Mike’s Blog
Strategies, Ideas and Insights for Teachers and Leaders
Tag: scaffolding
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Amplify your EAL learners’ listening power with one of the simplest yet most effective scaffolding strategies you’ll ever find
‘Listening Frames’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale When dealing with any piece of text you are forever safe in the knowledge that, at any point, you can look back and…
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Go beyond the basics of scaffolding and give your EAL learners the best chance of supercharging their listening development with this simple strategy
‘Listening Assistance’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale Listening can be a strenuous business. There is the matter of decoding meaning, of sustaining attention, and of assessing the value of what…
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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…
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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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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…
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Call on the visual immediacy of the humble highlighter to help your EAL learners read with greater confidence and skill
‘Pre-Highlight’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale When faced with an unfamiliar text, there are various strategies we can use. We might decide to read everything through and then begin again,…
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Simplify the planning process for your EAL learners by letting them leverage the power of their first language, before they write in English
‘Plan in First Language’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale When we set learners the task of producing a piece of writing, whatever that piece of writing is, we are making…
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How to use the two fundamentals of teaching you rely on every day to improve target implementation in your classroom
Sometimes, learners will really struggle to implement your targets. They may not understand them, may find the process of change difficult, or may find it hard to visualise how their…
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Five ways you can use verbal feedback as an underrated form of scaffolding
Verbal feedback can be an effective tool for scaffolding learner. Here are five strategies to consider. A learner is struggling to get started with a task Feedback can take the…