EAL – Band B

Description: The student has started to learn and use basic English but still requires significant support. They can understand simple phrases and commands and might be able to express themselves in very basic terms.

Skills: Limited vocabulary, can ask or answer simple questions, and understand some basic written or spoken English.

General

Listening

Reading

Speaking

Writing

  • Use a visual timetable 
  • Use visual aids and realia 
  • Encourage recognition of cognates 
  • Use word/phrase banks with images 
  • Use simple instructions with gestures 
  • Allow extra processing time 
  • Create opportunities for learner to speak 
  • Use writing frames and substitution tables 
  • Print materials for learners to highlight (instead of copying from board) 
  • Speak clearly at a moderate speed, using gestures and body language 
  • Repeat and rephrase key words and information 
  • Check understanding with non-verbal responses e.g. thumbs up/down 
  • Display key vocabulary with images 
  • Allow bilingual dictionaries 
  • Prep learner to contribute to class discussions 
  • Pair with supportive language role models 
  • Reinforce spelling strategies 
  • Use sentence starters 
  • Differentiate reading texts 
  • Use mini whiteboards so learners can practise writing or draw to help express  themselves 
  • Mark written work for content over language; focus on one specific language area 
  • Use visual aids and realia 
  • Use short, simple instructions with gestures 
  • Allow extra processing time 
  • Print materials for learners to highlight (instead of copying from board) 
  • Speak clearly at a moderate speed, using gestures and body language 
  • Avoide using idioms or figurative language 
  • Use fewer fillers and contractions   
  • Check understanding with non-verbal responses e.g. thumbs up/down 
  • Pair with supportive language role models 
  • Sit the learner near the front of the classroom so their view of the teacher is not obscured 
  • Give learners tasks, such as handing out books and whiteboards to other learners 
  • Play audio a few times to give learners time to familiarise themselves with a speaker’s idiolect 
  • Ask learners language and content questions about audio or video clips• Provide definitions and synonyms to any new vocabulary, including those  provided by other students 
  • Pre-teach difficult vocabulary in listening passages or videos 
  • Allow a teaching assistant or older sibling to visit the class and translate instructions into the pupil’s first language 
  • Encourage parents to turn on subtitles when watching television in English 
  • Use a visual timetable 
  • Use visual aids and realia 
  • Encourage recognition of cognates 
  • Repeat and rephrase key words and information 
  • Check understanding with non-verbal responses e.g. thumbs up/down 
  • Display key vocabulary with images and point to these when reading 
  • Allow bilingual dictionaries and English picture dictionaries 
  • Pair with supportive language role models 
  • Differentiate reading texts 
  • Read all class texts slowly 
  • Create a class library with dual language and picture books 
  • Introduce curriculum-related reading tasks 
  • Encourage reading in first language at home 
  • Allow pupils to draw illustrations for reading texts to check comprehension 
  • Use word/phrase banks with images 
  • Allow extra processing time 
  • Print materials for learners to highlight and annotate, rather than copying from the board 
  • Give learners copies of fiction and non-fiction texts to which they can add translations 
  • Ensure non-fiction texts are displayed clearly, such as using bullet points• Write clearly, ensuring letters are carefully formed, as pupils become more  comfortable with the Latin script 
  • Present images or wordless books which learners can describe and discuss 
  • Use word/phrase banks with images 
  • Allow extra processing time 
  •  Create opportunities for learners to speak 
  • Address learners by name when asking them a question 
  • Prep learner to contribute to class discussions 
  • Pair with supportive language role models 
  • Use mini whiteboards so learners can practise writing or draw to help express themselves 
  • Allow learners to respond to questions with non-verbal answers, e.g. thumbs up/ down 
  • Encourage learners to share what they have learnt and what they are working on
  • Ensure learners have the opportunity to discuss curriculum topics in their first  language with a teaching assistant or parent 
  • Teach learners survival language 
  • Allow learners to read to you or discuss a topic in their home language; check their fluency and cadence in their first language 
  • Understand which sounds may be difficult for the learner to pronounce due to differences between their first language and English 
  • Encourage learners to write words phonetically to help them with pronunciation
  • Encourage recognition of cognates 
  • Use word/phrase banks with images 
  • Allow extra processing time 
  • Use writing frames and substitution tables 
  • Allow bilingual dictionaries 
  • Pair with supportive language role models 
  • Reinforce spelling strategies 
  • Use sentence starters 
  • Use mini whiteboards so learners can practise writing or draw to help express themselves 
  • Mark written work for content over language; focus on one specific language area 
  • Provide visual stimuli for writing 
  • Create opportunities for learners to talk through their ideas before writing 
  • Allow learners to write in their first language 
  • Provide activities for learners writing in the Latin script for the first time

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