INTENT - this is our vision and aim for EAL children

Wolsey House delivers a curriculum, which is relevant, stimulating, challenging and creative.  We want our EAL learners to access the curriculum along with their monolingual peers, develop as confident, successful and ultimately independent learners.  This is achieved by providing tailored scaffolds for speaking, reading and writing. These scaffolds include graphic organisers, sentence frames, sentence stems, substitution tables, flash cards and word banks and are used across the curriculum.

Teachers assess and monitor language development of all EAL pupils using the NASSEA framework for speaking, listening, reading and writing. This in turn informs planning and next steps.

Pupils’ languages are celebrated in the classroom and in the wider school community through Language of the Month. New to English pupils use their 1^st language to communicate and their know knowledge of their 1st language is used a hook to learn English as an additional language.

Wolsey House Primary School is a language rich environment as our curriculum is based on the development of vocabulary which can be transferred to any point of a child’s learning journey. This is achieved by teachers modelling and teaching both every day and academic language through speaking, listening, reading and writing across the curriculum.

IMPLEMENTATION - this is how we teach and support our EAL children

In order for EAL pupils to access the curriculum, teachers create various scaffolds; these include graphic organisers, sentence frames, sentence stems, substitution tables, flash cards and word banks and are used across the curriculum. The scaffolds are tailor made to the needs pf the pupils’ needs. By using tailored scaffolds, EAL pupils develop their speaking, listening, reading and writing. Whole class strategies are also used and these include vanishing cloze and dictogloss. This provides opportunity for speaking and listening for not only EAL learners but all learners. Ultimately, through scaffolds, EAL pupils gain access to the curriculum and can actively engage in everyday school life. As pupils’ language proficiency grows, scaffolds may then be taken away as they act as a temporary aid to learning.

Strategies used in Talk for Writing provides opportunity for speaking by learning the story orally. Visuals are used in creating story maps, enabling EAL pupils to independently produce work in relation to the story. 

Sticky words for each unit of work are taught to pupils in EAL intervention groups using the Word Aware approach. Vocabulary is then reviewed each week using the word pot to enable the pupils to commit vocabulary to memory thus enabling it to be transferred across the curriculum and ultimately throughout their learning journey.

Reading is promoted by providing dual-language books. A variety of picture books are used to build vocabulary and comprehension skills including inferencing for early language learners. As EAL pupils gain confidence in reading, they have access to a variety of books targeted at early readers that have short stories and short novels. Advanced Bilingual learners have the opportunity to read a wide range of genres and authors across different periods and cultures. Reading Comprehension session are carried out daily for New to English pupils. Through each text vocabulary is constantly developing. Sentence stems are used as a vital scaffold to enable pupils to answer comprehension and inference questions.

Interventions are implemented to support New to English and Advanced Bilingual Learners in grammar, punctuation, reading and writing, which they then can put into practise in the classroom. These sessions provides EAL pupils the opportunity to develop and consolidate their spoken and written language skills and knowledge, thus committing it to long-term memory.

Language proficiency for all EAL pupils is assessed three times a year using the NASSEA framework. This closely monitors language development and informs next step in the language learning journey. 

Language of the month is implemented by choosing a focus language each month. A pupil is then recorded demonstrating how to say key words and phrases in that language. This gives pupil pride in sharing their knowledge and giving their first language recognition. .

Progress is monitored of all EAL learners using internal data to ensure pupils are making progress. This also target pupils who may need intervention to address gaps in learning and aid their progress.

IMPACT - this is what we want the children to have learnt - the knowledge & skills to help them in all subjects of the school curriculum

Using scaffolds has many impacts; it enables EAL pupils to gain access to curriculum and take an active part in school life. They gain knowledge and skills and scaffolds provide an opportunity to practise and display their skills and knowledge. Using tailored scaffolds enables pupils to develop their language in speaking, reading and writing. As pupils’ language proficiency grows, scaffolds may then be taken away as they act as a temporary aid to learning. Crucially, scaffolds enables the curriculum to be amplified and not simplified.

Strategies used in Talk for Writing has tremendous impact of EAL pupils’ spoken language development. It enable pupils to grow a bank of well-versed stories, which in turn enables them to create stories of their own. Story planning techniques enable pupils to write with a clear purpose, structure and audience.

The Word Aware Approach used for teaching sticky words provides regular ‘exposure’ to vocabulary. It provides the word building blocks for each unit of work. This regularity enables vocabulary to truly ‘stick’ to memory and eventually to long term memory.

Reading comprehensions session provides New to English develop their reading, comprehension and inference skills. They gain access to texts that develop their vocabulary as well as developing their reading skills. Sentence stems is used as a scaffold to enable pupils to answer comprehension and inference questions. Dual – language books, picture books, short stories and longer chapter books enables EAL pupils with varying language proficiency to develop into confident and well-read individuals, who have lifelong love of reading.

Assessing language proficiency enables teachers to see the impact of each EAL pupil’s language development. Each term’s assessment shows the impact intervention groups, scaffolds, teaching sticky words has on the language development.

Language of the month impacts all pupils as it exposes the whole school community to languages of the world. It also has a positive impact on the pupil, as it celebrates them and their first language on a wider platform.

With all the strategies in teaching and learning for English and an Additional Language our EAL pupils progressing, flourish and develop a lifelong love for learning. They continue to develop as confident, successful and ultimately independent learners.