Beyond the Register: Pride in Multilingual Reports
As educators, report-writing season often brings a familiar anxiety. We stare at data, scan our class lists, and try to distill a child’s entire academic journey into a few concise… Read more »
The Efficiency of Language: Translanguaging in action
I’ve recently started watching the Netflix show, Dark Winds, and I was immediately struck by the natural, fluid way the characters navigate their linguistic landscapes. The majority of characters are… Read more »
Bridging the Gap Between Leadership and the Classroom
For years, I have stood in professional development sessions and leadership meetings recommending best practice strategies for multilingual learners. But recently, I’ve traded my full-time strategic leadership hat for a… Read more »
Reaching the Quiet Ones: Why We Must Value the Silent Period
We’ve all had that student in our classroom. They are attentive, their eyes follow you as you move, and they seem to be soaking everything in – yet, they don’t… Read more »
The Teacher’s Balancing Act: Phonics vs. Curriculum
This academic year has felt less like a steady climb and more like a series of high-stakes crossroads. Since our school provisions changed and we implemented differentiated English lessons for… Read more »
Literacy Development for Multilingual Learners
Anna Leaman’s recent article on the ASCL website strongly resonated with me as we are reviewing our literacy programme at school. Anna notes: We know reading underpins learning across every… Read more »
Supporting young multilingual learners in content-based instruction
A summary of my workshop from the ESOL SIG Showcase on 10 April 2025 at IATEFL 2025: Who are multilingual learners? We started the session by discussing who multilingual learners… Read more »
Understanding the silent period
With the start of the year and the new term, we’ve had a number of new to English learners arrive to our school. Helping them settle in is our number… Read more »
The art of slowing down: pastoral support for EAL learners
I’m impatient, which means I often feel conflicted when I’m teaching. I rarely get through an entire lesson without having to change course and it gives me anxiety. I feel… Read more »
EAL Digest – September 2024
This month I’m giving the EAL Digest a try – thanks Pete for trusting me with it! Let’s see what’s new in the world of EAL: New releases Drumroll, please!… Read more »