We were pleased to be able to continue to develop our relationship with The Adviser for Vulnerable Pupils in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. In December, Rehana Ahmed (HLS) in consultation with Martine planned bespoke EAL Beginner sessions for Primary and Secondary schools on Zoom. These webinars enabled a number of teaching staff from different schools to have access to top quality training online.
Following these sessions, Manny Vazquez (HLS) visited St Cyres a secondary school in Wales and they booked further training for 2022 via zoom on 4th January. The first whole school session focused on Developing Academic Literacy. The aim was to provide staff with helpful in-class strategies for more Advanced EAL students across the curriculum. Using examples from Maths, Science, English, Geography, etc. participants were reminded of the practical ways into academic language through a wide range of useful key visuals. These included the language of cause and effect, compare and contrast, describe and classify.
This successful and enjoyable school session was followed by a specific webinar for the English Department. The focus was on planning approaches with a range of texts and activities, included macro and micro scaffolding. Strategies included using sorting and matching and helping students build noun phrases for descriptive writing. The aim was to make a difference for the EAL students whilst enriching the range of language for all students.
Then, at Llantwit School, Manny delivered an interactive webinar covering the range of EAL pupils from Beginners to Advanced. Ideas included strategies for assessment and provision for the specific needs of EAL pupils in the mainstream. The focus was on organizing content and exploiting patterns of language through substitution tables, modelling language and using a matrix to scaffold specialist language. Manny stressed the need to build the context of the lesson, the reminders of past learning, the preparation with useful connecting words and phrases. Manny also visited Cowbridge school in Wales on the 25th Janaury to work with TAs and staff in the English department.
Following these sessions, we were recommended to another team in Bridgend, Wales. Here, we are working in partnership with Hebah Price – Senior Education and Engagement Coordinator for Bridgend-Wales, A successful full day assessment session for her EAL team was delivered in November and, in January, we provided a another full day on Assessment and EAL strategies, for schools in the Bridgend area. Any schools that missed this will have a session later in the term.
We enjoy working with Borough and County teams to build the expertise of all teachers, NQTs, SLTs and TAs. We look forward to hearing from any school training coordinators who would like to discuss this approach for their school/s.