‘Draw Your Answer’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale

Images transcend language.

Two individuals who cannot communicate by speaking or writing can nonetheless use images to convey meaning to each another.

For example, you might be on holiday in a foreign country and not know how to ask for help making a phone call.

You could grab a pencil and a piece of paper and draw a telephone, then show it to someone.

The image acts as a bridge that works independently of language, allowing you to communicate and to comprehend each other.

Consider, now, a more profound example.

I cannot speak Italian.

Nor can I read Italian or understand it when I hear it.

Yet, when I look at the paintings of Caravaggio I can grasp some (perhaps much) of the latent meaning.

I can deduce and infer, compare and contrast, look for similarities and identify examples of general cases.

All of this is despite me not sharing a language with the artist or, for that matter, the fact that he was born and died centuries before I even existed.

Drawing conveys meaning.

Your EAL learners can use drawing to convey meaning. And to create it.

Drawing can be a bridge across the divide, or a supplement to aid burgeoning interactions.

Here are three examples of what that looks like.

Draw Your Answer: Example One

Set your class a starter activity that asks for a drawn answer.

Learners could use mini-whiteboards or sketch something in their books.

For example, you might pose a question and then draw your own answer, modelling for learners what you want them to do before asking them to follow suit.

For early-stage EAL learners, observing what their peers are drawing will help them get a handle on the question.

For more skilled EAL learners, drawing their answer can help them convey more than they might be able to say through speech.

There is the added benefit here that the activity is underpinned by the act of translation.

That is, translating your thoughts into an image.

Rendering them visually.

This is challenging for all learners, creating a sort of equity between those for whom English is an additional language and those who are native speakers.

Draw Your Answer: Example Two

For a learner whose speaking and listening is ahead of their reading and writing, pictures can help bridge the gap and minimise frustration.

Ask an EAL learner to write some simple sentences (or even just the key words they think are relevant) and to supplement this with drawings.

For example, you might have a learner who can talk to you about coastal erosion, but who is still struggling to write at an appropriate level.

You can ask them to talk you through their thinking, to write down what they think are the most important keywords, and to then draw some of the key ideas they shared verbally.

This scaffolds the work for the EAL learner, helping them to engage and experience success, even though their level of writing currently lags their ability to articulate themselves verbally.

Draw Your Answer: Example Three

If a learner is at the earliest stages of their English language development, find out how to write a few of the keywords appropriate to your lesson in their first language.

Give these to the learner and ask them to draw all the things they associate with those words.

You could start them off my modelling one or two examples.

Once the learner has finished, ask them to look up the English translations for their drawings in a bilingual dictionary.

This approach has three benefits.

First, it involves the learner in the lesson even though they cannot yet access it linguistically.

Second, it helps you ascertain the extent of the learner’s prior knowledge, if only on a basic level, by observing how many words they come up with.

Third, it helps the learner experience success. First by coming up with their words, then by translating them.

And success breeds motivation.