I will not
I feel different.
get laughed at or told
off.
Can I eat this? Is it
OK do this? What will I miss home. Why did I
my family say? get sent here? I am not
used to those busy
streets and cold
weather
Why do some people
avoid talking to me? Why
do they speak to me so
loudly and slowly ? I just can’t keep up… it’s
really tiring, but I have to
learn so that I can help my
family with the language.
Where and when is my
next lesson? I am never
At my other school I had
sure of what to do and
much more interesting
where to go…
work. All I do here is listen
and write.

16. Generic strategies to support EAL learners:
7. Coaching  Schemes of work need to 6. Communicating  The use of
build in activities that demonstrate and English and TL should be supported
practise language. Not just subject-
. by visual cues and practical
specific words but general academic examples.
words like ‘compare’, ‘analyse’ etc.
5. Mentoring  The student’s form tutor or key
worker needs to regularly catch up with them
to address queries / confusions, ensure 4. Buddying  Pair with a
homework is being managed, Classroom responsible, caring, articulate
teachers to liaise with them as appropriate. student who will act as a
guide, friend and role model.
Reward students for acting as
3. Grouping  Place EAL students with buddies. (This can be
supportive students of similar ability, who can arranged by class teacher or
provide a good linguistic model. EAL support)
2. Knowing  Identify their language
1. Naming!  Ensure that you levels. Try to find out a little about their
address the student by their native / home culture. With INAs, find out
correct name and that you their ‘story’. Link with EAL support as
pronounce the student’s appropriate.
name correctly.

17. Sharing culture
• Encouraging students to complement the topics you
are teaching when working independently e.g. fruit
and vegetable
• Finding out about specific features of EAL learners’
home language e.g. forms of address, word order,
pronunciation, cognates, funny-sounding words…
• Encouraging students to share information
in the Target Language about their home
countries, language and culture.
Newbury Park: Language of the month
http://www.newburypark.redbridge.sch.uk/langofmonth/

18. ? A few points to consider…
?
• Where are your EAL students and who are they sitting with? How is that
likely to help or hinder them?
• How would you make it easier for your EAL learners to understand
instructions-orally and on a worksheet for instance?
• How do you think EAL learners can contribute to enhancing our subject?
1. An EAL student pronounces or writes a word incorrectly –
What do you do?
5. From a standard MFL scheme of work- what specific
vocabulary is needed in English to understand the
activities and their purpose ?
6. What will you have to consider when assessing EAL
students’ progress in MFL in all four skills? What should you
avoid?

19. 7 Steps to introduce New Language
When learning new language, EAL students need to:
1. See the word / phrase
2. Hear the word / phrase
3. Link the word / phrase to meaning
4. Practise and self-repair the word / phrase
5. Listen to the word/ phrase being recast
6. Revise the word / phrase

20. Scaffolding Learning:
Visual Support
• All teaching materials should include visuals like
photographs, pictures, drawings or paintings to
support learning. Beware of hidden cultural
references in visuals.
• Use spot the difference pictures to reinforce simple
structures in the affirmative and negative forms or
introduce comparatives.
• Concept maps
• Props, puppets and images
• Mime, gestures, acting out
• Display

21. A house or a house?

22. Cherchez l’erreur
A B C D E F G
1
Dans la case …
Il y a … 2
Il n’y a pas de …
Plus haut 3
Plus bas…
À gauche … 4
À droite …
5
6
7
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spot-difference!-professional/id30

23. Pictures and Photographs
• NEN Gallery http://gallery.nen.gov.uk
• Flickr http://www.flickr.com
• Tag Galaxy http://taggalaxy.de
• Pinterest http://pinterest.com/
• Visual searches: http://www.wordsift.com
• Google.fr Google.es

24. Word clouds and mind-mapping
• Wordle http://www.wordle.net
• Freemind
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/
• Mindomo http://www.mindomo.com

25. Visual support & Engagement
Classtool.net http://classtools.net/
Site with templates for resources to be printed
or put on a blog or a VLE.
http://www.triptico.co.uk/

26. Scaffolding Learning:
Audio support
• Repeating key words and phrases and using
visual support at the same time.
• Rephrasing: get students to rephrase in
English and move from complex to simpler
language.
• Recasting: model by providing a
gramatically correct or longer version
of what the student said.
• Text-to-speech http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/

27. Supporting and Recording Talk
http://www.easi-speak.org.uk/ http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
http://www.voki.com Ppt recording function

28. Scaffolding Learning:
Models and Modelling
• Provide a model and deconstruct texts.
Sequencing activities will support the
development of literacy skills as well.
• The model could be a story, a transcript from
a short video clip, a recipe, 2 sides of an
argument, the evaluation of a product
or a performance, a timeline …
• Writing/ Talking frames

29. Scaffolding Learning:
Questioning
• No hands rule
• Yes or no question to check
understanding
• Multiple choice questions
• Traffic lights

30. Keep an open mind…

31. Aims
• Identify the most common EAL issues
encountered by MFL teachers in UK schools
• Suggest practical strategies to support EAL
learners in MFL classes

32. Top 3 priorities to get prepared
for your EAL students…
• 1. Get to know your EAL students and how they are catered for at your school
• 2.
• 3.

33. Supporting EAL Students in
the MFL Classroom
Isabelle Jones, The Radclyffe School
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com
Twitter: @icpjones
icpjones@yahoo.co.uk