[eal-bilingual] 14 - 17 year old EAL students, low literacy, not placed

Hi,

  We are having the same debate here.  In the local College they are offering Adult Literacy and Numeracy Skills in addition to the EDexcel driving test.  The student has something to aim for in addition to an ICT skill.  However, they are not as high as GCSE but they are suitable for late entrants (into Year 11 for example) who are not able to access the curriculum through gaps in their education plus EAL needs.

  Regards,

  EAL Teacher

sambadead at aol.com wrote:
  Hi,
Visit www.disguiseddevil.com and contact me. I will see how I can help you.
Viv 

-----Original Message-----
From: Murphyandjazz at aol.com
To: eal-bilingual at lists.becta.org.uk
Sent: Tue, 1 May 2007 11.54PM
Subject: [eal-bilingual] 14 - 17 year old EAL students, low literacy, not placed

I am a cluster based EAL teacher supporting c. 50 schools over all key 
stages (and some nurseries) alongside two support assistants. We are very 
limited 
as to the amount of direct support we can offer schools and so I try to get 
projects set up which can build capacity within the school and within the 
cluster.

We have a large intake of Eastern European Roma students. Many come with 
minimal or no literacy skills in a written language. This is especially 
problematic in KS3 and KS4. There have also been some cases of young people 
not 
having a chance to access education due to lack of places available (esp for 
Year 10 and 11). These children do not fit into the category of being eligible 

for Adult education either as they are too young.

I am concerned that these young people are not getting the chance to acquire 
any skills in English, or other subject areas, and are therefore heading 
rapidly towards a massive poverty trap. I am at a loss as to what to suggest 
next.

Is this a problem that has been addressed successfully (or even partially) 
in any other area?

Any suggestions gratefully received, many thanks

Una 

---------------------------------
 Yahoo! Mail is the world's favourite email. Don't settle for less, sign up for your freeaccount today.