I’ve been writing a bit about disciplinary literacy this week. If you’re not familiar with the term, it’s *basically* how people communicate, share knowledge, etc within a particular discipline. For the purposes of teaching EAL, think about how we teach… Read More ›

Lesson Ideas
Useful resource: Comics Uniting Nations
Comics Uniting Nations aims to make the UN Sustainable Development Goals more accessible through comics. You can learn more about the partnership and its collaborators on their website. It looks like the project is inactive these days, but the site… Read More ›
Using the Global Gender Gap Report in EAL
I’ve been writing a module on gender equality recently. As part of the research, I’ve read (chunks of) the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2022: You can view/download the report here. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t come across… Read More ›
EAL support for mainstream English
What does ‘EAL support’ look like in (or alongside) mainstream English lessons. Here’s an example of some support I provide to help with literature. It was with a Year 7 class (all learners on the EAL register). They were studying… Read More ›
Retrieval starters in EAL
Just a quick one! Nothing groundbreaking here, ha! We used ‘Smart Starts’ at my last school. They called it a ‘Do It Now!’ which I thought was intense… Anyway, it was basically a retrieval task which the learners could get… Read More ›
Helping EAL learners to review subject content
In yesterday’s post, I mentioned how EAL teachers can provide opportunities for learners to use new language – whether that be in mainstream classes or in additional support slots. This post looks at how we can support EAL learners with… Read More ›
Consolidating mainstream teaching and learning in EAL lessons
Our EAL provision last year was a mix of in-class support along with some ‘additional English’ classes. When learners came to me for additional English, which in total was about two hours a week, I’d have already supported them over… Read More ›
EAL in tutor time: building word knowledge
Last term, I was asked to do a quick EAL ‘assembly’ during tutor time (15 mins max). The aims were up to me. I just went for something simple: point out patterns in language, remind learners to help each other… Read More ›
EAL Science: Command words/phrases
Just a quick share – something we’ve been doing in EAL. Our learners in KS3 and KS4 are developing their knowledge of task types, both for in-class activities and for their exams. I’m doing little ‘command word challenges’ as starters… Read More ›
Lesson idea: Population Pyramid
Our Geography teacher used Population Pyramid in class the other day. The site includes population stats for countries/regions/etc dating back to 1950. It also includes future projections, along with tons of other infographics related to mortality rates, literacy rates, migration,… Read More ›