If you missed Part 1, basically I’m attempting to build an ‘academic English syllabus’ for EAL contexts. The overall purpose is so that we don’t have to fall back on using ELT coursebooks for tiered provision. Famous last words –… Read More ›
vocabulary
EAL Digest August 2026
Shorter summary than usual, but I’ve been a bit busy! New releases The new EAL Journal from NALDIC is out: Putting Multilingualism on the Map. Find out more here. Jason Anderson and Suyog Dixit have a new book out: Translanguaging… Read More ›
EAL Digest July 2026
I never really got this update off the ground a few years back. Feels like I need to keep track of different things I come across so I’m starting it again. New releases One Asia Readers A great series of… Read More ›
Information gap activity: Endangered animals
I did an info gap activity with my Year 9 class the other day that worked well. It’s pretty similar to others I’ve done, e.g. this one about Kenya, but if it ain’t broke… Topic: Endangered animals in Thailand. The… 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 ›
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 ›
Low-prep EAL: what’s the answer?
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 ›
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 ›
Some regular EAL activities
Here are few things I do / use in my EAL practice that didn’t feature much (if at all) when I worked at the British Council. I’m just sharing for general interest and it’s actually been prompted by some of… Read More ›
ELT Planning 