The number one strategy you can call on to help your EAL learners feel more confident using new keywords and vocabulary

‘Pre-teach Vocabulary’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale

You need to know what something is before you can use it.

When working with something for the first time, we often begin tentatively.

This is because we have a lack of knowledge about what we are dealing with.

The first steps have a dual purpose.

On the one hand, they are an attempt to assimilate information about the thing in question.

On the other hand, they represent an investigation of what that thing can do and how it ought to be used.

As we spend more time with the thing in question, so our ability to manipulate it improves, along with our understanding of the thing’s nature.

Let’s illustrate this with an example.

We meet a word for the first time. The word is ‘envelope’.

Immediately, we are trying to assimilate the following information:

What the word looks like
What the word sounds like
How the word is spelt
How the spelling connects to the sound
What the word means

As we engage in this process, we are also beginning to ask what the word can do.

Questions need to be answered:

To what does this word refer?
Where can I use this word?
How can I use this word?
What type of word is this?
Does it connect to other words I know?

EAL learners go through this dual process far more frequently than learners who already have highly developed English language skills.

It is time-consuming and often difficult.

This is compounded by the fact that in a lesson, we are usually asking learners to do things with words that are well beyond these tentative first steps (as most of our other learners are confident English language users).

Pre-teaching vocabulary is a way we can mitigate problems arising from the different stages that EAL learners are at compared to their peers.

It takes the learners past those first steps, giving them time in which to get to grips with new words, so they can then engage more effectively with the activities you plan for the whole class.

Pre-teach Vocabulary: Example One

If you have another adult working with you in your classroom, such as a learning support assistant or a beginning teacher, ask them to spend some time teaching EAL learners key pieces of vocabulary that you know you are going to use in future lessons.

This means those learners are temporarily taken away from the present lesson content.

However, the long-term benefits tend always to outweigh anything lost.

It can be helpful to signal to your EAL learners what is happening and why you are doing it.

Help them to understand the benefits that will accrue, and how the work you are asking them to do now will make future lessons easier and more enjoyable.

While the pre-teaching is happening, drop in on your learner and find out how they are getting on.

This sends a clear signal that while they are doing work that is separate from the rest of the class, you are still as interested in them as in everyone else.

Pre-teach Vocabulary: Example Two

Identify an aspect of the lesson that will be difficult for your EAL learners to access.

For example, this could be an activity you feel they could do, but for which their language skills are not yet sufficiently developed to allow them to get the most out of it.

While the rest of the class complete the activity, you can work with your EAL learners, teaching them vocabulary that will be useful in future lessons.

Here, we are looking for those opportunities when the benefits of pre-teaching future vocabulary outweigh the benefits of the learner taking part in the main task.

It is a case of making a judgement and identifying the most opportune times to focus your EAL learners on future learning.

Pre-teach Vocabulary: Example Three

Find a way of teaching EAL learners new vocabulary outside your lessons.

For example, give them a list of new words in English and ask them to look up the equivalents in their first language for homework, using a tool like Google Translate.

Or you could give a list of key vocabulary to a specialist EAL teacher who works with the learners during the week and ask them to include these words in the lessons they teach.

Alternatively, you could set aside time during the week to work with your EAL learners outside lessons, if you have this time available.

This last option is less onerous if you limit it to one focussed session near the beginning of each term.

This gives you the opportunity to pre-teach all the keywords you know will be relevant in the weeks to follow.

In a primary setting, one option is to take EAL learners out of assembly for a couple of weeks and use this time to pre-teach them vocabulary that will be relevant for the remainder of the term.