Eal Service Guidelines for Schools

EAL SERVICE GUIDELINES FOR SCHOOLS

East Lothian is home to many children and young people, for whom English is not the first or home language. They come from variety of backgrounds and are at different stages of language development, both in their first language and English. We describe these pupils as using English as an additional language, recognising that they are bi-lingual, possibly experiencing different cultures at home and at school.

Pupils are at all levels of proficiency, from children starting nursery and new arrivals in the early stages of English, to pupils in S5/6 planning to go to university. Each child is an individual and while some experience little difficulty, others risk being disadvantaged, if the language of the school is allowed to become a barrier to learning

The aim of this service is to provide support, advice and information to school staff, pupils and their families to enable pupils who are bilingual, or whose first language is not English, to access the curriculum and be fully included in the life of the school.

Pupils

The service provides support for pupils in the following three categories.

New Arrivals to Scotland :

 May have learned English in school but not at the level required to access the curriculum.  May face added difficulties, e.g. refugees or asylum seekers, parent’s new relationship, parents working long unsocial hours.

Bi-linguals/ multilinguals

 Brought up to use two or more languages equally.

Minority Ethnic Groups

 Second or third generation, usually experiencing a mixture of languages in home and cultural settings, so may not start to acquire English until nursery.  May go on extended “heritage” visits to the family’s home country.

1 Service Contact Details

Janet Storey [email protected] Office phone: 01620 827858 Mobile: 0790 9872549

Jean Knox [email protected] Office phone: 01620 827858 Mobile: 077766577271

What does the Outreach Teacher for EAL do?

There are a variety of ways in which the EAL service can provide support. The EAL teacher can meet with school staff to provide advice to enable them to make appropriate provision for groups or individuals. Below are some examples of areas where advice may be required.

Consultation

 Pupils’ language and culture  Enrolment and placement in learning groups  Assessment  Contributing to pupils’ plans and advising on accessing the curriculum.  Strategies for differentiation, appropriate teaching approaches and resources  Development of suitable materials for learning, revision and assessment  Where to find sources of first language teaching and reading materials  Ways of including and acknowledging pupils’ culture and language in the classroom and life of the school  Planning for and supporting stages of transition e.g. between classes, from primary to secondary, making choices in S2 and S4.

Staff Development

Contributing to the professional development of staff to build their capacity to support children and young people who are accessing the curriculum through English as an Additional Language. This can be done for whole schools, groups or individuals. Examples of topics which could be covered are:

 How to differentiate course materials  Supporting bilingual pupils in Early Years  Working with parents  The SQA qualification for English for Speakers of Other Languages

2 Direct Teaching

Although teaching in mainstream classes is best practice there are situations when pupils can be extracted individually or in groups for support from an EAL specialist. Here are some examples.

 Supporting new arrivals during the settling in process, e.g. to assess ability, reduce stress, adapt materials, identify and model strategies.  Supporting pupils experiencing particular difficulties with specific areas of work.  Comprehension, completing folio pieces, writing assessments.  Allowing pupils time to focus out of class.  Offering an alternative approach for pupils who experience an extended silent period – i.e. who are reluctant to respond or participate orally during the early stages of learning even though they are included in class work  Providing alternative activities during periods of classroom work which involves extended listening.  To allow for oral preparation which might disturb the rest of the class.  Preparing pupils for the SQA ESOL qualification.

Supporting Communication

 Advice about how to organise translators and use them effectively  Home school links  Access to translated materials  Reducing isolation by organising contact between pupils with the same language in different schools.  Act as link between schools e.g. during transition, when dealing with siblings.

Timetable options

Through consultation with Staff/pupils the EAL teacher will support the areas identified in discussion with staff as being the most appropriate. School staff, the EAL teacher and pupil(s) will agree the areas of the curriculum to be supported and what form this support will take.

EAL support normally takes place once a week for a block of about six to eight weeks. A report will then be provided and after review support may continue, be extended or cease. Regular liaison visits can be arranged after the end of direct support.

3 Resources for Pupils

The aim is to support understanding of content, encourage the acquisition of key language and concepts as well as challenging the pupils in a collaborative context with the peer group. Existing resources may be suitable. The EAL teacher can advise on alternatives if required.

Materials and sources of online advice are also available at: http://edubuzz.org/eal

Translators, paperwork and documents

There are key times (e.g. enrolment, transition, parental consultation) when it is beneficial to use translators. The school meets this cost and should contact the Communications Officer, Jane Ogden-Smith to make arrangements. jogden- [email protected] .

There is some school paperwork (e.g. enrolment forms) translated by Polish parents available at http://edubuzz.org/eal (Enrolment, - Documents in Polish and other languages). Generic letters e.g. welcome, detention, invitations to meetings, school trips etc are available online at: http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/letters/

Referral Procedure

Pupils are referred using the universal referral form and planning will be based on the ELC Staged Assessment and Intervention framework with most EAL pupils at level one.

Involvement starts either, when a referral is made about an existing pupil or a new pupil is enrolled in the school. The Outreach Teacher for EAL may be invited to the enrolment of a new pupil.

Appendices A and B provide possible structures for use when referring a new pupil or planning the support for EAL pupils.

How requests are prioritised

Priority for direct support is given to the following pupils:

 New arrivals especially those in P3 and upwards  Pupils at transition  Pupils in S3 and above preparing for SQA, mainstream or ESOL, examinations and assessments  Pupils for whom there are specific concerns

The school should continue to track pupil progress and decide next steps using development levels such as those used for the Edinburgh Profile of Competence (see link). http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/articles/e/genericcontent_tcm4528764.asp? strReferringChannel=inclusiveeducation

FURTHER INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

“Learning to Learn in 2+Languages” published by Learning and Teaching Scotland in 2005 is the key document. This is in all schools and is also available on the Internet.

“Learning in 2+Languages” Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2005 http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/LearningInTwoPlusLanguages_tcm4- 306089.pdf

“How Good is our School – Inclusion and Equality Part 4: Evaluating educational provision for bilingual learners” HMIE, 2006 http://www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/publication/hgiosepbl.pdf www.education.ed.ac.uk/ceres CERES, (Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland) University of Edinburgh

” Count us in – a sense of belonging : A sense of belonging: Meeting the needs of children and young people newly arrived in Scotland” HMIE report with case studies. http://www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/publication/cuimnnus.pdf

Teacher’s personal experience http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/newteachers/articles/supportingchildrenwithenglish .asp

Learning and Teaching Scotland: Key documents for EAL provision (advice and resources including Edinburgh EAL Profile of Competency)

5 http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/articles/e/genericcontent_tcm4528764.asp? strReferringChannel=inclusiveeducation www.naldic.org.uk National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum – an excellent website with well researched advice

”Evidence of good practice in supporting bilingual learners” SEALCC (Scottish EAL Coordinating Council) http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/resources/s/genericresource_tcm4534759.asp? strReferringChannel=inclusiveeducation

Edubuzz – East Lothian EAL website (advice and links to other resources) http://sites.google.com/a/edubuzz.org/english-as-an-additional- language/ http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/letters/ (Dingle Granby Toxteth EAZ) Generic translated Letters for Schools in variety of languages

All of these books provide information about language acquisition, good support practice and case studies

“Learning to Learn in a Second Language” Pauline Gibbons, Greenwood Press 1993

“ Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning: Teaching Second Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom” Jim Cummins, Heinemann 2002

“Helping Bilingual Pupils to Access the Curriculum” Geri Smyth, David Fulton Publishers 2003

”Assessing the Needs of Bilingual Pupils: Living in Two Languages” (Resource Materials for Teachers) Deryn Hall, David Fulton Publishers 2001

“English as an Additional Language: Meeting the Challenge in the Classroom” Liz Haslam, Yvonne Wilkin , Edith Kellet , David Fulton Publishers; 2004

6 APPENDIX A

PLANNING SUPPORT FOR EAL PUPILS

PUPIL IN MAINSTREAM CLASS NEW PUPIL IS ENROLLED

↓ ↓

SCHOOL / TEACHER HAS CONCERNS SO MAKES REFERRAL (THROUGH SfL)

↓ ↓

EAL TEACHER MEETS WITH CLASS TEACHER(S).(SfL,GUIDANCE COULD BE INVOLVED AT THIS STAGE)

↓ ACTION PLAN INVOLVING ALL STAFF

AGREE INPUT FROM EAL TEACHER FROM OPTIONS BELOW

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

STAFF EAL TEACHER PUPIL PUPIL EXTRACTED TRAINING OR ADVISES ON SUPPORTED IN ONE TO ONE OR INPUT TO CAT SUITABILITY OF THE WITH GROUP FOR AND PLANNING MATERIALS AND CLASSROOM TARGETED SESSIONS HOW TO ADAPT SUPPORT

7 APPENDIX B

PREPARING FOR NEW EAL PUPILS

Enrolment

SET UP ENROLMENT MEETING

CONTACT THE OUTREACH TEACHER FOR EAL

ACCESS TRANSLATED PAPERWORK

READ ADVICE ABOUT TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING

Planning PLANNING MEETING WITH STAFF

AGREE ROLE OF EAL TEACHER

LOOK AT “LEARNING IN 2+ LANGUAGES” DOCUMENT

REQUEST STAFF TRAINING FROM EAL TEACHER

ACCESS ADVICE ON EDUCATION EXCHANGE

Preparing for learning

PROVIDE BILINGUAL DICTIONARY (pupils literate in first language)

PROVIDE PICTURE DICTIONARY ( P1-3)

PREPARE CLASSROOM DISPLAYS: SIGNS IN PUPILS LANGUAGE IN CLASS/ SCHOOL / MAPS/ FLAG

PREPARE VISUALS – TIMETABLE, HELP CARDS, LABELS ETC

LOOK FOR APPROPRIATE RESOURCES IN SCHOOL

ORGANISE EXTRA HELP – CLASSROOM ASSISTANT, SfL

ACCESS DUAL LANGUAGE BOOKS

Reviewing progress

BEGIN STAGED ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION PROCESS

OBTAIN LANGUAGE LEVELS FOR ASSESSMENT AND TRACKING

Communication CREATE VISUAL TIMETABLE

GIVE PLAYGROUND PROBLEMS PICTURES TO PLAYGROUND SUPERVISORS 8 PLAN HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH PARENTS – TIMING OF MEETINGS, FORMAT OF LETTERS , BEST USE OF TRANSLATORS , ALTERNATIVE ARRANGEMENTS FOR PARENTS’ MEETINGS WITH TRANSLATOR 9