Yew Chung International Yew Chung International School of BeijingSchool of Beijing

English as an Additional English as an Additional Language (EAL) CurriculumLanguage (EAL) Curriculum

Basic Principles of English Language Support

• The English Language is an essential tool for communication and success at YCIS Beijing

• Significant language learning takes place within the mainstream classroom.

• Language acquisition is neither linear, nor does it occur at a constant rate. • Four to seven years of language learning is required to become

academically peer comparable in English language skills. • Effective instruction is an integrated, multifaceted experience within the

language-rich environment of the classroom. • The E.A.L. programme has to be flexible due to diverse student

backgrounds. 

Department Goals

• To identify students’ needs through both the admission procedure and initial settling-in period.

• To use flexible, appropriate and up-to-date methodologies to best meet the needs of students.

• To promote students’ English learning in order to enter the mainstream curriculum.

• To assist mainstream teachers in meeting the diverse needs of students. • To monitor students’ progress: linguistically, academically, socially and

emotionally.

YCIS Primary School Programme Outl ine

• Students in the Primary School are currently placed into different level class groups, according to their English language skills. To some extent these levels mirror the stages of second language acquisition.

Students in Level 1 E.A.L.

Students at this level are in the early stage, where they are becoming familiar with the sounds of English and are learning to make sense of it. They are very dependent upon visual and non-verbal clues and typically respond with single word or short phrase answers. Their reading comprehension is usually less strong in comparison to their decoding ability.

Students in Level 2 E.A.L.

Students in this Level have greater understanding and are beginning to express themselves in English. Their basic conversational communication skills are developing well, giving them some independence and confidence as they learn to use personally relevant language. However, their reading comprehension often lags a little behind their accuracy reading rate as their understanding of vocabulary is still a little limited. Their written expression is marked by a transitional grammar which aligns itself closely with the learner’s first language structure.

Students in Level 3 E.A.L.

• Students in this level speak with little hesitation and produce longer conversations. They are able to orally participate in discussions within the classroom and can read simple classroom texts independently and with understanding. However, their written language reflects their changing knowledge of various grammar rules and structures. As a result, omissions of words, incorrect word order and transitional constructions of tense forms still occur. It is at this stage that a student’s grammar is likely to fossilize, rather than to develop to that of a native speaker, unless small group intervention is given.

Progression into the Mainstream Curriculum

• Students will progress into the mainstream English literacy classes, when they are able to access the mainstream curriculum with little assistance. While there may still be differences in the E.A.L student’s ability compared to a native speaker, they are still able to explore concepts and various literary genres. These students’ primary need is to gain a greater vocabulary and to further develop their grammatical skills.

Assessing Students

Students’ progress in learning English needs to be continually tracked for a variety of reasons.

These include: •recognising what students can do and reward their progress•determining what students need to learn next•providing information which can be passed on to classroom teachers and parents.

It must be remembered that students may be at different levels of attainment in each of the four skill areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing.

Assessment

• At YCIS Beijing, students are benchmarked periodically during the school year, using the three Language Assessment rubrics for E.A.L students. These

assessments are determined from evidence gained through a range of classroom activities.

• PM Benchmark Kits are also used throughout the year to monitor students’ reading progress and to guide future instruction.

• E.A.L students’ progress is reported formally to their parents twice yearly through formal reports and parent teacher interviews. Interviews are conducted in

October and January /February while written reports are distributed at the end of each semester in January and June.