Strategies for supporting pupils with EAL

• Draw upon prior knowledge and cultural experiences.
• Be aware of expertise in first language and get child to help with pronunciation of words and phonetic breakdown. Ask the child to teach some words to the class.
• Teach and model correct language structures and functions and encourage child to use them.
• Clarify, simplify, rephrase, repeat, revisit and reinforce.
• Support vocabulary development. For example, word mats, banks, webs, topic banks, dictionaries, thesaurus, visuals, key vocabulary, classroom posters in dual languages.
• Build in planned opportunities for purposeful talk. For example, talk partners (first language and others), encourage and extend responses by asking probing and open ended questions and request use of taught language structures.
• Allow thinking time and check understanding.
• Use a variety of teaching aids, for example, key visuals, props, models, pictures, posters, dual language texts, culturally appropriate resources (e.g. no pigs, no cows etc), gesture, demonstration, drama and role play.
• Use scaffolds to guide thought and response. For example, prompts, cues, sentence starters, storyboards, writing frames, text and graphics.
• Label classroom displays with dual or triple language captions.
• Collaborative activities and peers support.

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