EAL pedagogy as outlined in ‘Excellence and Enjoyment: learning and teaching for bilingual children in the primary years’, (DCSF Ref 0013-2006PCK-EN) explains how EAL children become fluent in ‘basic interpersonal communicative skills’ (playground or social talk) within two to three years but it can take five years or longer to catch up with mono-lingual peers in the development of cognitive and academic language. ‘The ability to use language for academic purposes together with cognitive development (the development of thinking and learning skills) is the key to realising educational potential’ p9 Unit 1 Planning and assessment for language and learning. This document describes the planning process as a series of steps as follows:- Identify the key learning objective Establish the key skills to be developed Decide on what the children need to say in order to learn, explore, explain and define the new skill or learning. What have they used previously that they can apply to this? Clarify what the teacher needs to model Provide opportunities for the children to use the new language Practical teaching and learning strategies to support language acquisition Visuals – display sentence structures enabling children to use them as a of reference during talk based tasks. Modelling – deciding which sentence structure to use based on the context , then speak the sentence, ‘thinking aloud’ Improving the quality of talk – encourage responses that build on those of others, e.g. ‘I agree with …. because ….’ Partner and group talk – expect children to use sentence structures from previous lessons together with the given sentence structures, encourage them to question each other and develop each other’s responses. Oral rehearsal – practise orally using ‘writer’s talk’, in pairs or individually. Recording children’s talk –encourage children to listen to their own talk so as to develop and improve on it. Impact Teachers who have used this document and now plan consistently for the development of children’s language have observed the following:-
Year Group Language Structures EYFS It is…………………………… You put……………………… I / He / She ……………………………… It is………………….because………………….. This is……………………………………………. That is…………….because…………………….. The…………………..is………………………… They are / were………………………………….. When…………………………………………….. Year 1 I……………………… because……………………. When I……………….because……………………. After I…………………………………………….. How………………….. Why…………………. When………………. Sometimes incorporating sequence language structures. Year 2 I………………….because……………………. When I ………………..because……………….. After I…………………………………………… The……………………..because………………… We/They………………because………………… How………….Why………………..Where………………..When………………………. Year 3 How………………………….. Why………………………….. Where……………………….. When…………………………
The Language of Retelling – Events and telling First I……………….. First we………………….. Then……………….. And then………………………………………….. What did you do first? Then what happened? ………………………..happened first. Next…………………….happened. Then……………….happened. ……………………………happened last. Next…………….and……………..happened. At the end………………………happened. ………………………….happened in the beginning. ………………………….happened in the middle. ………………………….happened in the end. The Language of Sequencing First…………………. Next……………… Then…………………. that………………………….. …….and then……………………. ……………………..happened first. Next…………………….happened. Then........................…...happened. ……………………..happened last. It is…………………….because…………… It is……………………………
Progression in language structures- YEAR 3 Tower Hamlets EMA team in collaboration with Tower Hamlets teachers The Language of Argument – Agreement and Disagreement An argument for is………. Because….. An argument against is…….because….. I understand however / due to / but / therefore ……… I accept your decision however I feel / believe….. Because / as / due / to…… The Language of Comparison and Contrasting ……. and…………..are both……………………… ………………….and…..are alike in that……………….. ………………….and……………..are similar because…………… ………………….and…………..are different in that……………. ………………….is…………….but…………………is……………
The reason………………… is that………………… / ………….is due to……. The Language of Hypothesis - a suggestion that to explain something, based on evidence It is true that……………………………. Can we prove that………………………. In conclusion……………………………. I would like to prove / disprove……….. Perhaps the reason is …… The Language of Opinion Therefore / In my opinion / I believe He considers… It is my opinion that………….however others believe………………. The Language of Prediction - Predicting I predict that…………….. I believe / I think………might / or…………………. If………. then………………. X has happened, therefore I think………………… The Language of Retelling – Events and telling First, Next, Then, After that, Finally…. ‘What happened next?’ ‘What did….?’ The Language of Sequencing Meanwhile……………………………………….. Following this / that……………………………. In the beginning…………………………………