Supporting pupils with EAL
The Key for School Leaders
Supporting new arrivals
The Ethnic Minority Achievement Support Service of
Milton Keynes Council has produced guidance for its
schools on supporting pupils who have EAL. An article from The Guardian looks at the techniques
being used by schools to break down language barriers
for pupils with EAL.
It has suggestions for preparing for a new arrival, including
teaching the class to say a few words in the pupil’s
home language. It also outlines some practical ideas for
integrating new pupils with little English into the class. It includes an example of a school where pupils with no
English spend the first 6 weeks on an intensive English
course before being integrated into mainstream lessons.
Link on our website Link on our website
Supporting pupils with EAL, Milton Keynes
Council (Adobe pdf file) How schools are breaking down the language barrier
for EAL students, The Guardian, 5 March 2014
Using targeted interventions
Diane told us that EAL learners should be
integrated into whole-class teaching sessions as
much as possible.
However, she said there will be times when
pupils will benefit from a more focused language
intervention away from the rest of the class.
For example, a small group session might prepare
vocabulary and context that is needed for the
main lesson.
be put on a ‘learn to read’ scheme to teach them
core reading skills. In her view, these pupils should
not be taught literacy until they can read.
Charlotte suggested that, instead, while other
pupils have literacy lesso ns, the pupils with EAL
could be placed in phonics/reading lessons to
teach them how to decode words and understand
books suitable for their reading level. These
lessons should instruct pupils about:
• Word comprehension
She advised schools to plan interventions carefully
so that pupils are not missing out on other learning
experiences. • Basic sentence construction
Music, art and physical education (PE), for
example, are good social and language-learning
opportunities and should not be missed. Charlotte said that pupils would then be able to
access the literacy curriculum once they are able
to read using a simple phonic code.
Periods for extended silent reading or writing
activities, however, may be a good chance to work
on pupils’ language targets away from the rest of
the class.
Phonics and reading lessons
Charlotte Raby, one of our experts who has
extensive experience of teaching literacy, suggested
that pupils who cannot read or speak English could
• Inferential comprehension
Find more on our website
This resource with links to further reading and specific examples, is
available on www.thekeysupport.com/sl. Members of The Key for
School Leaders can find the article quickly by entering ‘Supporting
pupils with EAL to access the curriculum’ into the website search tool.
Supporting pupils with EAL to access the curriculum |
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