[senco-forum] RE: EAL query

We have an EAL student this year and READS (Race Equality and Diversity 
Service) have been brilliant - supplying loads of resources, INSET for 
staff and ideas for support. We are in the process of making signs for 
his classrooms in both English and Russian - things like door, wall etc 
- and have organised a talk group for him with mixed age students. They 
meet up every week for a chat and to play some games. He is following 
the normal school curriculum and even did CATs though not the Verbal 
section and under the guidance of his READS tutor. He only gets one 
hour per week from them and we do the rest. Slightly different 
situation to you I know - he's in year 7.
Julie

----Original Message----
From: SEN at tringham.net
Date: 07-Oct-2006 21:01
To: "Becta Senco"<senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
Subj: [senco-forum] RE: EAL query

I go into school to support a newly arrived child (Y5- with no 
English) for
1 hour per week as part of my Foundation Degree course. I already have 
a
SpLD dip. & over 300 hours teaching English as a Foreign language so 
the
tutoring part is no novelty.

Thanks to his class he is picking up nouns very quickly but EAL 
visitor
seemed to leave no more concrete instructions other than keep his 
support in
class.  How appropriate is a Y5 curriculum when the acquired language 
thus
far is so low? He was really bubbly the first week when I saw him for 
2
sessions but 2 weeks later the teacher says he is often looking 
puzzled or
unhappy and keeps walking away from his desk.

I insisted on taking him out of class & have agreed to do this during 
Big
Writing - English extension hour -as it is really hard to have him 
work on
vowel sounds (very different from his native language) or construct 
cvc
words/explain vocabulary or play games within a normal classroom 
setting. I
leave low level worksheets with some instructions in his native 
language. He
is a very bright child but I don't think total immersion is the best 
way
forward when he does not have enough English to express himself.

What is the norm?  This is only the schools 2nd EAL child - the other 
is
happily settled in Reception.
Sharon Tringham