Author Archives: Adri

About Adri

My name is Adri. I am an experienced English Language Teacher and academic manager with a passion for transforming education. A life-long student and a reflective classroom practitioner, I actively look for ways to develop my skillset and help others do the same.

Working with words – essentials for EAL learners

I came across this image the other day and I couldn’t help but think that beyond it being funny, it’s also a lived experience for many (if not all!) EAL… Read more »

Using marking criteria with secondary learners

November and December are busy months in schools with all the preparation for the Christmas assemblies and the ensuing holidays as well as the major assessments, the report cards and… Read more »

Assessment for learning

I’ve recently had the opportunity to participate in Macmillan Asia’s EALTea Time where we chatted about assessment for learning (AfL), also known as formative assessment. Besides really enjoying the session,… Read more »

James and the Giant Peach with KS2 EAL/ESL learners

This week is Banned Books Week and to mark the occasion, we published a post on the IATEFL YLTSIG Blog with lots of insights and useful resources. My contribution to… Read more »

First lessons with EAL learners

So you have new EAL learners in your class – what can you do to help them settle in? How can you get to know them a little better? Here… Read more »

Considerations before the first day of school

In many parts of the world the end of August marks the return to the classroom. Teachers are busy preparing materials, plans and their physical classrooms to be ready for… Read more »

End-of-year reflection activities for EAL students

Most international schools have finished or are about to finish their school years. These last weeks of school are usually busy with assessments, report writing, and admin work, but there… Read more »

Performance anxiety

Recently in a yoga class, I caught myself checking my posture in the mirror over and over again and comparing what I looked like (not too graceful, I’m afraid) to… Read more »

Multilingual pedagogies in practice: How I use translanguaging in my EAL lessons

Lately, I received numerous questions and inquiries about how I use L1 in my classroom. Some of the queries have come from fellow ESL/EAL practitioners but interestingly, more and more… Read more »

EAL support in practice

Over the past 3 years, we have experimented with a variety of forms of support for EAL pupils. In this post, I am considering the benefits and drawbacks of each… Read more »