We had a great turn out for the masterclass on supporting early-stage EAL learners and what mainstream staff can do.
And a huge thank you to Andy and Manny for sharing their expertise!
What we explored
We looked at how to move beyond a list of strategies for staff to use in the classroom and instead go deep on 1–2 impactful approaches.
Andy and Manny showed us how to:
Exploit meaning in tasks
Focus on sentence formation
Ensure learners leave each lesson with new language they can use
Here’s a quick takeaway for your classroom
If a task feels beyond your learner, ask yourself:
Can I limit my lesson objectives?
Can the learner consolidate vocabulary through a recycling activity?
Can I model one or two sentence patterns so they leave able to say or write something new?
Key Messages
Frustration is normal—pre-service training rarely prepares teachers for this.
Meeting EAL needs shouldn’t mean extra workload:
Avoid creating elaborate materials.
Instead, exploit what you already do in lessons
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