ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE

Welcome to today’s professional workshop

WHAT IS EALEAL- English as an Additional LanguageThe Australian Curriculum provides a large insight and helpful advice concerning EAL

learners and what actions and procedures need to be in place when you are the teacher

of EAL learners. This includes:

advise about areas of the curriculum that EAL students may find challenging and why

assist classroom teachers to identify where their EAL students are broadly positioned on

a progression of English language learning

help teachers understand students’ cultural and linguistic diversity, and the ways this

understanding can be used in the classroom

provide examples of teaching strategies supportive of EAL students

direct teachers to additional relevant and useful support for teaching EAL Students

( ACARA, 2014)

EAL Punctuation

Text structures

Phrase verbs

Gestures and body language

Colour in text

phonemes (sounds)

Morphemic

Different languages

logographic languages e.g.- Chinese

Syllabic languages- Korean

Different alphabetic scripts- Russian

These are all issues that EAL students struggle with and you as

teachers need to be aware of these particularly within the English

Content Descriptors

(ACARA, 2014)

SOCIO-CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE

As teachers it is critical that when we have EAL students in our classroom we

research and understand their culture, respecting this culture and understanding that

this child’s home life and upbringing can be different from our Australian culture.

In other cultures there are different ways in which they live. For example:

•Vietnam- the males particularly the oldest male is the head of the house and the

most important member

•They are superstitious particularly with funerals, marriages and moving to a new

house

•the mother takes care of the children, cooking and cleaning.

•Parents choose who their child will marry

Does anyone have or have had a EAL student in their class and faced some

implications with socio-culture that they would like to share with us?

L1 AND L2L1 is known as Language 1, the dominate language

spoken by an individual person.

This is the most used language spoken therefore it is

used and understood the most.

L2 is the non-dominate language spoken by an

individual.

This is the language least spoken, for some students

this may be English. These students are known as our

EAL students

ACTIVITY- COMMUNICATIVE

The Communicative Activity:Children are to work in pairs on the carpet. Every student is to have a clipboard with a ‘tent’ picture (landscape) on it with coloured pencils for each pair. Students are not to show each other their pictures until the end.Teacher to explain to student’s that to draw the picture they need to listen to what each other say.Each pair get a set of instructions on what to draw, students take it in turn to say instruction.Student A- Draw a tree behind the tent.

Draw an esky near the entrance of the tent.Draw a fire in the bottom right hand corner.

Student B- Draw a picnic bench on the right side of the tent.Draw two people sitting at the picnic bench. Draw a car on the left of the tent.

Continue through instructions until picture is finished.

To see how well this activity actually works, you asteachers are now going to partner up and see how you go. Think about how this might help EAL students or what might need to be changed to make it more suitable. 

THEORISTSVygotsky- emphasised the importance of relationships and interactions between children and

more knowledgeable peers and adults Cognitive understanding grows when influenced by teacher/ parent Students not seen as learning on their own, learn through social interactions

through communication. Language is a major influence in the development of a students thinking process when students are actively involved in their own learning, their ability to

communicate with others strengthens. Cognitive development therefore grows when language is developed through learning

and teaching

Piaget- Explains the importance of an interactive environment that students are able to

explore through their active learning

Chomsky- Shows that when students begin to hear the language around them, they are then

able to understand after a time the structure of that language. With more influence, hearing the language spoken more and more students are

able to learn the language within the environment (Centre for Learning Innovation, 2006)

STRATEGIESWhen teaching EAL students strategies need to be in place that benefit

the student. Every student will have different needs and different ways of

learning so your resources as a teacher to help with their learning of

English needs to be individual so that the best outcome occurs.

There are specialist EAL teachers that are available for EAL students.

These support teachers work with the classroom teacher to assist EAL

students transitioning to a new culture and language (Queensland

Government, 2014).

As a teacher it is important when teaching EAL students to:o Use gestures and facial expressionso Provide lots of hands on materials during learningo Speak clearly and pauseo Write down key ideas so they are visibleo Repeat key phrases in different wayso Ask if there are any questions or what they understand so far (Williams, n.d)

Question: What strategies have you put in place that have helped one

of your students?

INCLUSIVE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT

Generally other students in the class are amazing with helping out the EAL learners, however as teachers these following ideas will make for a wonderful inclusive environment:

Teach the whole class about your EAL students country and culture and even some of the basic language

An environment where the learner feels secure and are prepared to take risks Support and value learners’ languages and cultures Build on knowledge, skills and understandings that students bring to the

learning context Use themes and topics that interest the EAL learner Expose EAL students to Australia culture and society Have communicative activities that can be understood by EAL student Teach the skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing Have activities that require pair and group work provide meaningful learning contexts Use visual aide whenever possible Have a word wall with meanings Adapt assessment tasks to EAL students language abilities (Edublogs, 2014)

CLASSROOM SETUPFor EAL students who are just beginning to learn English, a

classroom that is set up with many visual clues will only

enhance their learning. A classroom that:

Everything is clearly labelled with the word and picture- able

to develop what the word is from the picture (e.g.- blocks,

paper, glue etc)

Posters with numbers, shapes, alphabet and objects

displayed all around the room

Quiet corner where EAL (or all students) can go to have

some quiet, thinking time or to work individually

without distraction

LITERACY ASPECTS One on one- explicit teaching taking place where the EAL student is provided

with teacher understanding and guidance on meaning of story

Predictable books- encourage children responses, able to see the events of the

story taking place and join in

Shared Reading- provides scaffolding to develop knowledge on how each page

works to represent story

Small groups- able to ask questions, predict events and personal contributions

without the whole class fear

Whole class reading- read books that rhyme, so students can see the

sequencing of the rhyming and join in with the rest of class

Nursery Rhymes/ songs- so that EAL students learn a song/ nursery rhyme and

with the rest of the class are able to join in and participate with these

activities(Neuman & Roskos, Ch 3, 1993)

FOUR PHASES OF EALAs teachers with an EAL student it is crucial for them to acknowledge what level their English language is. These phases are not age defined, rather the students knowledge of language. These four language learning phases include: Beginning English- of students 1st language they have

limited literacy knowledge. Limited Literacy Background (subsection)- behaviors

of reading, writing and viewing to understand students that have little or no literacy knowledge in any language.

Emerging English- students with growing English competency of oral language and print literacy.

Developing English- English print literacy and oral language is developing

Consolidating English- academic language is growing and written and spoken English language is of a sound level

(ACARA, 2011)

USEFUL ACTIVITIES

What makes activities useful for EAL students and how can we as teachers be sure

that the students are benefitting from them.

o Colourful

o Pictures

o Not too many words

o Able to be clarified with a teacher

o Can work on their own, partners, small groups or whole class

o At the individual child's level

Useful activities can include:

•Word/ picture bingo

• Matching game- word to picture

• Provided sentence to then draw- e.g. The black cat sat under the big tree.

• Fill in the gaps story- have the characters and setting etc blanked out for the EAL student to

then fill in

• Flash cards

• Rhyming words activity

• Multiple choice activities

• (communicative) Layout of a shopping centre- students ask each other questions to work out

where each shop is within the complex

ACTIVITYAlphabetic Bingo- teacher can say a word and students put counter on the first letter of that word. This activity can be used for EAL students early on in their English learning, however it could also be used in prep/ grade 1 with the whole class. This activity helps EAL students with sound to letter recognition.

Alphabetic Flashcards- teacher can use these as letter/ picture to word knowledge. Show students card and ask what the picture is and what letter that is. Can modify flash cards to just letter, then ask students what letter it is and a word that then starts with this letter.

ONLINE ACTIVITIES For online activities make sure you EAL student has knowledge

on how to word computers to be able to do the activities or teach them the skills necessary to work the programs.

These following programs are great for EAL students: ESL Games Plus ESL Kid StuffAnd programs that Teachers need to register for: Skwirk Letterland Although these websites are great resources and teaching

tools for EAL students, each teacher needs to thoroughly go through the website and choose what activities they want their EAL students to complete. Some activities may or may not be relevant for the unit of work in which your class is studying or some activities might not be beneficial for the individual student.

LETTERLAND PROGRAM

Letterland ESL Program

This program in an Internationally used program specific for ESL or EAL students. This program teaches EAL students knowledge of shapes and sounds of the English language. It also teaches basic English vocabulary, listening and speaking skills. This program is designed to teach specifically English as a additional language.

This program contains the following resources:• ELT Teacher's Guide- It supports an activity and/or a book

and CD approach to teaching, and useful activities that reinforce and extend vocabulary.

• ELT Student Book and CD- brightly coloured pages to invite interactivity, with pronunciation models on CD.

• ELT Handwriting Book - useful aid to handwriting practice as children progress from tracing to independent writing using this pictogram approach to letter formation.

• ELT Workbook- includes pair work activities and games to make teaching more effective.

(EdSource, 2014)

IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER

Keep records and know how your EAL child’s learning

is developing and what extra measures can be done

Introduce new activities that are engaging and help

the individual student- find out what this child is

interested in and base some activities around this

Try to know what is going on at home, keep the

parents up to date (if their English ability permits this).

Try to learn a few words from your EAL student’s 1st

language (L1), just to show that you care about them

and are interested in them

CONCLUSIONAs a teacher, every lesson needs to be accommodated

for all your students- the highflyers, those struggling and

also your EAL students.

Our country is rapidly changing and people are coming

to live in Australia from all over the world, there is bound

to be an EAL student come through your classroom at

one time or another, it is critical to know and understand

how to teach these students so they are able to learn.

Thank you so much for listening and I hope you gained

some knowledge on EAL learners today.

REFERENCE LIST ACARA (2011). English as an Additional Language or Dialect: Teacher Resource. Retrieved from

http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/EALD_Resource_-_EALD_Learning_Progression.pdf

Briggs, F., & Potter, G. (1999). The Early Years of School: Teaching and Learning(3rd ed.). Addison Wesley Longman.

Edublogs (2014). Learning & Teaching in an ESL Inclusive Classroom. Retrieved from eslintheclassroom.edublogs.org/

English as an Additional Language or Dialect Teacher Resource. Annotated Content Descriptions English Foundation to Year 10 . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/EALD_Learning_Area_Annotations_English_Revised_February_2014.pdf

ACARAEnglish as an Additional Language or Dialect Teacher Resource. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/EALD_Overview_and_Advice_revised_February_2014.pdf

EdSource (2014). Letterland - Letterland ESL Programme Resources. Retrieved from http://www.letterland.com.au/Teachers/ESLEFL-Teaching/Letterland-ESL-Programme-Resources

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Groundwater, S., Cusworth, R., & Dobbins, R. (1998). Teaching Challenges and Dilemmas. Harcourt Brace & Company.

Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K. (1993). Language and literacy learning in the early years: An integrated approach. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

New Foundland Labrador, Education (2009). Classroom Accommodations for ESL and ELD Students. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov.nl.ca/edu/k12/curriculum/guides/esl/classroom_accommodations.pdf

Promoting Cultural Sensitivity: Vietnamese Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/guidestoolkits/ethnographicguides/vietnam/chapters/chapter2.pdf

Queensland Government, Education Queensland (2014). Supporting students with additional education needs. Retrieved from http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/about/support.html#english

Ramsay, N. (2014). ESL-Kids - Flashcards, Worksheets, Games and Songs. Retrieved from http://esl-kids.com/

SIL International (n.d.). First Language-based education for non-dominant language speakers: Issues and challengers. Retrieved from http://www.rnld.org/sites/default/files/K_Kosonen_Oct_09_Presentation_AUSIL.pdf

Skwirk Online Education (2013). Retrieved from http://www.skwirk.com.au/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=teaching&Network=Search&kw=teaching%20activities&SiteTarget=&utm_nooverride=1

State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, Centre for Learning Innovation (2006). A basic introduction to child development theories. Retrieved from http://lrrpublic.cli.det.nsw.edu.au/lrrSecure/Sites/LRRView/7401/documents/theories_outline.pdf

Vietnamese Customs. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.vietnam-culture.com/zones-3-1/Vietnamese-Customs.aspx

Williams, M., (n.d.). Supporting ESL Students in Inclusive Classrooms. Retrieved from https://suite.io/margaret-m-williams/22v32at