Teaching children with English as an additional language: A programme for helping your pupils move into English quickly

206 Pages·2008·5.07 MB·English

by  Caroline Scott

Teaching Children
English as an Additional
Language
A programme for 7–11 year olds
Caroline Scott
First published 2009
by Routledge
2Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the US and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
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©2009 Caroline Scott
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Scott, Caroline, 1976–
Teaching children English as an additional language: a programme for
7–12 year olds/Caroline Scott.
p. cm.
1.English language–Study and teaching–Foreign speakers.
2.Second language acquisition. I.Title.
PE1128.A2S324 2008
428.2’24–dc22 2007048580
ISBN 0-203-92656-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 10: 0–415–45231–7 (pbk)
ISBN 10: 0–203–92656–0 (ebk)
ISBN 13: 978–0–415–45231–1 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978–0–203–92656–7 (ebk)
Contents
Acknowledgements v 4 Tips on inclusion 107
Student profile 107
1 An introduction to teaching
Parental involvement 107
children English as an
Creating a buddy system 107
additional language (EAL) 1
Grouping pupils 108
EAL barriers to learning 1 Effective scaffolding to secure
learning 108
2 An introduction to the TA support 108
programme 3 Opportunities for extended writing 108
Handwriting 109
How it works – in theory 3
Considerations – making the new
The benefits of the programme 5
arrival feel welcome 109
How it works – in practice 5
Guidance on planning and teaching the
5 Resources 110
programme 9
Assessment 14 Major resources 110
Physical resources: classroom
3 The programme 17 resource box 110
Teacher resource reviews 112
Overview: pre-induction sessions 17
English language schemes of work 114
Overview:units 18
Pre-induction: emergency language
Appendix 1 EAL guidelines: QCA
sessions 21
approach to planning and effectively
Unit 1: Getting to know you 26
teaching children EAL 115
Unit 2: What’s this in English? 35
Unit 3: I likeLiteracy 43 Appendix 2 Baseline assessment 118
Unit 4: My favourite animal is a cat 50
Appendix 3 Baseline assessment
Unit 5: Have you got any brothers and
answers 130
sisters? 58
Unit 6: I like football 67 Appendix 4 Assessment for learning
Unit 7: Have you got any sugar? 75 forms 133
Unit 8: Thereis a shower in the
Appendix 5 Extended scale for EAL
bathroom 84
in England and Wales 146
Unit 9: Can I have a glass of water
please? 92 Appendix 6 EAL optional planner 148
Unit 10: Where is the library? 100
Appendix 7 Example EAL optional
planner 149
iii
Appendix 8 Resource sheets 152 Sports word search – resource
Buddy sheet 152 sheet 6b 177
Useful words to remember – Sports word search – resource
version 1 153 answer sheet 6b 178
Useful words to remember – Ordinal numbers – resource sheet
version 2 155 6c 179
Characters – resource sheet 1a 156 Hobby pictures – resource sheet 6d 180
Alphabet jigsaw – resource sheet 1b 159 A–Z food – resource sheet 7a 181
Colours poster – resource sheet 1c 160 Food pictures – resource sheet 7b 182
Visual labels for classroom – Classifiers – resource sheet 7c 184
resource sheet 2a 161 Food fridge picture – resource
Numbers 1–100 – resource sheet sheet 7d 185
2b 162 Pictureof inside a home – resource
Subject labels – resource sheet 3a 163 sheet 8a 186
Ilike Maths – resource sheet 3b 164 Picture of a room – resource sheet
Sentences – resource sheet 3c 165 8b 187
Pronoun cards – resource sheet 3d 166 Spider prepositions – resource
Animal matching – resource sheet sheet 8c 188
4a 167 Asking permission cards – resource
Animal word search – resource sheet 9a 189
sheet 4b 168 What’s wrong? – resource sheet 9b 190
Animal wordsearch – resource What do they want? – resource
answer sheet 4b 169 sheet 9c 191
At the zoo – resource sheet 4c 170 Pictures of shops – resource sheet
Imperatives game – resource sheet 10a 192
4d 171 Torrington Town – resource sheet
Family picture – resource sheet 5a 172 10b 193
Family picture jigsaw – resource
sheet 5b 173 Glossary 194
Family questionnaire – resource Bibliography 196
sheet 5c 174 Index 198
Descriptions – resource sheet 5d 175
Sports questionnaire – resource
sheet 6a 176
iv
Acknowledgements
Iwould like to thank Miss Sara Hassan for her efficiency, hard work and beautiful illustrations.
Also a huge thank you to Dahlia Ferrer for her graphics advice and long hours spent organising
and referencing all the illustrations. I am most grateful.
Thank you to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets for the Innovations Funding which allowed
me to get this programme started. This support has given me the momentum to continue to
develop it over the past five years.
Thanks to Helena Matthews, my mum, who has helped me with more aspects of this book
than she realises. I am forever grateful for her ongoing professional and personal support.
Icannot thank her enough for what she has done for me.
Thanks also to Karen Murray, John Matthews and Noha Bashir for helping me edit drafts of the
programme.
Thank you also to Iain Scott, Sue Scott, Edd Scott, James Scott, Helena Matthews, John
Matthews, Steve Matthews, Nick Matthews, Trish Donovan, Tom George, Adam Sefton and
Lindsay Hunter for inspiring me to develop the characters in the programme.
Thanks to Lindsay Hunter and Tom George for helping me with the legalities.
Special thanks to Ahmed Rostom who has helped me overcome so many barriers in Egypt and to
Shahira Yehia and Shady Remon who has made me feel so welcome in this country.
Thank you to Annette Rook, my former headteacher,who allowed me the freedom to develop my
interests and inspired me to follow this path.
Thank you to the cover photographer,Michaela Adams, and the children who posed for the
photographs at CairoEnglish School.
Iam also grateful to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority for permission to reproduce an
extract from the QCA website – http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_5093.aspx and the ‘Extended scale
for EAL’.
Thanks also to Katherine Diaper,Jane Connolly,Peter Nathan, Zoe Smith, Pam Kaur, Leonie Hayes,
Dawn Sedgewick, Julie Kimber and Su Weekes who have all played a part in the development of
this book among many others. I have been veryluckyto have such supportive people around me.
v

1
An introduction
to teaching children
English as an additional
language (EAL)
Here’s a scenario. Ihave therefore written this programme for
anyone who needs to support new arrivals
There are 30 children in a class. A third and would like an ‘easy to use’ introduction to
have spoken English all their lives and speak English for 7–11-year-old children. This could
English at home. Two-thirds speak a different include class teachers, support staff,EAL staff
language at home and only speak English or schools with limited provision for new
at school. Most of the latter pupils have a arrivals. I hope you find it helpful.
limited vocabularyand poor grammatically
structured sentences. Five of these pupils have EAL barriers to learning
recently arrived in the country, they hardly
So what arethe issues?
understand anything the teacher says, they
can’t spell their names, and as a result of the
Learners of English as an additional language
language barrier and huge change in life
need support in:
circumstances, they areveryeasily distracted
from tasks. Through differentiation, the class
n Producing and understanding the sounds
teacher has the very difficult job of providing
of English that differ from their first
the national curriculum for everychild in this
language
class.
n Distinguishing between different sounds in
English (e.g. bed/pet, hard/heart/art)
This is a veryreal situation. I have been there
n Understanding oral sets of instructions
and I managed to make it work. However,
n Processing language that is expressed
Idid not have the time to consistently provide
quickly
these EAL learners with the most effective
n Understanding and using appropriate
teaching and learning experiences. I read
intonation and stress
copious amounts of information on how to
n Following whole group interactions
accommodate these learners. Most gave good
n Understanding and using statements,
advice (QCA, 2004b) but they didn’t provide
questions, offers and commands
easy solutions to support the new arrivals. In
n Understanding the meaning of particular
my opinion, this area has the potential for a
language features in texts which we might
curriculum of its own.
takefor granted, such as prepositions
1
(e.g. between, under) or adverbs n Overcoming potential barriers to learning
(e.g. quite, very) and assessment for individuals and groups
n Understanding oral texts not supported by ofpupils.
visual/concrete cues
n Learning appropriate non-verbal In addition, they outline ways in which teachers
communication can achieve successful planning as well as
n Identifying the key words in a message some useful strategies that can be used to
n Putting words in the right order teach new arrivals (see Chapter 4).
n Understanding new vocabulary, especially
increasing technical language Ihave seen throughout my career many useful
n Understanding lexical metaphor (e.g. ‘I’m lists. However, I have yet to find a practical
pulling your leg’, ‘time flies’) and effective way to address all the new
n Learning the appropriate language for arrivals’ needs whilst committing myself to a
playing collaboratively time-consuming full-time teaching job. Time
n Learning the appropriate language to is of the essence and, with all due respect to
interact socially with adults and peers everyhard working teacher, I wonder how they
n Developing an understanding of find the time to plan effectively for the EAL
appropriate school behaviour. learner.
(DETE, nd)
This is a practical, easy to follow programme,
With so many barriers to learning, it’s hard complete with resources, for teachers with
to know whereto start. The Qualifications tight time constraints to help children learn
and Curriculum Authority (QCA, 2004b) English as an additional language. This book
highlights three principles for developing an offers practical answers to help new students
inclusive curriculum that can support teachers’ move into English quickly.
planning for new arrivals. These are:
If you would like training in this
n Setting suitable learning challenges programme please contact the author at
n Responding to pupils’ diverse learning [email protected].
needs
2
2
An introduction to
the programme
How it works – in theory Of course, it is important to emphasise that
‘children learning EAL need to learn more than
This programme can be taught by an English
just vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation’.
as an additional language (EAL) teacher, class
However, we can’t ignore the children’s distinct
teacher or teaching assistant. It requires a
requirements for the basics in English. They are
1hour and 15 minutes withdrawal lesson
essential for fulfilling the learner’s basic needs.
every day (possibly during Literacy), which
‘Many bilingual children suffer low self-esteem
could be split into a 1-hour lesson and a
because of early frustrations and language
15-minute revision session at a different time
related difficulties in school. A cycle of failure,
in the day.
low self-esteem and subsequent expectations
of continued failure must not be allowed to
The programme is effective for EAL develop’ (Gibbons, 1991). Children need to
‘individuals or groups of pupils for finely tuned, feel safe, settled, valued and have a sense of
time-limited withdrawal’ (DfES, 2006a). It is belonging to the class (DfES, 2002). The whole
finely tuned as it provides for the needs of experience for a new arrival can be extremely
individuals and groups of children, following a stressful and we must do everything we can to
baseline assessment and an assessment for support a smooth integration into their new
learning (see Appendices 2 and 4). It offers English-speaking environment.
opportunities for learning through speaking
and listening, practising, applying, extending It’s true to say that ‘a major weakness of any
andevaluating. Its duration is based on a pre-designed language course is that it remains
pupil’s understanding of key basic vocabulary amatter of chance whether or not the topic
and grammar structures and should be no and structures of the course have anything to
more than 11 weeks. do with the actual language skills that learners
need in their regular classes’ (Gibbons, 1991).
This withdrawal programme offers good However, this programme has been developed
provision for EAL pupils. Such provision to address this issue. It is flexible as the
often cannot be made when one class teacher teacher can use it to identify the children’s
is expected to differentiate daily for such a needs and encompasses continual assessment
huge range of learners. This is especially for learning.
significant during a subject such as Literacy
when one 11 year old may be reading a In the case of very limited to zero exposure
complex novel and another 11 year old is an to the language, pre-course ‘emergency
EAL learner who may barely be able to read language sessions’ have been written into the
their own name. It isn’t impossible, but who programme to introduce new, useful language
has the time? to children. This language wouldn’t previously
3