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 ›
international school
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 ›
EAL Digest, August 2024
I’ve had some help from Adri Szlapak with this update! We’ve been adding interesting EAL stuff to a doc throughout the month. Here it all is! New releases Pedagogies for Equitable Access was released at the end of July. For… Read More ›
Leading EAL: quality assurance processes
Our senior leadership team (SLT) oversee a broad-ranging quality assurance process at our school. Here are some of the processes we have undertaken as a department to reflect on/ensure the quality of EAL provision in our context. These may seem… Read More ›
EAL INSET: Reviewing vocabulary
I put together three different EAL INSETs this year. Two were delivered to the whole high school, and one was an in-department session. Here’s a summary of the first session. Session 1: Reviewing academic vocabulary Why this session? I usually… Read More ›
EAL Digest, July 2024
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)
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 ›
DogmeEAL: ‘maths teachers’
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 ›
Implementing the Bell Assessment Framework
We’ve introduced the Bell Assessment Framework to monitor the progress of our EAL learners. Here are some early reflections on the framework and tracking tool, including some challenges arising from its implementation. Why Bell? Adri Szlapak and I are working… Read More ›
Course review: EAL Coordinators – Organising Impactful EAL Provision
Professional development courses in EAL seem few and far between to me. That’s why I jumped at the chance to take this month-long EAL Coordinator course offered through the Bell Foundation – one of the go-to organizations for EAL CPD…. Read More ›