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 »
Category: Teaching Strategies
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 »
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 »
In-class support vs Cognitive Load Theory
We started the academic year online. As you can imagine, virtual learning doesn’t easily lend itself to providing effective in-class support to EAL students. Nevertheless, we need to find a… Read more »
Think-Pair-Share in the world of EAL
When I was working in ELT I never called it Think-Pair-Share. It was just called pair work or group work. Now that I work in an international school I’ve learned… Read more »