Comment from a reader on my recent post about the Assessment Only route: Here are some general tips on compiling your D5 record of standards doc for the AO route through Sunderland, with some screenshots of mine included for reference…. Read More ›
eal
A unit from our EAL syllabus
At my school, we have created a bespoke English syllabus for learners on our KS3 EAL pathway. This may not sound like an ‘ideal’ model of EAL provision to you – and fair enough. Ideals are subjective – provision is… Read More ›
Cover letters for international school jobs
How do you approach writing a cover letter/supporting statement for international school roles? Here’s what I do – I’ll explain it with some examples from previous applications… Step 1a: Research the school. Get a genuine sense for the mission, ethos… Read More ›
Embedding EAL in-class support
When we set up our EAL department last year we started with one HoD, one EAL teacher, and two EAL support coaches. As the HoD, I teach an 80% timetable. Our teacher has a full timetable. Our coaches oversee about… Read More ›
EAL response to literature displays
I recently mentioned how our learners created a final display board in response to a unit on poetry. Here’s a screenshot of what our common assessment checklist looked like for the final product: I could scrutinize here – there’s room… Read More ›
ChatGPT experiments: New unit intros (IGCSE ESL)
Luiz Octávio Barros was asking about scripts we feed ChatGPT the other day. I mentioned this: Which is a very boring example of an (over the word count) type IGCSE ESL text I generate for correction practice. I’m not *massively*… Read More ›
Conventional, common-sense vocabulary and grammar instruction (Boers)
Boers (2021) outlines six explicit vocabulary and grammar teaching practices that are backed up by research. He does so almost apologetically, noting that most of the practices align with more traditional/conventional methods, and that they also seem ‘commonsensical’. I lack… Read More ›
One of our research areas is missing
I’ve been flicking through Jamie Clark’s Teaching One-Pagers recently, and overall I’m a big fan. Evidence-informed summaries of research and practice – informative, accessible, perfect for the staffroom coffee table. As Oliver Caviglioli points out in the foreword, One-Pagers is… Read More ›
Pre-teaching academic vocabulary
This term we’re trialing an approach to pre-teaching academic vocabulary. Here’s the basic process: Step 1: Subject teachers identify 10-12 items of key vocab for an upcoming topic in either science, humanities, or maths. This should happen a couple of… Read More ›
Using the Bell Assessment Framework in hybrid EAL provision
I’ve written a few things on the Bell Assessment Framework this past year. Here were my initial reflections on implementing the framework, and some musings on how it could be improved. In this post, I share some thoughts on using… Read More ›
ELT Planning 