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Anyone in the world

By Hampshire EMTAS Bilingual Assistant Eva Molea

In Diary of an EAL Mum, Eva Molea shares the ups and downs of her experience bringing up her daughter, Alice, in the UK. In this instalment, Eva tries to understand ability grouping in secondary school settings. 


Imagine it was July, and you were sitting in the garden on a sunny afternoon, with your cup of tea and a lovely book, engrossed in your reading. Everything was great, and you were looking forward to an idle couple of hours until you had to taxi your child to their afterschool club. Hold on to this dream as long as you can…

Imagine that said child came back very upset from school because she had been told that, next year, she would not be able to be in the highest set in Spanish unless she was in the highest set in Maths too. I don't particularly enjoy (aka hate) Maths and I wish she had taken other virtues after me, but hey-oh!

My dream couple of hours vanished as I straightened up on my chair and tried to make sense of what Alice was telling me. It seemed that, from Year 8 onwards, the school would be grouping children according to their abilities, and that some subjects would be bundled together. Therefore, if a child happened to be brilliant in one subject, but not so shiny in the other one, they would be put in the group (= set) of the less shiny subject.

My first reaction was: This is crazy! One of us must have not understood correctly. Check again.

My second reaction was: This is unfair and penalising – with all the self-confidence and self-esteem consequences, especially after the pandemic – whereas the children should be praised for their abilities and efforts.

I tried to think of the information in the school prospectus, of all the things that my friends with older children at the same school had told me, looked at the school policies but could not find an answer, so I decided to write to the school.

I blamed poor Alice because “she certainly had misunderstood what she had been told and it would not be fair to penalise her in Spanish because of her results in Maths”. Spanish and Maths sounded like a strange matching.

Anyway, less than 2 hours later I received a phone call from the Head of Maths (!) who had kindly made time to talk to me about my email. He explained that for the first time, the following academic year, the school would be trying a different type of subject association which saw Maths with MFL, and English with Science. He also explained that to be in the highest set, Alice would have needed high marks at the last tests. Before calling me, he had discussed Alice’s attainment with the Head of MFL, who had confirmed her being an able linguist, which is often the case with bilingual children. Even so, she might have gone down a set because of her attainment in Maths. My understanding was that there were also some timetabling issues involved.

I was very confused. Like many EAL parents, I had been educated in a different system, where children are taught in mixed abilities groups from Year 1 to Year 13, classes are up to 30 children, every child has favourite subjects or is confident in some areas more than in others, and children learn from each other, and from each other’s mistakes as well. Therefore, I was not prepared for this kind of grouping, and wished I had known before, as it would have given us the chance to put in place some support for Alice so that she could feel more confident with her Maths.

I did ask why parents, especially the EAL ones, were not informed about the grouping system and it seemed that nobody had ever raised the issue. So far. The lovely gentlemen said that he would discuss with the SLT how to communicate more clearly with parents.

Needless to say, I was none the wiser after this conversation, because even if I could in part understand the school’s reasons, I still felt that the children were not being treated fairly.

A lot of questions sprang to my mind: would Alice be able to move from one set to the other if her attainment improved? And would she be able to move from one set to another during the academic year or would she need to wait to be in Year 9 to be in the higher set? Would moving up in Maths automatically mean that she would move up in Spanish too? And what if she moved down? And what if she wasn’t appropriately challenged in a lower set?

At this point, my curiosity had been ignited, so I did a little research about different types of grouping in secondary school.

I looked at the
EMTAS Position Statement on the placement of EAL learners, which clearly explains that the language barrier might not allow students to demonstrate their full knowledge or abilities and, funnily enough, Maths is the only subject in which Alice still thinks in Italian.

The position statement highlights that EAL learners might understands ideas or concepts in first language, including those which are more abstract and complex, and be confidently able to demonstrate this understanding in their first language. However, when asked to demonstrate this understanding in English, they might lack the necessary language of instruction to fully understand the task they are being asked to complete. Equally, they might not have a sufficient command of English vocabulary or language structures to be able to convey their understanding to school staff or peers.

According to the Position Statement, a thorough EAL assessment would be needed to find out the knowledge and ability of a child in first language and it would be good to discuss any decisions about grouping/setting/streaming with the learner and their parents/carers, who might not be familiar with the UK education system and how decisions on grouping are taken.

I did further research on setting and streaming and the outcome will be part of an new piece of work EMTAS is doing on EAL Parents FAQ.

Fortunately, a few days after my conversation with the Head of Maths, I received an email saying that Alice had done really well in her last Maths test and, therefore, she would be placed in the highest sets in both subjects. I was very pleased for her. She was safe for this year but would have to work very hard in Maths to remain in the highest set. Obviously, I set Dad on a mission to find the best maths revision guides and exercise books, so that Alice could have a little extra practice every now and then, and kindly asked him to
patiently instil his love for Maths in our daughter (after all he is an engineer, offspring of a Maths teacher). Patiently being the key word here, I can see a Maths tutor coming our way. ?

[ Modified: Monday, 6 June 2022, 2:23 PM ]

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    Anyone in the world

    By EMTAS Specialist Teacher Advisor Lynne Chinnery 


    With an average of one in six pupils in UK schools learning English as an Additional Language (EAL), every student teacher will unquestionably need a solid understanding of EAL pedagogy and how to apply it in the classroom. But how important is EAL these days? You may have noticed a distinct lack of focus on EAL in the OFSTED Inspection Framework but there is at least a mention in the DfE’s Teachers’ Standards. Does this mean that an understanding of EAL good practice is no longer as important for practitioners as it used to be? Is EAL support and training no longer required apart from a cursory nod?

    Clearly not, as the number of EAL learners in our schools is increasing, not declining. The Bell Foundation states that, “nearly half of all teachers in England will be teaching pupils from diverse backgrounds, and superdiversity in schools is becoming the norm.” This is no surprise to the Hampshire EMTAS team as our number of EAL referrals and requests for support continues to grow.


    In fact, schools sought our support for a total of 30 different languages in March alone! It is therefore rather worrying that EAL is a key area flagged up by both student teachers and newly-qualified teachers as one they feel the least prepared in.

    In a study by The Bell Foundation and the University of Edinburgh (Foley et al, 2018), a third of student teachers reported that they had “little” or “little to no” understanding of how to support the language and literacy needs of their EAL learners.  And although the majority of trainees understood that teachers had a responsibility for EAL, approximately one half of them said that they had received no EAL input at all during their school placements. It was even found that the teacher trainers themselves lacked confidence in their own knowledge and experience of EAL. This is despite the fact that standard five in the Teachers’ Standards states that teachers must “have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils … including those with EAL” and “be able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them.”  

    Furthermore, the National Curriculum Statutory Guidance (2014, Section 4.5) clearly states that teachers must ‘take account of the needs of pupils whose first language is not English’, showing that EAL should be an important component of teacher education programmes. EAL is not a separate subject, but rather a pedagogy that should be considered throughout the curriculum, and needs to be taught as a distinct discipline to ensure its theory, practice and strategies are understood. Students’ training courses can differ greatly from region to region and the opportunities for EAL experience will depend very much on the schools they are placed in and the training provided on their course, all of which seem to be rather hit and miss. 

    Some areas that were lacking in Initial Teacher Training (ITT) programmes were identified in the Bell Foundation/Edinburgh University study and they include:
    - understanding the value and use of home languages in the classroom
    - the need for student teachers to expand their own knowledge about other languages and their differences
    - developing understanding of the cognitive and emotional demands of moving between languages
    - learning to apply their EAL theory and practice across all subjects and levels. 

    I was particularly surprised that understanding the value of other languages in the classroom was identified as one of the missing areas. It seems to me that promoting the first language is one of the key elements of good EAL practice and the responsibility of every school. Without it, we are ignoring a significant part of an EAL learner’s life and identity, as well as missing out on a valuable resource right there in the classroom. (If you would like ideas and resources to support the use of the first language across the curriculum, see the section Use of First and Other Languages on our Moodle.)

    Whatever EAL training is put in place for ITTs, it will need to continue and be built upon as teachers enter their first years of teaching and beyond. The NQT programme was replaced with the Early Careers Framework (ECF) in September 2021 and this phase extended to two years. The Early Career Teachers (ECTs) will have support from a dedicated mentor as well as time off timetable for induction activities and training, in the hope that fewer of them will leave the profession during their induction period. The DfE are also hoping that the ECF will build on the ITT and “become the cornerstone of a successful career in teaching”.

    Yet once again, we have a discrepancy between what is expected and what is taught. The new ECF is closely aligned to the Teachers’ Standards, and yet makes no reference to EAL, which means that as long as the training providers stick to the ECT programme, the inclusion of EAL is discretionary. And so it would seem that the EAL training provided in the ECF could be as ad hoc as that in the ITT.

    The last annual DfE survey of NQTs (which was pre-Covid) showed that many were concerned about their ability to teach EAL. I doubt much has changed since then. In her article How well prepared to teach EAL learners do teachers feel? Emily Starbuck says that “NQTs have consistently given this aspect of their training the lowest rating.” In fact, most of those questioned reported having had little or no training on their ITT to enable them to meet the needs of EAL learners. They also felt that it would be difficult to improve their practice due to a lack of external guidance; many stating that CPD opportunities and school support in the field of EAL were unavailable. As one teacher in the survey said, “Most of the training was geared towards mainstream.”

    The Bell Foundation report clearly states that in order for all teachers to be prepared to meet the needs of EAL learners, Initial Teacher Education should not be seen as a separate component in a teacher’s career but should be viewed as the first step in their continuing professional development. It is therefore important that the groundwork on EAL taught to trainee teachers in the ITT stage is built upon as they progress through their careers.

    Why then is EAL not being addressed more in Initial Teacher Training (ITT) programmes and the ECF? Without knowledge of best-practice principles in the field of EAL and guidance on how to apply them, student teachers and early career teachers are more likely to make poor or uninformed decisions when faced with learners who are new to English as well as more advanced EAL  learners. Some examples the EMTAS team have seen include the deceleration of students, unnecessary withdrawal from the classroom and the use of inappropriate resources. Inexperienced students and teachers are also more likely to judge a student’s ability from their spoken communication (BICS), and therefore fail to provide enough support with their academic and literacy skills (CALP). (To understand BICS and CALP, watch this: Terms to Know: BICS and CALP.)  

      
        

    Newly-qualified and student teachers will need ideas and strategies that they can use to scaffold the curriculum content for their EAL learners; an hour-long session on ‘the basics’ of EAL is not going to suffice. With this in mind, I have been working with my colleagues at Hampshire EMTAS on an in-depth ITE and ECF training programme to fill this potential void and deliver up-to-date training. Using the pedagogy of EAL to guide the trainees, but with practical ideas for EAL support in the classroom, we hope that our training programme will give the attendees the confidence they need.

    We hope that the termly training sessions will run as a steady progression from Initial Teacher Training right through to the end of the Early Career Teacher programme. The training will consist of a set of modules, based on the findings of The Bell Foundation's recent research, but using strategies, resources and ideas from across the Hampshire EMTAS Teacher Team. Each session is designed to be as interactive as possible, with plenty of group activities and discussion, so that the trainees have the opportunity to share their experiences in the classroom and learn from each other. This will have the additional benefit of promoting the value of collaborative work by having the trainees experience it for themselves.

    There will be a reflective journal to accompany the course so that the ITTs and ECTs can review their learning and thoughts from each session, as well as plan strategies to explore once back in the classroom. Some of the areas that will be included in the training are:
    - understanding the stages of language development such as the silent period
    - ways to include the EAL learner in the classroom and scaffold their learning
    - collaborative work and setting/grouping
    - knowing how to advise parents on bilingualism/multilingualism
    - assessment, tracking and planning for EAL.

    We also ensure that student teachers and ECTs are made aware of appropriate, up-to-date resources and where to find them. 

    By equipping students and teachers with the knowledge and strategies they need, I hope that they will view EAL in a similar way to Sheila Hopkins: 'multilingualism should be seen as a valuable resource and an integral part of a child’s identity, rather than as a hindrance'.

    I will continue to work and build on the training course and hope to share my progress once I'm done – although as we all know from Kolb’s Learning Cycle, a teacher’s work, just like a student’s, is never really “done.”
     
    References

    Naldic (2016) EAL Learners in Schools

    The Bell Foundation (2018) University of Edinburgh Research Report, English as an Additional Language and Initial Teacher Education

    Department for Education (2021) Teachers’ Standards in England
    The Bell Foundation (2019) University of Edinburgh Executive Summary, English as an Additional Language and Initial Teacher Education

    The Bell Foundation (2020) Designing New ITE Curricula: EAL Content Recommendations

    DfE (2019) Early Career Framework

    DfE (2018) Newly Qualified Teachers: Annual Survey, 2018 Research Report
    Hamish Chalmers (2018) How well prepared to teach EAL learners do teachers feel?

    Sheila Hopkins (2022) Supporting trainee teachers to teach EAL pupils

    Hampshire EMTAS Guidance Library


    [ Modified: Monday, 16 May 2022, 11:45 AM ]

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      Anyone in the world

      Written by Helen Smith, Lynne Chinnery and Sarah Coles, all of the Hampshire EMTAS Specialist Teacher Advisor team, this blog presents the latest addition to the suite of EMTAS e-learning modules, 'Developing Culturally Inclusive Practice in Early Years Settings'. The new module is aimed at practitioners working in Early Years settings with children and families for whom English is an Additional Language (EAL), or who are from Gypsy, Roma & Traveller (GRT) or Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) backgrounds. 



      The EYFS Statutory Framework states that “providers have a responsibility to ensure positive attitudes to diversity and difference. Not only so that every child is included and not disadvantaged, but also so that they learn from the earliest age to value diversity in others and grow up making a positive contribution to society”.  The themes of inclusion and diversity pinpointed in this statement form the foundation on which the EMTAS Early Years e-learning module sits.


      Why Early Years e-learning?

      Practitioners in Early Years settings often wonder if what they’re doing for the EAL, GRT and BME children in their care is good practice, as inclusive of the needs of all children and their families as possible.  Elsewhere, in settings that don’t have any children from these backgrounds – few and far between these days - work in this area is recognised as equally important.  Yet it can be a challenge to find affordable guidance and training to help develop practitioners’ knowledge and understanding of their inclusion brief, without which they may not feel entirely confident when it comes to delivering fully inclusive practice in settings.

      There are many questions practitioners might have about their contributions towards the diversity and inclusion agenda.  For instance, what advice should they give families whose home language is not English?  Should they tell them to carry on speaking their home language(s) to their child or swap to English instead?  The answer to this one is that parents/carers should carry on using their strongest language with their child.  It really doesn’t matter what that language is; young children can cope with more than one language from an early age and for parents to continue using the home language whilst their child gained exposure to English in an Early Years setting would be one way of raising a child bilingually (there are others).  It is also the best way of ensuring that the child develops secure language skills whilst at the same time staying in touch with their cultural and linguistic identity. 

      For some children, coming into an Early Years setting can bring many new experiences they have to learn to manage.  For GRT children used to an ordered, uncluttered home environment, the setting might seem chaotic and overwhelming with its bright colours, numerous toys and messy play.  GRT children may have played outside a lot and may therefore find being indoors sitting still at an activity very challenging.  The e-learning explains this and other aspects of GRT cultures so that practitioners can grow their understanding of how best to support GRT children attending their setting. 

      Other children may come with limited or no experience of being in an English-speaking environment.  Accustomed to being spoken to in Urdu or Dari or Polish at home, this can be disconcerting and can result in some children becoming silent in the setting, especially at the beginning – which in turn can be a cause for concern to practitioners and parents alike.  The e-learning will help staff better understand things like the ‘silent period’ as well as know what to do to support a child through it.

      The term “Black and Minority Ethnic” is more comprehensive and generally encompasses a much broader sweep of children and families, not all of whom will speak another language or have lived in another country.  The issues around diversity that staff in settings need to consider in relation to BME children may arise out of language differences, cultural differences, religious differences and/or differences relating to ethnic identity.  Images on display in a setting should positively reflect diversity, especially so in settings where the majority population is white.  Think also about the books used for story telling; do they include pictures of different kinds of families or of children of different ethnicities?  Have you thought about choosing stories that don’t focus on pigs if you work with Muslim families?  Or stories that reflect some of the home experiences of your GRT children?  If this all seems a bit overwhelming, take heart; the e-learning will help guide you through the diversity maze and empower you to make some carefully considered choices when it comes to provision in your setting.


      Towards a more holistic view of the unique child

      Cultural and/or language barriers can mask what children are able to do, hiding their interests, skills, abilities and home experiences from staff in settings.  Yet it’s really important that practitioners make efforts to find out what children bring with them to the setting.  This can help staff better tailor provision so each child receives the best experience from their attendance. 

      Completing the e-learning will support practitioners to explore and understand what the features of a truly inclusive setting are. This will in turn help them develop their own practice so they give the best start to all their children.

       
      Getting started

      Try doing a learning walk around your setting with another member of staff.  Ask yourselves if what you see reflects the diversity that exists in the wider world.  Do the books you share with children include different languages and images of people from diverse backgrounds?  Do you have cooking utensils from other cultural traditions in your home corner?  What about the clothing in the dressing-up box? 

      If you’re not sure where to begin with a learning walk like this, the EMTAS Early Years e-learning can help.  It presents guidance and information about a range of issues related to inclusion and diversity using images, short pieces of text and interactive activities like the one shown below. 



      Screen shot of an interactive activity from the Early Years e-learning module

      Included in the module is a checklist practitioners can use to evaluate practice and provision in their setting.  It will support you to develop an action plan appropriate to your own children, staff and setting, so any developmental work you undertake will be focused and meaningful, delivering positive change.  It also signposts you to further sources of guidance and to resources you might use with children in your setting, many of which are free.

      Contact EMTAS to discuss how to gain access to the Early Years e-learning for staff in your setting.  The price varies according to the number of registrations you need.

       
      Further reading/resources

      Free guidance for EYFS from The Bell Foundation:
      https://www.bell-foundation.org.uk/app/uploads/2019/01/Guiding-principles-for-EYFS.pdf
       
      Food for thought plus signposting available from Entrust:
      Reflecting on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Early Years | Entrust (entrust-ed.co.uk)
       
      Suppliers of multicultural books:
      Multicultural Diversity Children's Books - Letterbox Library
      Mantra Lingua UK | Dual language books and bilingual books and resources for bilingual children and parents and for the multi-lingual classroom.
       
      Free comprehensive guidance pack from Hampshire EMTAS:
      Guidance for Early Years/Year R settings | Hampshire County Council (hants.gov.uk)



      [ Modified: Monday, 14 March 2022, 10:18 AM ]

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        Picture of Astrid Dinneen
        by Astrid Dinneen - Thursday, 27 January 2022, 12:02 PM
        Anyone in the world

        By Chris Pim


        In this 100th blog I take a Janusian look at the whole field of EAL, celebrating the significant progress that has been made over many years, as well as touching on a few worrying trends that might give cause for concern in the future. I hope that my thoughts will be received not so much as a ‘Swan Song’ but more as a conversation piece.

        Over the last 25 years, as a specialist teacher advisor working in two local authorities, as an independent consultant and an author, I have seen many changes in policy and practice with respect to children and families from BME backgrounds and those learning EAL. Changes which have broadly been for the better. 

        Most encouraging is the fact that the attainment of pupils learning EAL has improved enormously over time. Whilst there are still groups that continually under-attain, and results are not always consistent across the country, the gap in attainment between EAL learners and their non-EAL peers has continued to narrow throughout key stages and across virtually all subjects. It is likely that a generational change is partly responsible for these data. There is no doubt that research into English Language Learning in general is better articulated than in the past and findings have become much more effectively communicated through training and guidance materials; consequently, practitioners are more equipped to cater for the needs of EAL learners than before. Credit where credit is due, continuous funding from government for Local Authorities and schools has been a major factor in these successes, not-withstanding that the funding is no longer ring-fenced for EAL work and now comes directly to schools or is used to buy-back a central LA ethnic minority achievement service through a locally agreed formula. 

        In the past, EAL has been routinely conflated with SEN in the minds of practitioners, and pupils would often be grouped inappropriately with less able learners. Pupils learning EAL could be withdrawn from the mainstream classroom for lengthy and usually unnecessary interventions, were usually denied full access to the curriculum and were frequently offered cognitively undemanding work. This often resulted in lowered self-esteem and stagnant rates of progress for learners, not just in acquisition of English but also academic progress in all subjects. These practices have largely been eradicated in recent years and in fact rather than seeing EAL learners as language disabled, practitioners understand that in fact bi/multilingualism is an asset and that proficiency in first and other language can be used as a tool for wider learning. Indeed, in the most supportive schools EAL learners act as supportive buddies for newly arrived pupils, become language ambassadors or get trained through the nationally recognised Young Interpreter Scheme. 

        Practitioners now have a more grounded understanding of their EAL learners than before because schools conduct robust baseline assessments for them. Using one of a range of EAL assessment frameworks that have been developed in the last few years, practitioners can track Proficiency in English (PiE) in a granular way for all their EAL learners, rather than relying upon National curriculum levels for English which were never a good fit for looking at English language acquisition across the curriculum. The BELL Foundation’s EAL assessment framework, the one recommended for school use in Hampshire, is extremely well thought through. It is a formative tool that is expressed via a set of ‘can do’ statements on a 5-point scale from New to English through to Competent across the 4 strands of English. 

        All this is very encouraging, but there are clouds on the horizon. Currently there is a distinct absence of governmental narrative around EAL practice and provision. This lack of a national focus is reinforced by how infrequently EAL appears to be referenced in Ofsted reports and the recent removal of the person in post as the National Lead for EAL, ESOL and Gypsy, Roma and Travellers is worrying. For a while the DfE required all schools to report Proficiency in English (PiE) data for every EAL learner on roll. However, this is no longer required - why this is a retrograde step was effectively articulated by NALDIC in a June 2018 position statement. 

        It is also concerning how many LA ethnic minority achievement services across the country have been lost or become drastically reduced in size. Worrying amounts of digital book burning have also taken place in recent years around EAL pedagogy, for example due to a change in government in 2010. However, if you know where to look, superb guidance developed years ago through the National Strategies is still available eg via the National Archives. 

        Within this self-inflicted vacuum we must look to national organisations to take the lead and provide unequivocal and freely accessible materials and guidance. The BELL Foundation should be commended for their recent work in this area. It is worrying how much online material now sits behind paywalls, something which is perhaps a sign of the times. It is encouraging, however, to still find beacons of EAL excellence online, such as free learning materials provided by the Collaborative Learning Project. There are also open access materials available via some local authorities, such as EAL Highland and the Hampshire EMTAS guidance library, to name just two. The EAL-bilingual Google group is still a useful place for sharing good practice, although there is scope to develop this further as more of an altruistic, collaborative, forum rather than its increasing use as a marketplace for selling services. 

        There are a few well established companies producing brilliant tools and resources. Mantra Lingua, as an example, has decades long experience in working with EAL practitioners to produce bilingual materials, bespoke products and clever digital tools. Long may they continue to do so. There are other companies also producing credible, tried and tested tools and resources that are broadly EAL-friendly, such as TextHelp, Talking Products, Cricksoft and ScanningPens to name just a few. 

        However, I also have some concerns about the increasing numbers of individuals/companies crashing in upon the EAL market. At times it seems like the Wild West, where sales representatives canter into town plying their latest cure-all tonics to the unwary or those looking for a quick fix. Despite bold claims, in my opinion, some of these products are no more than costly pedagogical placebos and at worst have detrimental impact on the children they purport to help. It is incumbent on all of us to check the credibility of any research claims made about these products to ensure they are EAL-friendly, that their implementation fits best practice principles and that scarce money is not being wasted. 

        We know a lot about what works best for pupils learning EAL (a synthesis can be accessed via The EAL MESHGuide), but we need continued research in the area. Whatever we decide to do, I would suggest investing time in researching things we don’t know rather than things that we implicitly do know. A recent long-term piece of rigorous research by Steve Strand and Dr Ariel Lindorff, Department of Education, University of Oxford (see article by BELL Foundation) established that it can take a long time for young New to English learners to achieve Competency (on average, more than 6 years for children starting in reception). Whilst this research did quantify empirically some potential rates of progress for PiE as assessed on the BELL Foundation EAL assessment framework, this finding is unlikely to be a major surprise to most practitioners. Neither will be the revelation that PiE significantly impacts overall attainment for learners of EAL throughout all key stages. Really, who knew? 

        So, what should we be researching then? How do we know what is important to help shape future practice and provision? Asking practitioners working in real contexts would be a good start. This is precisely what researchers at Oxford Brookes University have started to do. Distilling research proposals from the wider community of EAL practitioners they have defined a list of 10 potential areas for future research. Number 1 on the list, for example: What is the impact of inclusion teaching vs pull out teaching for EAL learners? This seems like an interesting and timely area of study. Implicitly I have always believed that withdrawal provision for EAL learners is rarely as successful as high-quality teaching in mainstream classrooms. However, there has been little rigorous research in this area to back up my assumption. I shall be interested to see the results. 

        I would like to finally finish by thanking the many amazing pupils, parents and dedicated professionals I have had the pleasure to work with and which has sustained me in my lengthy career working in this field.


        References
         
        Setting Research Priorities for English as an Additional Language: What do stakeholders want from EAL research? Chalmers, H. 2021 (Oxford Brookes University)
         
        Ofsted removes one of the voices for EAL in the inspectorate. NALDIC journal blog. Chalmers, H. 2021.
         
        Excellence and Enjoyment: Learning and teaching for bilingual children in the primary years, PNS, 2006.
         
        DCSF (2009) Ensuring the attainment of more advanced learners of English as an additional language (EAL), Nottingham:DCSF
         
        EAL MESHGuide, Coles, S., Flynn, N., Pim C.
         
        Hampshire EMTAS Guidance Library
         
        Collaborative Learning Project
         
        The Young Interpreter Scheme®
         
        New Report: Proficiency in English is central to understanding the educational attainment of learners using EAL, but how long does it take to achieve, and what support do these learners need? Blog article, BELL Foundation
         
        EAL Highland
         
        Mantra Lingua
         
        The BELL Foundation (EAL Programme)
         
        The BELL Foundation EAL Assessment Framework
         
        EAL-Bilingual Google group
         
        Withdrawal of English as an Additional Language (EAL) proficiency data from the Schools Census returns, NALDIC, 2018


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        [ Modified: Monday, 7 February 2022, 10:41 AM ]

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          Anyone in the world

          By EMTAS Specialist Teacher Advisor Lisa Kalim


          Following last summer’s military evacuation of families from Afghanistan and a subsequent period in temporary hotel accommodation, many of these refugees are now permanently settled in Hampshire.  The families have been able to start the process of building new lives for themselves.  For the children an important part of this has been starting school and being able to attend regularly.  This blog describes the experiences of nine-year-old Maryam as she left Afghanistan and how her new school in Basingstoke helped her to settle in and subsequently begin to thrive. 

          Kabul

          Maryam was airlifted by the British military from Kabul airport on the 26th of August 2021, together with her parents and two younger brothers.   Her father had previously worked as an interpreter for the British army for several years and was therefore fearful that the whole family would become a target for the Taliban if they remained in Afghanistan. 

          The decision to leave their home was a sudden one.  Maryam was woken in the middle of the night and told to put a few things into a small backpack.  Shocked, she hastily packed a few clothes and a bottle of water, grabbed her favourite necklace and then they were picked up by a family friend who had a car.  He drove them as close to the airport as he could get and then dropped them off – the roads close to the airport were all blocked by vehicles and large numbers of people on foot who were packed tightly together.  It took Maryam and her family several hours to get near to the airport perimeter.  By this time, it was starting to get light.  Then they had to join the crush to get through the gate and try to work their way towards the front where soldiers were checking papers and making decisions about who could get a place on a flight and who would be left behind.  It was incredibly difficult to move forwards because there were so many people and there was no space to move.  Maryam was terrified that she would be separated from her family and never find them again.  They gradually inched their way forwards, managing to stay together, but many more hours passed and they were still nowhere near the front.  It was really hot and there was no shade.  They hadn’t brought any food with them, so they were all hungry.  There were no toilets.  They spent the rest of the day in the crush and into the following evening.  Just as it was starting to get dark, there was a loud explosion behind them and they could see smoke rising from just outside the airport close to where they had been earlier.  This was shortly followed by the sound of ambulance sirens.   Maryam felt numb inside – what was happening to her didn’t seem real, she felt like she was in a movie. 

          Eventually, sometime in the night, they reached the front.  Maryam watched as her father waved his papers at the soldiers, desperately trying to get their attention.  He had to keep trying for quite a while but at last a soldier took his papers, examined them and then let the whole family through.  They were taken to a runway where they had to wait for several more hours before boarding a military plane.  Once they were aboard Maryam quickly fell asleep only waking when the plane touched down in the UK. 

          Once they had left the plane, they were told to get on a bus that was waiting for them just outside the airport.  Maryam had no idea where they were going.  She looked out of the window and found that everything looked very different to what she was used to.  She was not sure if she was going to like living in England.


          Basingstoke

          Three months later Maryam and her family were finally able to move from their temporary hotel room to their permanent accommodation in Basingstoke.  It was such a relief to be out of the hotel and to have their own safe space at last.  For the first time in her life Maryam had a bedroom to herself.  She was delighted to discover that it even had a small desk and a chair that she could use to study at home.  It had been several years since Maryam had been able to attend school in Afghanistan due to it being too dangerous – the Taliban often targeted girls’ schools as they did not support education for girls or women.  There had been many attacks aimed at schools where bombs had exploded resulting in children being injured or killed in the province that Maryam’s family came from.  Her father had reluctantly decided that it was safer to keep Maryam at home.  He tried his best to continue her education by teaching her at home when he was not working but this was not possible every day.  In fact, Maryam was one of the lucky ones in terms of being able to access at least some education as about 40% of children in Afghanistan are not able to attend school at all.

          Shortly after moving into her new home Maryam was hugely excited to find out that she had been given a school place at her local primary school.  She had walked past it a few times on the way to the shops so knew what it looked like on the outside but had no idea what it would be like inside or what kind of lessons she would have.  Then she started to worry about how she would understand what her teacher was saying because she didn’t know much English.  Her father told her that they had been invited in to speak to school staff and that she would find out more then.  He said that he was sure that they would do everything they could to help her and that she should try not to worry.

          A few days later Maryam and her father visited her new school.  They had a good look around the whole school with Maryam’s father acting as an interpreter so that Maryam could understand everything that was being said.  Maryam was amazed at how different it was compared to her old school in Afghanistan.  The classrooms themselves were much bigger and there were only about 30 children in each class.  She had been used to smaller classroom sizes with up to about 60 children in each, packed in very close together.  There were no individual desks – instead the children sat in groups around tables.  Maryam was puzzled to see that not all of them faced the front.  There were lots of pictures and children’s work on the walls – this made it seem much brighter and more colourful than what she was used to.  All the classrooms had large electronic screens on the walls at the front and Maryam saw teachers using these to show their pupils lots of different things – back in Afghanistan her teachers had just had a board at the front that they wrote on, and the pupils had to copy what they wrote into their exercise books.  Maryam didn’t see this happening here and wondered how she would know what her teacher wanted her to do.  Another strange thing that she noticed was that for quite a lot of the time the children were talking amongst themselves whilst doing some writing in class – this would not have been allowed in Afghanistan and if you were caught talking, you would be punished. 

          Maryam was introduced to her teacher and was told which classroom would be hers.  The teacher explained what Maryam would need to bring to school each day and where she could hang her coat and bag.  She also showed her where to line up in the morning and told what time she had to be there and when school finished.  Maryam was surprised that the school day was so long in Basingstoke – back in Afghanistan her school day had only been about three and a half hours long with another shift of children arriving in the afternoon.  However, she felt reassured that she knew what to expect.  Most importantly she had also been shown where the toilets were as she had been worrying about not being able to ask about this.  Maryam was also introduced to a girl called Isobel who was going to be her ‘buddy’ on her first day.  She seemed very friendly, and Maryam felt happier knowing that she wouldn’t be left on her own.

          The next day Maryam started at her new school.  She felt a strange mixture of excitement and nervousness but visiting the school the day before had helped her to feel less worried than she would have been if she hadn’t already had the opportunity to visit the school. 

          Unbeknown to her the school had been busy preparing for her arrival.  They had identified some actions that they could take and strategies that they could use to best support Maryam as she started her full-time education in the UK.  They ensured that Maryam was placed in her correct chronological year group, Year 5, and her teacher made sure that she was included in the same types of activities that the other children were doing in class, but with appropriate differentiation and lots of peer support.  She was placed in a middle ability group with children who would be able to assist her if needed and who could provide her with good models of English.  They understood that withdrawing her from the classroom for interventions or to ‘teach her English’ would not be a helpful approach and that what she needed was to follow ‘normal’ school routines as far as possible.  They were also very mindful that Maryam had been through a very traumatic experience in the way she left Afghanistan.  She had also had to leave almost everything behind in terms of possessions, extended family and friends at very short notice to move to an unfamiliar country where her family knew no-one.  Because of this, the school decided that initially their focus should be on providing excellent pastoral care, ensuring that Maryam settled into the school well and was happy rather than concentrating on her academic attainment and progress (which could be addressed later). 

          The school also considered cultural differences and how these might affect Maryam at school.  One area where they felt this could be relevant was around the school’s PE kit and changing facilities.  Mindful that Maryam would most likely not feel comfortable changing for PE in front of boys they ensured that she had a private area in which to change and also allowed her to wear long track suit trousers instead of shorts for PE. 

          The school was also very aware of the importance of finding out as much as possible about Maryam’s background including details of her previous schooling and her skills in her first language, Pashto.  The school therefore put in a referral to EMTAS soon after Maryam joined the school so that profiling could be carried out.  They also kept in regular contact with Maryam’s father to ensure that there was good home-school communication.

          It’s still early days in terms of how long Maryam has been in school in the UK but the early signs are good.  She seems to have settled and is joining in with class activities non-verbally.  Her teacher has high expectations of her going forward.  Her father reports that although she is finding school very tiring, she is enjoying attending.

          Hampshire EMTAS have advice and guidance about refugees and asylum seekers on our website here.  We have also produced a comprehensive good practice guide which schools receiving refugees and asylum seekers in Hampshire will find useful.  There are more resources on our Moodle.


          [ Modified: Tuesday, 25 January 2022, 11:18 AM ]

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            Anyone in the world

            In this blog, Hampshire EMTAS Specialist Teacher Advisor Jamie Earnshaw explores best practice provision in relation to the placement of learners with EAL in 'ability' groups, sets or streams in primary and secondary school settings.  


            Typically, any decisions on which group, set or stream to place learners in are based on their perceived academic ability. If learners with EAL are placed in groups, sets or streams merely according to their proficiency in English, or what they can demonstrate in English, it might take some learners many years before being able to access appropriately cognitively challenging tasks in the upper groups, sets or streams, given the timescales involved in learners reaching a similar level of English to their monolingual peers. For example, generally speaking, younger learners who start to learn English in Key Stage 1 can take between 7 and 10 years to acquire full cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) in their use of English across the curriculum. Older learners with better developed language and literacy skills in their first languages may take between 5 and 7 years to achieve CALP.
             
            It is vital to keep in mind that a learner’s proficiency in English is not necessarily representative of their cognitive ability and of their understanding of subjects or topics if demonstrated in their first language (L1). Schools should therefore make any decisions to group, set or stream learners on a multitude of factors, not solely based on a learner’s level of proficiency in English, keeping in mind that a newly arrived learner of EAL is unlikely to have a sufficient level of English to demonstrate their full knowledge or abilities.
             
            Therefore, when assessing learners with EAL, and consequently when making any decisions relating to the placement of learners in groups, sets or streams, schools should collect a range of information, including their prior education and skills in L1.
             
            With this principle in mind, standardised tests should be avoided for early stage learners of EAL and results from such tests should not be used to inform the placement of learners with EAL into groups, sets or streams.
             


            Why should L1 help to inform decisions on the placement of learners with EAL?
             
            Research by Cummins (1984, 1996)[i] highlights the interdependency of a pupil’s academic skills in L1 and a second language – known as common underlying proficiency.
             
            Later research suggests:
             

            This common underlying proficiency allows some aspects of cognitive/academic or literacy-related skills to transfer across languages, including: conceptual knowledge, subject matter knowledge, higher-order thinking skills, reading strategies and writing composition skills[ii]

             
            It might therefore be the case that a learner understands ideas or concepts in L1, including those which are more abstract and complex, and is confidently able to demonstrate this understanding in L1. However, when asked to demonstrate their understanding in English, they might lack the necessary language of instruction to fully understand the task they are being asked to complete, or, equally, they might not have a sufficient command of English vocabulary or language structures to be able to convey their understanding to school staff or peers, who do not share the same language medium.
             
            Appropriate assessment of a learner with EAL will help to provide a more accurate determination of a learner’s existing knowledge and skillset, rather than merely what they are able to demonstrate through the medium of spoken or written English.
             


            The importance of appropriate placement of learners with EAL
             
            Research highlights the fundamental fact that all learners achieve more when they view the learning environment as positive and supportive[iii] and therefore, any decisions on groups, sets and streams should look to facilitate the appropriate level of cognitive demand for the individual learner. This is pivotal in ensuring the positive learning journey of learners with EAL and in supporting their progression to developing full CALP.
             
            Furthermore, a key part of language learning is having access to a range of strong written and verbal models of English, which is most likely to be found in higher ability groups, sets or streams. This should be a fundamental consideration when making decisions on the placement of learners with EAL.
             

            The Bell Foundation research highlights how it ‘seems as though EAL learners are too often considered to be ‘learning disabled’ and/or classified as SEN[D] rather than simply being less proficient in English’.[iv]

             
            The distinction between EAL and SEND is explicitly stated in the Children and Families Act 2014, section 20 (4):
             

            A child or young person does not have a learning difficulty or disability solely because the language (or form of language) in which he or she is or will be taught is different from a language (or form of language) which is or has been spoken at home.

             
            Indeed, learners with EAL are no more likely to have SEND than any other learner. Learners with EAL should not therefore be automatically placed in lower sets with SEND learners.
             
            Learners with EAL, like their monolingual peers, generally understand the principles around placement of learners in groups, sets or streams and are therefore aware that they are grouped with peers of a similar academic ability. By inappropriately placing a learner with EAL with other learners who are of low underlying cognitive ability or who have SEND, it is likely to be demeaning and demotivating for them. Indeed, according to research from The Bell Foundation, where learners were ‘not fully stretched because of insufficient staff assessment and knowledge of their prior learning and attainment, their motivation levels dropped and their behaviour in school could deteriorate’. i[v]
             
            Furthermore, it is important that the activities and tasks offered to learners with EAL are appropriate for their cognitive ability. Thus, for example, offering a reading task to a pupil with EAL from a storybook that is well below their age may be counter-productive because although the language demand may be lower, the images and concepts may be inappropriate and serve to demean rather than help. Tasks for learners with EAL should be cognitively challenging and language is best acquired when there is a clear context within which the pupil is learning the target language.
             
            With this in mind, back-yearing or deceleration, where learners are placed in a year group below their chronological age, should, in the vast majority of cases, be avoided.
             


            What if a learner with EAL does not have prior knowledge or understanding in a particular subject area? 
             
            The principle that a pupil’s proficiency in English will increase more quickly alongside accurate, fluent users of English, providing positive models for both language and behaviour, is widely accepted.
             
            According to research from the DfE:
             

            It is … vital that pupils learning English have the opportunity to hear positive language models, and so groupings need to be managed carefully to ensure that this happens[vi]

             
            Schools should therefore keep in mind, even where it is determined that a learner with EAL lacks sufficient knowledge or skills more generally in a specific subject area, their placement in a group, set or stream should facilitate their access to positive language models. The placement of a learner with EAL in a mid to higher ability group is more likely to provide the range of opportunities to hear and see language being modelled appropriately - a vital part of language learning.


             
            Conclusion
             
            Fundamentally, the proper and accurate assessment of learners with EAL, to determine their academic proficiency beyond what they are able to demonstrate in English, is vital. Furthermore, when placing learners with EAL in groups, sets or streams, the need for access to appropriate models of written and verbal English, which underlines language learning, should be at the forefront of any such decisions.



            Recommendations
              
            1.)  Place learners with EAL in groups, sets or streams which facilitate access to a range of positive models of written and verbal English. This is a fundamental principle of language learning.
             
            2.)  Use accurate and appropriate individual assessment of learners’ academic and cognitive ability, including through L1, to inform decisions on their placement in groups, sets or streams.
             
            3.)  As part of the assessment process, collate as much information as possible about learners with EAL, including proficiency in L1, prior educational experiences and pedagogical approaches learners are familiar with.
             
            4.)  Involve learners and their parents/carers in the decision-making process as much as possible. Seek the views of learners and provide regular opportunities for review. Be prepared to explain any decisions to parents/carers and provide opportunities for them to ask any questions they might have.
             
            5.)  Avoid automatically placing learners with EAL in groups, sets or streams purely because there are additional adults available to support. This is only likely to be beneficial if staff have received specific EAL-focused language learning training.
             
            6.)  Avoid relying on the results of standardised tests to inform the placement of learners with EAL in groups, sets or streams.
             
            7.)  Ensure regular monitoring and tracking of learners with EAL and provide regular opportunities for reviewing the groups, sets or streams of learners with EAL.
             
            8.)  Promote the use of a learner’s L1 in school to help with access to the curriculum. Training from EMTAS could help staff to identify how learners with EAL could use L1 effectively in school settings.
             
            9.)  Recognise the difference between the needs of, and appropriate support for, a pupil with SEND, with that of an EAL learner without SEND.
             
            10.)    Do not backyear or decelerate learners with EAL as a matter of course. This will only be appropriate in a limited number of cases and should only be done in consultation with Hampshire EMTAS so that the full range of factors of any such decision can be considered. 
             
            11.)    Provide opportunities for learners with EAL to have access to peers who can model language and skills in an appropriate way. This will also facilitate opportunities for learners with EAL to practise using the target language in meaningful contexts. Ensure that EAL learners’ peers are trained effectively to support them in this way.
             
            12.) Be wary of using KS2 SATs outcomes for learners with EAL in order to determine sets, groups or streams at KS3. Learners of EAL, particularly those who joined a UK school for the first time during Key Stage 2, may have suppressed KS2 results due to not having had enough time to fully ‘catch up’ with their monolingual peers. Any algorithm that generates end of KS4 predictions based on KS2 SATs results, or any setting decisions based on those suppressed KS2 SATs outcomes, may lower teacher expectations of what that learner may be able to achieve given a further 5 years’ education in the UK system.
             
            Contact emtas@hants.gov.uk for further support and guidance. One of our Specialist Teacher Advisors will be able to provide further advice for specific cases.
             


            Further reading

            [i] Cummins, J. (1984) Bilingualism and Special Education: Issues in Assessment and Pedagogy. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. ISBN: 0-905028-13-9
             
            Cummins, J. (1996) Knowledge, Power, and Identity in Teaching English as a Second Language. In Genesee, F. (Ed.) Educating Second Language Children: The Whole Child, the Whole Curriculum, the Whole Community. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 0-521-45797-1
             
            [ii] Rosamond, S. et al.(2003) Distinguishing the Difference: SEN or EAL – an effective step-by-step procedure for identifying the learning needs of EAL pupils causing concern. Birmingham Advisory Support Service, Birmingham City Council
             
            [iii] Dorman, J.P., Aldridge, J.M. & Fraser, B.J. (2006) Using Students' Assessment of Classroom Environment to Develop a Typology of Secondary School Classrooms. International Education Journal, 7(7), 906-915
             
            [iv] The Bell Foundation (2015) School Approaches to the Education of EAL Students: Language Development, Social Integration and Achievement
             
            [v] The Bell Foundation (2015) School Approaches to the Education of EAL Students: Language Development, Social Integration and Achievement
             
            [vi] Department for Education and Skills (2002) Access and engagement in ICT: teaching pupils for whom English is an additional language
                                                      
             
            Read the Hampshire EMTAS Position Statement on the placement of learners with EAL in groups, sets or streams on our Moodle here.
             
            For further information on assessment of learners with EAL, see the section on assessment in our Guidance Library here. Also, see our e-learning module on assessing L1 here.
             
            See the Hampshire EMTAS guidance on Standardised testing and EAL learners.
             
            For further information on back-yearing/deceleration, please see the full Hampshire EMTAS guidance on deceleration for learners of English as an Additional Language.
             
            Further guidance on the distinction between EAL and SEND can be found on the Hampshire EMTAS website here.


            [ Modified: Tuesday, 11 January 2022, 9:52 AM ]

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              Anyone in the world

              By Steve Clark, Hampshire EMTAS Teaching Assistant for Travellers


              Hampshire EMTAS is pleased to announce the release of a new e-learning module for all school staff who support children and families from GRT backgrounds. This module - which complements existing EMTAS cultural awareness training - aims to offer CPD in a way, and at a time, which fits in with practitioners’ busy work schedules. It offers an insight, through self-driven exploration, into the linguistic and cultural aspects of several GRT backgrounds. There are phase-specific examples of how best to support children and families from GRT heritages and an opportunity to build an action plan to support your work with your GRT communities. 


              So what does it look like?

              The GRT e-learning course takes approximately 40 minutes to complete. The objective is to provide a general awareness of several GRT cultural groups, their languages, their history and from where these groups originated. It is designed to enable the learner to explore various aspects to the support offered by a school to its GRT pupils and their families.


              Who should take this course?

              This unit will be relevant for class teachers, Governors, TAs/LSAs, the GRT coordinator and any home-school link workers. It is particularly relevant for any trainee teachers and those at an early stage in their teaching career. It is also a useful addition to the training programme of any agency that supports children and families from GRT backgrounds, whether they are within or outside of Hampshire.


              What does it include?


              Find out interesting facts about GRT cultures around the world and listen to four podcasts about Roma, Irish Travellers, English Gypsies and Showmen. In addition, you can have a try at a language activity which will introduce you to Romany. There are interactive school maps where you can access phase specific information about catering for GRT families. You can learn more about the benefit of ascription for GRT pupils, their families and the school and there is helpful advice about attendance issues, dual registration, distance learning and how and when to use the ‘T’ Code appropriately. The unit culminates with the creation of an action plan to support your role as GRT Lead.
               
              How can I access this module?

              This module is available free of charge to Hampshire LEA schools and Academies that have bought into the Hampshire EMTAS SLA. There is a charge for other institutions to access the unit. Please contact emtas@hants.gov.uk for details.


              Where can I find out more about GRT?

              Read our blogs

              Visit our website and use the tabs to find out more about GRT resources, how to access support for a Traveller child, effective distance learning for GRT pupils, the GRT Excellence Award and Kushti Careers

              Guidance for schools regarding attendance

              A Study Into the Use of the T Code

              Find out more about our suite of e-learning modules, including The Culturally Inclusive School


              [ Modified: Tuesday, 4 January 2022, 12:14 PM ]

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                Anyone in the world

                Starting school can be a tricky time for any child and their family but for learners of English as an additional language (EAL) it can be a particularly anxious time. In this blog Specialist Teacher Advisor Helen Smith discusses ways to support new EAL learners and help them and their families settle into the school community.  



                 

                It can be difficult for some EAL parents to understand the equipment that their child needs for school, such as a P.E. kit, book bag and spare clothes. They may also welcome some guidance on what is appropriate and usual to put in a lunch box. Some parents may not be aware that their child needs to be able to dress themselves, take themselves to the toilet, feed themselves etc., and they will need some support with helping their child become more independent with their self-care. Families may also not fully understand the school system. In some countries for instance, children do not progress from one school year to the next without passing exams. Some parents may not be familiar with the concept of learning through play and will need help to understand all the learning that is taking place in a busy Reception classroom. In many counties their child would not be expected to start school until they are 6 or 7 years old. This can make parents feel more unsettled and worried about their child beginning their school journey at a young age.

                There are some simple steps that you can take to help your EAL families feel welcome and more settled. This starts with finding out as much background information as you can. As well as the usual new starter information, it will be useful to know about all the languages spoken in the home. You will need to ensure names are pronounced correctly and that naming conventions are understood. It is also important to know if the child was born in the UK or if they’re a new arrival to the country. If the child is not UK born, try to find out about the circumstances of their relocation and about their journey – was it difficult or traumatic? It is also useful to find out if the family is isolated or if they have strong family and community links.

                All this information will help you in putting the right support and resources in place. For example, you may like to share translated or simplified information available on our website. You can also direct parents to the EMTAS phonelines or ask a Bilingual Assistant to help interpret. An effective way to ensure good communication is to hold weekly/half-termly drop-in sessions for EAL parents to discuss any letters or concerns.

                Tapping into children’s languages will help EAL learners feel welcomed and settled in the classroom right from the start. You may consider using a peer mentoring programme such as the Young Interpreter Scheme or source multilingual signs and labels as well as multilingual books and resources. You can also invite speakers of other languages into your classroom and learn basic words in a child’s first language. The use of first language should also be encouraged in play and the rehearsing of speech and writing. Head to our Moodle to find out how the use of first language as a tool for learning can support your learners in making solid academic progress.

                Another effective tool to help a child transition in school are Persona Dolls. They can be used to introduce a new member of the class and learn about other cultures but also to help children to learn ways to challenge unfairness and discrimination. They help with emotional wellbeing and self-esteem, highlight diversity and commonality and are also a great tool to encourage talk in the classroom. It is important to remember that the doll is a member of your class, not a toy. Persona Dolls can be borrowed from our Resources Centre and training on their effective use is available from EMTAS. Please contact the EMTAS office - EMTAS@hants.gov.uk - if you would like to book a session.


                EMTAS Coffee Events revamped 


                Hosting an EMTAS Coffee Event is another way to help EAL families feel settled and welcome in school. The aim of a coffee event is to provide parents of EAL learners the opportunity to find out a little bit more about the routines and expectations of their children’s school and help them to feel more engaged with their child’s learning and the school community. It is good practice for one or two Bilingual Assistants representing the school’s most prevalent languages to be on hand to interpret as needed.

                During the summer term we began a shake-up of our EMTAS Coffee Events programme. After all the lockdowns we felt that a lot of schools and parents would welcome the opportunity to get together face-to-face once again and start building partnerships. The sessions involve a suite of slides that can be adapted to suit the individual needs of the school. To ensure that we cater for all the languages spoken by our families, the coffee events and slides are designed to be simple, visual and informative. Coffee events are interactive and allow the parents ample opportunity to ask questions and voice any concerns or worries. To facilitate this, we have designed the slides to be based around questions, so it is more of a conversation than a presentation. Questions covered in the slides so far include: 

                What is Hampshire EMTAS?

                What does my child need to be able to do for him/herself?

                How can you help your child to settle in?

                What does my child need to bring to school each day?

                What should I put in my child’s lunchbox?

                Should my child maintain first language?

                How can you support your child’s reading?

                What can you do at home to support your child’s learning?   

                Currently our slides our very Primary based. However we are working with Secondary schools to develop some secondary based slides. If you would like to book a coffee event for your school, you can contact the EMTAS office - EMTAS@hants.gov.uk.

                More advice and guidance can be found on our website. This includes information about making a Year R referral and how and when to make a Year R transition referral. In addition more ideas and resources can be found in the guidance library on our Moodle. If you would like to improve your EAL practice in Early Years you can also sign up for our EYFS E-Learning on our MoodleThe course takes you through an introduction and gives you some starting points and some context about the different languages that are spoken across Hampshire. There are top tips and help with assessment and action planning as well as advice on the best use of resources.


                [ Modified: Friday, 7 January 2022, 4:27 PM ]

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                  Picture of Astrid Dinneen
                  by Astrid Dinneen - Thursday, 11 November 2021, 9:37 AM
                  Anyone in the world

                  In this blog, the Hampshire EMTAS Teacher Team considers what best practice might look like in relation to catering for the needs of refugee children on roll in Hampshire Schools.

                   
                   

                  In recent months, Hampshire has hosted a number of refugee families from Afghanistan, some of whom will remain in the county permanently whilst others will eventually be found a permanent home elsewhere.  The children of these refugee families are starting to be taken onto roll at schools across the county, and this has raised a number of questions as colleagues have sought advice on how best to streamline support at this vital point in the children’s lives.

                  First and foremost, at the point of referral to EMTAS it has become apparent that not everyone is confident when it comes to telling the difference between an asylum seeker and a refugee.  To cut to the chase, the term refugee is widely used to describe displaced people all over the world but legally in the UK a person is a refugee only when the Home Office has accepted their asylum claim. While a person is waiting for a decision on their claim, he or she is called an asylum seeker. Some asylum seekers will later become refugees if their claims for asylum are successful. 

                  The recently-arrived Afghan refugee children are here with their families and because of this they benefit from greater continuity in terms of support from their primary care-givers. Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC), on the other hand, are minors who are here on their own and therefore don’t have the support of their close families. UASC are accommodated in the care system in the UK but their status in the longer term remains in question.  They will be claiming asylum, which – if they are successful – will give them indefinite leave to remain and refugee status.  This will give them the right to live permanently in the UK and to pursue higher education and/or work in the UK. Check the EMTAS guidance for more detail on this point.

                  Moving on to talk about refugees, in many ways the needs of refugee children are very similar to those of any other international new arrival, hence staff in schools should, in the main, adopt the same EAL good practice with these children as they would any others.  There are, however, some additional things to bear in mind.

                  Refugee children (as well as UASC) may have had to leave their country of origin suddenly, bringing with them very few of their personal belongings and leaving much behind.  Because of this, some may experience a greater sense of loss than children whose move to the UK was undertaken in a more planned way.  Some refugee children will have left behind members of their extended families as well as friends, favourite toys and pets (where keeping pets is part of their culture), and may be concerned for their safety or not know their whereabouts or even if they are alive.  This can be compounded by having little opportunity to communicate with them to check if they’re OK.  Older children are likely to be more aware of and affected by this than younger ones, and their awareness may be heightened by conversations within their household as parents talk about and begin to process the events that brought them here.

                  Some refugee children will have experienced unplanned interruptions to their education, especially those who have spent time in refugee camps en route to the UK or those who have travelled with their families through various countries.  Lack of facilities might mean that some have missed opportunities to keep up with their learning, hence there may be gaps.  The longer the gap, the more they will have missed – hardly rocket science, but something to bear in mind when thinking about reasons why a child’s reading and writing skills may not be as secure as would normally be expected.  The advice with this would be to clarify each child’s education history with parents and then to consider what arrangements might be put in place to help plug any gaps – without causing them to miss even more eg through ill-timed/too many withdrawal interventions (see EMTAS Position Statement on Withdrawal Provision for learners of EAL). 

                  For most refugee children, routine really helps.  They benefit from knowing what each school day will hold, so things like visual timetables are helpful.  They also benefit from being supported to quickly develop a sense of belonging in their new school.  Use buddies – including trained Young Interpreters – to support them as they adjust to their new surroundings.  Bear in mind that the less-structured times such as break and lunch times can be more difficult for a newly-arrived refugee child, so check that they are being included and are joining in with play with other children.  Teachers may find it helpful to teach some playground games in the relative safety and calm of the classroom, with input and support from other children in their class, with the idea that these games can then transfer to the outside areas.

                  Support from their peers will be key to the induction and integration of a newly-arrived refugee child.  Sit them with peers who can be good learning, behaviour and language role models.  Try to match them with peers who are of similar cognitive ability.  Remember to reward all children involved with praise where things have gone well eg if they have shown the new arrival their book or repeated an instruction or the new arrival has accepted support from a peer or tried to involve themselves in a task or whatever.  With younger learners, consider using a Persona Doll to explore ways of supporting the new arrival with your class.

                  When it comes to accessing the curriculum, remember the benefits of using first language both to aid access and engagement and to give the child a sense of the value of the L1 skills they bring with them.  Use of L1 can be a great way of involving parents too, so make sure you think of ways they can support – perhaps helping their child look up key words or using Wikipedia in other languages to research a topic.  If you have a literate child in your class, encourage them to write in L1 and explore how translation tools can be used to build a dialogue with the child and give them the skills to communicate their ideas with others in accessible ways.  Many translation tools have an audio component too, so even children who can’t read very well in L1 can benefit from their use in the classroom.  For more information about translation tools, see ‘Use of ICT’ on the EMTAS Moodle.

                  The biggest issues often relate not to language barriers but to culture; there are lots of things we take for granted to be commonly understood, shared experiences which for refugee children will be new, alien.  These can include experiences of teaching and learning, for instance a didactic approach wherein the teacher conveys knowledge to the empty vessels that are their charges may have been the norm in country of origin.  People whose schooling embodied this sort of approach may find learning through play or learning through engaging in dialogue with others very ‘foreign’; uncomfortably new territory they need to negotiate without any prior experience on which to base their understanding or response.

                  Refugee children from Afghanistan will almost invariably be Muslim and this in itself raises some issues that schools will need to address.  For some children, there will be issues with school uniform, with others, schools may need to rethink key texts they are using in class eg ‘The Three Little Pigs’ with younger learners or ‘Lord of the Flies’ with children in secondary phase may be problematic.  For guidance on these and other issues to do with having Muslim children on roll in your school, see the comprehensive guidance from the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), posted in an open access course on the EMTAS Moodle here.

                  So to some final advice on how to negotiate this unfamiliar terrain.  For one, try to remember always that refugee children’s responses may at first seem strange or oppositional or even rude.  This sort of thing is likely to be indicative of a cultural barrier that needs to be overcome with both parties open to moving their respective positions.  To get the best results, try to be the party that is receptive to difference and willing to make the most moves to understand and accommodate.  If issues arise and you’re not sure what to do, EMTAS is here to support so do get in touch with us.


                  By phone 03707 794222
                  By email emtas@hants.gov.uk 


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                  [ Modified: Tuesday, 11 January 2022, 2:53 PM ]

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                    Part-time PhD student Sarah Coles is currently researching UK-born children’s lived experiences of growing up in more than one language.  In this blog, she considers the place of the home language in the linguistic landscape of bilingual children from linguistic minority communities.   


                    My research focuses on the development of both first language (L1) and English (L2) of bilingual children growing up as members of linguistic minority communities in an L2 context.  It’s a longitudinal study that follows a small sample of bilingual children through their first year of schooling.  Using picture sequences, I elicit stories from each child, one in L1 and another in English, their L2.  This will be done once at the beginning of the fieldwork phase and again at the end.  In this way, I hope to be able to identify how the children’s two languages evolve over time and to document any shift in dominance from one language to another that may occur.  I will also work with each child to explore their lived experiences of growing up in two languages.  Additional contextual information, including the detail of their own language use, will be gathered from the children’s parents.  Ultimately, through the children’s own narratives, I hope to deepen practitioners’ understanding of bilingual children in the Foundation Stage and to pinpoint some practical ways in which support for such children might be tailored to improve their engagement with their learning.



                    Setting the scene: two broad-brush models of bilingual development


                    Across the globe, monolingualism is not the norm for all children; exposure to more than one language and bilingual development from an early age is in fact more prevalent than a monolingual model.  Children may experience different routes in their journeys to bilingualism dependent on their immediate family contexts.  Some children will be born into households where each parent speaks a different language and the child has access to both from birth.  This might be described as simultaneous bilingualism.  Other families may be part of a settled immigrant community and the child may experience a monolingual start, being exposed to a minority language at home and, later in their development, the majority language outside of it. This would describe sequential bilingualism.

                         
                    The outcomes for children growing up in bilingual settings are varied.  Some will go on to develop comparable skills - receptive and productive – in their two (or more) languages and will be able to function in different contexts – school, home, community – equally well in both/all.  At the other end of the spectrum, it is just as possible for a child to have exposure to two (or more) languages yet to learn to speak only one themselves. 



                    The possible impact of differential linguistic prestige


                    There are various factors that may influence the course and outcome of a bilingual child’s language development.  One that seems to be significant relates to people’s perception of the relative prestige of the child’s two – or more - languages.  A child from a linguistic minority community may experience a monolingual start to life with exposure to the minority language in the home from their main care-givers from birth.  Later, and because it is the language of schooling, the child is required to develop a second, additional language, English.  For such a child, the second language is where the cultural capital resides, it being the language of the majority community.  Because of its sociocultural dominance over the minority language, it is often the case that this second language becomes the child’s preferred one, eventually replacing their first, minority language.  


                    This is a scenario experienced by many children of Hampshire’s UK-born ethnic and linguistic minority communities.  They may, in their early years, be exposed to – let’s say – Nepali at home but later, when they start school, English.  From that point onwards, families may notice their child gradually ceases to use Nepali, preferring to respond in English even when addressed in first language (L1).  This end result is sometimes referred to as ‘passive bilingualism’ although as De Houwer (2009) notes there is “nothing passive about understanding two languages and speaking one”.



                    The possible impact of quantity of input experienced 


                    A second consideration is the quantity of language input experienced by the child.  In a monolingual context, the language of the home is the same as the language of the wider community and – often – of education too.  Everywhere the child goes and everyone they meet speaks the same language.  Hence the child has multiple models of the same, single language.  In contrast, linguistic minority children born in the UK may have exposure to L1 at home and L2 (English) outside of it.  Hence their overall exposure to L1 is – in most cases - reduced. 


                    The impact of reduced exposure to each of the bilingual child’s two languages has been explored by researchers with an interest in child language development.  One thing that’s emerged is the observation that a child’s lexicon (the words they know and use) in each of their languages reflects the amount of exposure the child has to each language – which is typically less for each language than the total exposure to their one language experienced by a monolingual child of similar age.  When their vocabularies in both languages are combined, however, the overall picture of these bilingual children’s lexical development has been found to be on a par with their monolingual peers.


                    Further, research has identified that if the words known by a bilingual child are listed, only about one third represent words that are translations of each other; i.e. two thirds of the words a bilingual child knows in one of their languages are known only in that language and are not shared with the child’s other language.  This is likely to be directly related to differences in the contexts in which each language is used and the communicative purpose being served.



                    The possible impact of context 


                    Some researchers have found there to be discrepancies between UK-born bilingual children’s skills in L1 (the heritage language) compared with those of children of comparable age but growing up in a monolingual context.  They suggest that the L1 skills of bilingual children growing up in the UK are unlikely to reach a level comparable to monolingual children growing up in country of origin.  This, they say, is largely due to reduced exposure to the heritage language from adult L1 models who may themselves be experiencing language loss due to lack of use.  The overall outcome, some have suggested, is likely to be ‘incomplete L1 acquisition’. 

                    Elsewhere in the literature, the notion that ‘incomplete first language development’ exists at all attracts criticism.  Some have argued that all intergenerational first language transmission, including that which takes place in monolingual settings, evidences change.  According to this view, what others may see as ‘errors’ in L1 in fact represent “normal intergenerational language change accelerated by conditions of language contact” (Otheguy, 2016).  According to this view, in immigrant populations new L1 norms will naturally develop, resulting in divergence between L1 use in an L2 immersion context compared with L1 use in a monolingual, home country context.  Hence context has a bearing on the language models to which a bilingual child might be exposed. 



                    The possible impact of the language modelled 


                    Another important consideration when it comes to a child’s language development is the nature of the language models to which they are exposed.  Typically, linguistic minority parents themselves do not function in a monolingual context and this can have an impact on their everyday language practices.  The result is often an incremental increase in both code-switching (characterised by swapping from one language to another at word/phrase level) and code-mixing (combining grammatical structures from both languages) where in their speech they move in a fluid, natural way between languages, swapping a word or a phrase here and borrowing a grammatical structure there. 


                    In the literature, code-mixing and code-switching are identified as common linguistic practices amongst bilingual populations.  Having been found to be rule-based and systematic, code-switching and code-mixing are these days viewed in a favourable light as opposed to the deficit view that prevailed in the past that stigmatised them as “…the haphazard embodiments of “language confusion” (MacSwan, 2017). 

                    Although limited in terms of the number of empirical studies into the impact on bilingual children’s language development of code-switching and code-mixing by their parents, research suggests that bilingual adults frequently engage in these practices in interactions with their children.  This is in line with trends identified in the broader sweep of studies into bilingual code-switching and code-mixing.  What it means for a child growing up in more than one language is that they are likely to experience code-switching and code-mixing in language inputs modelled by family members and other significant adults around them.  This may in turn prompt them to code-switch and code-mix themselves in their own speech.  


                    Code-switching and code-mixing in parental inputs appear to influence L1 development in children growing up as members of language minority communities in other ways too.  Some studies have found a negative correlation, with higher rates of code-switching and code-mixing by parents resulting in lower comprehension and production vocabulary sizes in young children.  Others have identified that code-switched input, arguably more challenging to process than input in a single language, has positive outcomes but only for those children with greater verbal working memory capacity who are capable of processing it.



                    What this means for my research 


                    To draw to a close, the above whistle-stop tour illustrates that bilingual language development is a complex, multi-faceted phenomenon.  It is affected by multiple influences, each impacting in different ways and to different degrees on the individual child in their own specific context.  Through my research, I make space for a small sample of UK-born bilingual children to explore these differences and to focus on their first-hand experiences of growing up in more than one language.  Once this has happened, any findings relevant to practitioners working with young, UK-born bilingual learners will be shared so that all bilingual children in Hampshire schools and settings receive a Year R experience that is sensitive to their developmental needs.   
                     


                    References

                    De Houwer, A. (2009). Bilingual first language acquisition (1st ed., Vol. 2). Multilingual Matters.
                    MacSwan, J. (2017). A Multilingual Perspective on Translanguaging. American educational research journal, 54(1), 167-201.
                    Otheguy, R. (2016). The linguistic competence of second-generation bilinguals Romance linguistics    2013 : selected papers from the 43rd Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL),      New York, 17-19 April, 2013, New York.


                    [ Modified: Thursday, 14 October 2021, 11:07 AM ]

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