Author Archives

Teacher and Materials Writer

• EAL Digest, July 2024

  By Pete on July 9, 2024 • ( 0 )

  

  Here’s a new regular post, summarizing EAL happenings from social media and beyond. If you followed my previous ‘materials writing news and views’ then it’s basically that but with an EAL twist. New releases Joanna Kolota has a new book… Read More ›

• Review: Assessment Only Route to QTS (University of Sunderland)

  By Pete on July 3, 2024 • ( 13 )

  

  I’ve just completed the Assessment Only Route (AOR) to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) through the University of Sunderland. Here’s a review of this short course. I’ll be blogging a bit about some parts of the course in more detail when… Read More ›

• Low-prep EAL: what’s the answer?

  By Pete on June 24, 2024 • ( 1 )

  

  End of term. Rocking the classic ELT games with genuine purpose. Lesson time: 40 mins. Context: Year 10. Three learners. Biology. We’ve been reviewing such topics as… cell structure, specialized cells, the circulatory system, the components of blood. Game prep:… Read More ›

• DogmeEAL: ‘maths teachers’

  By Pete on June 22, 2024 • ( 1 )

  

  Context: Year 10 support class, only three learners, 1 hour Materials: whiteboards, pens Lead-in: What lesson did you just have and how was it? Learner responses – maths, so-so because we had a test. We discussed some of the test… Read More ›

• DogmeEAL: From the heart

  By Pete on June 19, 2024 • ( 4 )

  

  Context: Year 10 EAL support slot, approx 1 hour. Materials: board pens (at least two colours) and a table to write on. Scrap paper. Lead-in: General chat with the learners. See what they want to study (now this is bold… Read More ›

• Understanding and improving the Bell Assessment Framework

  By Pete on May 25, 2024 • ( 3 )

  

  In my previous post about the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), I mentioned how certain EAL assessment descriptors are more aligned with the CEFR than we might think.. What I should have said is that the Bell… Read More ›

• It’s not ‘the CEFR’, it’s the CEFR level tests

  By Pete on May 19, 2024 • ( 7 )

  

  I’ve heard plenty of EAL teachers dissing the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). ‘It’s not relevant for assessing EAL learners’, ‘it’s too general’, etc. This is another of those areas in which I kinda understand the sentiment,… Read More ›

• In-class support: building trust and rapport with teachers

  By Pete on May 4, 2024 • ( 0 )

  

  Here are some general tips for EAL support staff. The focus is on providing in-class support. In particular, how do you start building that rapport and trust with subject teachers? Make the first move! Teachers are busy. Very busy. Don’t… Read More ›

• Targets for our new EAL department

  By Pete on April 3, 2024 • ( 8 )

  

  Have you ever set up a new EAL department? If so, how did you go about establishing your targets and priorities for development? In this (very niche) post, I’ll summarize how I approached this at the start of the academic… Read More ›

• Our EAL teaching and learning principles

  By Pete on April 1, 2024 • ( 2 )

  

  Last term, Heads of Department (‘HoDs’) in our school were given an interesting task! We were instructed to work with our teams to devise a list of criteria for ‘what makes an outstanding [subject] lesson?’ These criteria would then help… Read More ›