Mike’s Blog
Strategies, Ideas and Insights for Teachers and Leaders
Tag: eal strategies
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What not to say when you are teaching your EAL learners and why not to say it, especially if you want to avoid unnecessary confusion and ambiguity
‘Avoiding Idioms’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale Here are five idioms: And here are literal translations of these: It’s best to avoid idioms when working with EAL learners. (This becomes…
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Build the confidence of your EAL learners at the same time as you help them improve the quality and accuracy of their spoken language
‘Recasting’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale There is a fine line between giving learners guidance that helps them to improve and providing a critique that leads to a loss of…
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How to think critically about reading and writing when working with EAL learners
Why do we read? We read for different reasons, and our expectations of texts differ accordingly. In school, much of the reading we ask learners to do is in pursuit…
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Magically increase your EAL learners’ ability to think, understand and manipulate the written word with one of the simplest strategies around
‘Dictionaries’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale As humans our working memory is limited. This is widely viewed as seven pieces of information, plus or minus two. Long-term memory is far…
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Neutralise one of the most common barriers that stops EAL learners from writing and taking part confidently in the tasks you set them
‘Sentence Starters’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale When trying to write, getting started can be the hardest thing. The blank page stares up from the desk offering no help and…
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Bring the underlying patterns of language to the surface and help your EAL learners see more clearly how English works – and how they can master it
‘Word Relationships’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale ‘Oh dear,’ said the old dear looking at the stuffed deer in the window. ‘What’s wrong dearie?’ said her friend, Deirdre. ‘It’s just…
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Help your EAL learners create order from chaos by giving them a way to make sense of the new words they encounter
‘Word Taxonomies’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale Taxonomies are a way of dividing information into ordered groups or categories. They are a method of systematization in which similar things are…
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If your EAL learners know what good writing looks like, it’s ten times easier for them to target their efforts in a way that brings results
‘Model Good Writing’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale The thought processes behind any piece of writing are often opaque. What you see, when you read, is the end result. While…
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Use the power of the writing frame to decrease complexity and increase the skill levels of your EAL learners
‘Writing Frame’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale Working memory is limited. For everyone. To roughly seven pieces of information, plus or minus two. Our EAL learners experience the same limitation…
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Give reading a purpose and watch as your EAL learners are happier to persist, keep going, and work their way through more challenging texts
‘Purpose for Reading’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale Most reading is done for a purpose. It could be for pleasure, for learning, or to find out information. If it is…