English as an Additional Language

(EAL)

Advice for Teaching Assistants Working with EAL Learners

Peta Ullmann June 2017

Children take up to two years to develop ‘basic interpersonal communication skills’ (playground, street survival language) BUT it takes from five to eight years to acquire the full range of literacy skills (‘cognitive academic language proficiency’) to cope with the literacy demands of GCSE and beyond.

A silent (receptive) period is natural in the learning of an additional language and not a sign of learning difficulties in the early stages. Some children will remain silent/very quiet for at least two terms.

Children who have a strong foundation in their first language across the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing are advantaged over children who have limited skills in their first language.

DfE Stages of English as an Additional Language Acquisition

Stage A – New to English

May use first language for learning and other purposes. May remain completely silent in the classroom. May be copying/repeating some words or phrases. May understand some everyday expressions in English but may have minimal or no literacy in English. Needs considerable support to operate in English.

Stage B – Early Acquisition

May follow day to day social communication in English and participate in learning activities with support. Beginning to use spoken English for social purposes. May understand simple instructions and can follow narrative/accounts with visual support. May have become familiar with some subject specific vocabulary. Still needs a significant amount of support.

Stage C – Developing Competence

May participate in learning activities with increasing independence. Able to express self orally in English, but structural inaccuracies are still apparent. Literacy will require ongoing support, particularly for understanding text and writing. May be able to follow abstract concepts and more complex written English. Requires support to access the curriculum fully.

Stage D – Competent

Oral English will be developing well, enabling successful engagement in activities across the curriculum. Can read and understand a wide variety of texts. Written English may lack complexity and contain occasional evidence of errors in structure. Needs some support to access subtle nuances of meaning, to refine English usage, and to develop abstract vocabulary.

Stage E – Fluent

Can operate across the curriculum to a level of competence equivalent to that of a pupil who uses English as his/her first language.

Supporting Pupils with EAL: TA Roles

Planning

  • Being aware of lesson objectives
  • Discussing access/support strategies for focus pupils
  • Contributing ideas based on knowledge of pupils’ progress
  • Having clear expectations of TA roles within the lesson
  • Where appropriate, being aware of the role/interventions planned by the teacher, as stated in the short-term plan.

Preparation

  • Ensuring appropriate visual aids/props are available
  • Ensuring a visual dictionary is available
  • Preparing any specific resources required by focus pupils.

Delivery

In a whole-class session, sitting near pupils in order to:

  • echo the teacher’s message
  • explain the teacher’s message
  • encourage engagement
  • rehearse responses, and
  • act as a talk partner, or
  • facilitate pupils working with other pupils as talk partners
  • repeat and reinforce key terms & instructions

In group/individual work:

  • encouraging talk and acting as a role model for spoken English
  • explaining key words
  • demonstrating/supporting the task
  • supporting reading, and supporting writing through talk,
  • scaffolding (i.e. writing frames or sentence starters), re-redrafting or scribing.

At any time during the lesson, the TA can observe a group or an individual pupil’s engagement with the teacher’s presentation, or the group’s or individual pupil’s approach to any task/activity.

Review

  • Discussing successful/ and/or less successful aspects of the lesson in relation to focus pupils
  • Feeding back specific detail on focus pupils’ progress within the lesson

The TA can also:

  • Help to share key information between staff in the school
  • Help with home-school liaison, especially if they have bilingual skills
  • Help new arrivals during their induction period
  • Help to monitor the pupils’ level of social interaction in the classroom & at break times

Provision for EAL Pupils- A Checklist of Questions

Pattern of the working week- How many hours? How many pupils are targeted to receive support?

Way of working- 1-1? Small group? Withdrawal? Within specific subject areas?

Groupings- Are EAL pupils in small groups with other pupils who present good models of English?

Planning- How often does planning with teachers take place? Does planning take place? Are learning objectives set for individuals/groups of pupils? Are particular tasks and activities planned which take account of pupils’ levels and needs? Are tasks differentiated? Who monitors and assesses the level of need?

Recording- How is the support provided recorded? How much feedback is given to teachers about pupils’ performance and progress, e.g. difficulties with a reading or writing task? Who reads the information that is recorded and when? Are records used to inform future planning?

Balance of the week-Over a week, a month and a term, do EAL pupils have sufficient time to practise the skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing (at a basic level and in relation to on-going work and the demands of the curriculum/classroom)? Is the support provided active and relevant? Are practical activities and games used to reinforce language and learning?

Home Language- Are EAL pupils given opportunities to use, discuss, demonstrate and share their home language? Is positive encouragement given to the maintenance and development of home language and skills? Do EAL pupils talk about lessons they receive in home language at weekends or after school?

Materials and resources- Do resources reflect and acknowledge the pupils’ home backgrounds and cultures? Are positive images used and shared which reflect our multi-ethnic communities? Are stereotypical images avoided? Are additional materials used to reinforce and support pupils’ understanding as and when appropriate? Do older pupils have access to bilingual dictionaries, translation engines and electronic translators?

Pupil/Adult relationships- What is the pupil’s attitude to the support they are receiving? How does the pupil behave within a small group situation? Has an element of trust been developed? Is the pupil becoming overly dependent on additional support? Do other pupils make comments? What form do the comments take and what response is given?

QUICK TIPS

  • Always greet the pupil, i.e. hello/good morning/good afternoon/How are you today?Etc. Answer simple questions yourself, eg. I feel cold today/ I’ve been…
  • Talk around a topic. Paraphrase ideas. Give examples and discuss examples.
  • Provide a framework for thinking by using a key visual, e.g. a map, a Venn diagram, a graph, a flow diagram, a set of cards of historical events, etc.
  • Provide objects and pictures to clarify meanings and ideas. Use a whiteboard or plain paper to draw simple pictures quickly to get meaning across.
  • Ask questions of peers sitting close by.
  • Explain the demands of a task through example, actions and gestures. Go over the steps of a task using instructional language. When the task is finished, go over the steps of the task again, describing what has been done in the past tense.
  • Record key words that have been explained in subject areas. Encourage the pupil to do the same possibly with the addition of small pictures to aid memory.
  • Use ‘or’ questions to prompt the pupil. Accept single word answers but follow up their responses by framing them in sentence form.
  • Help them with recording/writing tasks. Read sentences from the whiteboard/text book/worksheet. Read main sentences/questions again. Give them a starting point by showing them how to begin to write an answer/frame an answer or sentence. Ensure that you have access to plain paper to do this. Prompt as and when necessary. If possible, share other peers’ written work.
  • Make a positive comment (either general or about a specific aspect of the pupil’s work) at the end of the lesson, e.g. you’ve worked well today/well done/ good, etc.

Communicating with a Pupil in the Early Stages of Acquiring English

Be aware of your own language. A pupil’s facial expression and actions are likely to show you that you have been understood.

When giving instructions for a group or for class tasks, use the pupil’s name to make them aware that they need to listen and watch.

Identify and describe the immediate environment and what can be seen. Be fairly repetitive and consistent in your use of language.

Use gestures, mime and body language and match the tone of your voice to the words. These can help to illustrate the message you are trying to convey. Pointing to objects and picture dictionaries may also help. Use simple drawings to illustrate meaning. EAL learners are very aware of visual clues to meaning. They watch to understand when at an early stage.

Be aware of cultural differences in non-verbal communication, e.g. Chinese children lower their gaze as a mark of respect for a teacher and would be very confused if told, ‘Look at me when I am talking to you.’ Muslim women and girls do not normally shake hands and forcing them to do so may well cause embarrassment and even indignation.

Also be aware of proximity. Many learners prefer to sit next to an adult rather than opposite the adult and vice versa. However, wherever you/they sit, they need to be able to see your gestures and visual props you are using.

Be aware of acoustics. Where is the pupil? Are they near or at a distance? Are they sitting toward the front of the group? Are they outside?

Speak in whole sentences and repeat what you say. Sometimes rephrase. Not being understood the first time may not mean that all the words are unknown to the EAL learner, but that the combination of words is unfamiliar. However, if after repetition and rephrasing, you are still not understood then find an alternative way to express yourself and/or explain vocabulary/phrases which are new to the pupil. For example, show what you mean with reference to other pupils’ actions and work.

Allow short pauses for understanding to catch up. EAL learners need to process language and may miss the next few words completely while they try to make sense of what they have just heard. You may well need to repeat and stress certain words in your repetition.

Speak in natural English, retaining its normal rhythm and structure. Neither speaks too quickly nor too slowly. Always speak in simple sentence from. Avoid the use of single words or telegraphic uses of English.

Make clear the keywords in a sentence. Learners need to hear the words which carry information, e.g. ‘At break everybody should go outside’ NOT ‘you are supposed to be outside now.’

Avoid pronouns, e.g. ‘Put the book in your bag, NOT ‘put it away’. Avoid the passive form, e.g. ‘You must wear your tie’ NOT ‘Ties must be worn.’

Restrict your vocabulary. Try and find the simplest most commonly used word. Be aware though that the learners will need to classify certain nouns at a fairly early stage across the curriculum, e.g. a sparrow is a bird. A lion is an animal. 2 is an even number. 3 is an odd number, etc. Examples will always be important.

Avoid colloquialisms and prepositional verbs where possible. Sometimes English which seems simple has no meaning if taken literally or translated directly into another language, e.g. ‘Find the word in your dictionary’ NOT ‘Look it up.’

Avoid long sentences. English allows for a range of tenses and strings of verbs in one sentence especially through the use of dependent clauses. Break this up into sequenced sentences and make the context clear, e.g. ‘Yesterday I gave you a letter for your mother and father. Did you give the letter to your mother and father? Your father and mother must sign it.’ A quick mime might help here!) Then, ‘You must give the letter to me’ NOT ‘Don’t forget to bring the slip back after your parents have signed it.’

Check and confirm the learner understands by verbal questioning. Be aware that asking a pupil if they have understood is not the best way to check their understanding. Many will nod ‘yes’ irrespective of the fact they haven’t understood.

Always ensure that EAL pupils are paired and grouped with pupils who can present a good model of English. To group them with pupils with any kind of language difficulty, will significantly inhibit their future progress.

Use ‘or’ questions frequently to prompt a pupil’s response. This approach will provide them with vocabulary and simple structures to use in their response.

Remember that many early stage pupils go through a silent period. This means that you should avoid asking pupils questions all the time. They need to stand back and listen. The process of learning an additional language does not begin when a pupils starts speaking.

Please note…..

Early stage learners will not understand everything that is said within the classroom environment even with significant visual support. There will be misunderstandings and times when meaning cannot be communicated through visual means or through bilingual dictionaries especially when more abstract concepts are involved. Do not worry about this. Learning an additional language takes time.

Speaking and Listening

Understanding comes before spoken language. Pupils may use non-verbal gestures to respond or indicate need in the early stages. They may echo single words or short phrases and may use ‘formulaic’ language. Gradually over time pupils progress from producing telegraphic sentences to extended phrases and sentences. Commonly, pupils make a number of basic errors in their speech for quite some time and need opportunities to hear and rehearse basic sounds and intonation and stress patterns in English which may be very different from their home/first language.

How you can help:

Talk to pupils and encourage spoken responses in and outside the classroom

Help them to join in with class and group activities

Help them contribute to group discussion

Model the correct use of language

Support their understanding (use pictures, objects and gestures)

Help build their confidence- no pressure!

Some ways to encourage, support and prompt language use for different purposes
Plan / What are we/you going to do? What will you need? What do you have to do first/next/last? / Thinking ahead. Sequencing- first, next, then, last, etc.
Recount / Can you remember what happened when…? Where were you? What happened first? What happened next? And then..? / Thinking back. Working out a sequence using past tense verbs.
Explore / I wonder what this is. What might that be for? I wonder how it works. Where do you think this should go? / Considering possibility in the here and now. Tentativeness- I think..perhaps…maybe
Predict / I wonder what’s going to happen. Can you guess what will happen next? Do you think it/she/he/they will…? / Anticipating the future based on what you know. Tentativeness
Analyse / Gosh- what’s happening here? Can you tell me how this happened? Do you notice/Can you see…? Why did this happen? Was it because….or was it because..? / Conscious observation. Thinking aloud. Curiosity. Reflection
Report / Tell me about…what is it for? What does it do? What shape/colour/size is it? What does it feel/look/taste/sounds like? / Observation. Giving details. Awareness of key features.
Explain / Do you know how this works? How do you switch it on? What does it do first? Do you know the reason why..? What happens if I/you..? / Curiosity- explaining the how and why. Awareness of sequence. Cause and effect

Literacy

Yes, pupils with English as an additional language need to develop their basic mechanical skills as readers and writers. However, in comparison with many of their monolingual peers, their biggest challenge is comprehension especially when they are in the early, intermediate and even more advanced stages of EAL acquisition. EAL pupils who possess basic skills in everyday spoken English make a number of basic grammatical errors when writing in different genres and when attempting to write at greater length. Talk is essential as a preparation for writing at all stages of EAL development and certain language features need to be taught explicitly.