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 ›
General
Understanding and improving the Bell Assessment Framework
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
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
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
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
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 ›
Culturally sustaining pedagogy
In our upcoming resource, Adri Szlapak and I mention culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) in EAL teaching. Here’s a quick summary of the concept and some random reflections on it. What is CSP? In the intro to this article, Paris (2012)… Read More ›
Dialogue around displays
I had a great moment today that I’m banking through this blog post. Basically, I’d never really considered how much could be gained from collaborating over a wall display. Sounds random. But you know what it is like as a… Read More ›
Peer observation tasks / Walkthrus
I’m setting up a peer observation scheme in my department. Basically, it’s like this: I’ll work out how we can evaluate the process down the line – we’ve just started. But I have ideas. Anyhow, the areas for development aren’t… Read More ›
Materials writing conversations #17: The front cover
Dear Pete, As author of the book English for Ticking Boxes, we’d appreciate your input regarding the image choice for the front cover. You’ll be familiar with our earlier range of front cover images for books such as… English for… Read More ›
ELT Planning 