supporting the eal students in the mfl classroom 21 12-12
DESCRIPTION
Coy of the slides for my session on EAL and MFLTRANSCRIPT
Supporting EAL Students in the MFL Classroom
Isabelle Jones, The Radclyffe Schoolhttp://isabellejones.blogspot.com Twitter: @icpjones
• Identify the most common EAL issues encountered by MFL teachers in UK schools
• Suggest practical strategies to support EAL learners in MFL classes
Aims
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.رحب
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
BEM - VINDOSWILLKOMMEN
欢迎
پاکستانهلمن د
सा�इमं�ड्�सा
Find the language…
Rank out of the 15th most spoken languages in English schools?
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German
.رحب
Chinese
Hindi
Urdu
Farsi
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
BEM - VINDOSWILLKOMMEN Arabic
欢迎Bengali
پاکستانهلمن د
सा�इमं�ड्�सा
Find the language…
Rank out of the 15th most spoken languages in English schools?
9
X
8
4
13
X
3
X
Portuguese
First languages in English schools
http://www.naldic.org.uk/research-and-information/eal-statistics/lan
EAL Learners
• What does EAL stands for? EFL? ESL?
• Describe what you think are the characteristics of a “typical” EAL learner?
• What issues did you anticipate him/her to have with learning a foreign language?
• 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% +
The Globalised Classroom: How many pupils? Where?
DfE school census, January 2011http://www.naldic.org.uk/research-and-information/eal-statistics
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.
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
Truth or Myth? Pros and Cons?
1. If new arrival EAL students are segregated and taught English, they will be ableto prepare themselves quicker for taking exams through the medium of English.
2. EAL is a Special Educational Need
3. Speaking another language interferes with learning English.
4. EAL learners should only speak English at school.
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. There is a social-emotional and cultural dimension to caterin for the needs of EAL students.
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 are benefits if students can carry on developing their
home language at the same time as English, but when and how it is done need to be thought through.
Fighting Common Misconceptions
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!
Stage 1: Pre-productionThis 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 productionThis 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 emergenceStudents 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 BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills) =conversational English
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 CALP= Cognitive and Academic Language Proficiency (minimum 5 years)
Language Acquisition
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
Type of EAL support?
Restricted timetable/Withdrawal lessonsIn English/ in homelanguageTeaching AssistantPeer supportClass teacher
Concepts can be transferred from one language to another.EAL learners need to continue to develop both languages to derive maximum benefit of their studies.
Cummins’ Interdependence theory
Interdependence Theory and Literacy
• Many children new to literacy in English will have experience of literacy in other languages
Child’s experience of Literacy in another language
Potential benefits for acquiring literacy in English
Can decode the script but with little understanding
Recognises that literacy involves connection between sound and symbolVisual memory
Can read and write with understanding
Reading for understanding strategies
No home literacy but oral story telling and language games
Range of genresLanguage as a fun activity
EAL, assessment and data
• Progress is a key accountability measure for OFSTED.
• Baseline tests in Y7-What are the issues for EAL learners in general? And for the assessment of a foreign language in
particular?
Common experiences of EAL students:
I feel different.
Can I eat this? Is it OK do this? What will my family say?
Why do some people avoid talking to me? Why do they speak to me so loudly and slowly ?
If I keep quiet I will not get laughed at or told off.
Where is my next lesson? I am never sure of what to do and where to go…
I miss home. Why did I get sent here? I am not used to those busy streets and cold weather.
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.
At my other school I had much more interesting work. All I do here is listen and write.
Generic strategies to support EAL learners: Challenges & Benefits
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7. Coaching Schemes of work need to build in activities that demonstrate and practise language. Not just subject-specific words but general academic words like ‘compare’, ‘analyse’ etc.
4. Buddying Pair with a responsible, caring, articulate student who will act as a guide, friend and role model. Reward students for acting as buddies. (This can be arranged by class teacher or EAL support)
6. Communicating The use of English and TL should be supported by visual cues and practical examples. A dictionary could be used provided the student’s literacy in L1 is strong enough.
2. Knowing Identify their language levels. Try to find out a little about their native / home culture. With INAs, find out their ‘story’. Link with EAL support as appropriate.
3. Grouping Place EAL students with supportive students of similar ability, who can provide a good linguistic model in English.
1. Naming! Ensure that you address the student by their correct name and that you pronounce the student’s name correctly.
5. Mentoring The student’s form tutor or key worker needs to regularly catch up with them to address queries / confusions, ensure homework is being managed. The mentor filters information through to student and support with practical academic & pastoral issues.
• 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.
Sharing culture
Newbury Park: Language of the monthhttp://www.newburypark.redbridge.sch.uk/langofmonth/
Language Awareness starters
• Introduce the idea of “families” of languages e.g. latin (word order)
• English is great at borrowing words from other languages…
Language Awareness starters
• Jar, coffee, sugar
• Sky, leg, wife
• Pill, wagon
• Damp, luck
• Shampoo, bungalow, cot
• Umbrella, piano, corridor
• Tent, café, route
• Rose, atlas, museum
Which languages have these been borrowed from?
ArabicNorwegian/ DanishDutchGerman
HindiItalian
FrenchGreek
EAL learners: AttainmentExpectations and Reality
Early Years/ Foundation Stage
Phonics screening check
KS1
KS2
KS3
KS4
EAL learners: AttainmentExpectations and Reality
Early Years/ Foundation Stage: 56%/ 65%
(generally improving trend)
Phonics screening check no difference or +
KS1: lower % (generally improving trend)
KS2: 72%/75% (improving trend)
KS3: catching-up phase
KS4: 78.1%/71.1% (English)
average point score for bilingual
pupils higher for languages!
A few points to consider…1.Where are your EAL students and who are they sitting with? How is
that likely to help or hinder them?
2. How would you make it easier for your EAL learners to understand instructions-orally and on a worksheet for instance?
3.How do you think EAL learners can contribute to enhancing our subject?
4. 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?
??
7 Steps to introduce New LanguageWhen learning new language, EAL students need to:
1. See1. See the word / phrasethe word / phrase
2. Hear the word / phrase2. Hear the word / phrase
3. Link the word / phrase to 3. Link the word / phrase to
meaningmeaning
4. Practise and self-repair the word / phrase 4. Practise and self-repair the word / phrase
5. Listen to the word/ phrase being recast 5. Listen to the word/ phrase being recast
6. Revise the word / phrase6. Revise the word / phrase
7. Use the word / phrase in another context7. Use the word / phrase in another context
• 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
Scaffolding Learning: (Listening & Reading)Visual Support
A house or a house?
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
Reading… (lire/ leer/ lesen…)
DARTs Activities (reading/writing)
DARTs-inspired Language Activities
• Text sequencing• Prioritising decisions/ ranking opinions• Matching pictures to text• Matching phrases to definitions• Matching beginning and end of sentences• True/ False/ Not Mentioned• statements about a text• Sorting activities (gender/ verbs or• nouns)…
Bonjour!Je m’appelle Ludovic. J’ai treize ans. Je suis en sixième. J’habite près de Toulouse.
J’ai les cheveux courts et châtains et les yeux marron. Je suis assez grand.
Je mesure un mètre cinquante. Je porte des
lunettes.
Je joue de la guitare classique. Je
suis sportif. J’aime le football et le
rugby. J’ai une chienne qui s’appelle
Léa.
Word clouds and mind-mapping
• Wordle http://www.wordle.net
• Tagxedo http://www.tagxedo.com/
• Freemind http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
• Mindomo http://www.mindomo.com
EAL Attainment Data
http://www.tagxedo.com/artful/2a50dd53fe98461
Dictionaries
Bilingual dictionariesMonolingual dictionariesThesaurus
Pros and Cons?
Flip your lesson!
Pre-teach key vocabulary/ structures:
How would you do this?
Advantages and inconvenients?
Visual support & EngagementClasstool.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/
Drama!
• 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.
• Target Language Use
Scaffolding Learning:Audio support (listening/ speaking/
reading/ writing)
Text-to-speech http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/
Supporting and Recording Talk
http://www.easi-speak.org.uk/ http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
http://www.voki.com Ppt recording function
• 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/ Speaking frames (talk stems/
sentence starters)
Scaffolding Learning:Models and Modelling
Writing and structure of first language
• In Urdu, gender and number are both shown through the verb inflection and the tense through a verb suffix.
• Nouns in many South Asian languages have cases.
• Most languages do not have definite
• and indefinite articles.
• In many South Asian languages
yesterday and tomorrow are the
same word.
Scaffolding Learning: Questioning
• No hands rule
• Yes or no question to check understanding
• Multiple choice questions
• Traffic lights
Literacy Across the Curriculum (LaC) and EAL students
How can you contribute through your foreign languages lessons?Grammar terminologyPunctuationUse of apostrophes (comparisons)Vocabulary
Keep an open mind…
• Identify the most common EAL issues encountered by MFL teachers in UK schools
• Suggest practical strategies to support EAL learners in MFL classes
Aims
Top 3 priorities to get prepared for your EAL students…
• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
Get to know your EAL students and how they are catered for at your school
Supporting EAL Students in the MFL Classroom
Isabelle Jones, The Radclyffe Schoolhttp://isabellejones.blogspot.com Twitter: @icpjones