Tuesday 31st January saw the launch of Phase 2 of our National Project ‘EAL in the Mainstream Classroom’ in partnership with Challenge Partners and Lampton school. This 2 year Project focuses on improving the academic language of EAL pupils and on supporting classroom teachers. The aim is to share practical ideas and resources that benefit not only EAL pupils but also the whole class. The EAL Project is being funded by the Education Endowment Foundation, the Bell Foundation and Unbound Philanthropy.
Although the target curriculum on the course is History and Science, Phase 1 participants reported that the materials and strategies are being applied in every subject.
The launch conference heard positive feedback from a Phase 1 school, Ninestiles in Birmingham, which gave all those staff involved in Phase 2 an enthusiastic start.
“A really superb day with four or five immediately applicable ideas” (Ninestiles)
“The materials were accessible and the pace of the day enabled staff to assimilate the information” (Ninestiles)
The following 6 schools are EAL Project delivery centres and will play a key role in cascading the training to a further 10 schools each.
St Matthias in Wolverhampton
The Earls High in Dudley
Ackland Grange in Middlesborough
George Spencer in Nottingham
St Edmunds In Portsmouth
Lampton School
Comment from Louise at York University who are evaluating the project:
‘This research is in directly influencing classroom practice and the learning and teaching process. What a fantastic opportunity for academics, teachers and pupils!’
For more information about this project follow this link http://www.challengepartners.org/eal-mainstream-classroom
To find out how to be an how to be an evaluation school contact Sasha Maisel (sasha.maisel@challengepartners.org) at Challenge Partners or get in touch with Rehana Ahmed (rehana.ahmed@ealhls.org.uk) at Hounslow Language Service.