Teaching strategies for
EAL Advanced Learners:
Developing approaches and materials to
ensure access and progression
Key Visuals
CALP
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Compute not your immature gallinaceans prior to the
puncture of their brittle epidermis.
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Cleave gamineous matter for fodder during the period in
which the orb of the day is refulgent.
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Every substance which coruscates is not fashioned
from aureate material.
Language functions
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Identifying
Naming
Sequencing
Describing
Sorting
Asking questions
Comparing and
contrasting
Explaining
Deducing
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Hypothesising
Generalising
Reasoning
Problem solving
Analysing
Ranking
Evaluating
Science, History and Geography in the National
Curriculum
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Find out about different plants and animals in the environment
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Identify light sources
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What objects that have survived tell us about Ancient Egypt
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How a switch can be used to break a circuit
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Find out what happened in the Great Fire of London
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Follow a route on a map
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Recognise how places compare with other places
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Use knowledge of liquids to decide how a mixture might be separated
and interdependent
What are key visuals?
Visual organisers such as tables, charts, diagrams
An aid to present information clearly
Help pupils’ conceptual development
Scaffolding
pupil talk
Meat eaters
Plant eaters
Cat
Squirrel
Hawk
Mouse
Producer
Seeds
Consumer/
prey
Predator
Mouse
Cat
EAL Planning Framework, Pauline Gibbons
Activity
Sorting
animals
into
plant/me
at eaters
Visual
support
Language
functions
T chart
Classifying
Picture of
garden
Language
structures
Vocabulary
This is a..
Meat
It eats..
Plants
Leaves
Cat
Creating
a food
chain
Flow
diagram
Picture of
garden
Sequencing
a process
First…
Producer
The ..eats..
Consumer
The …is
eaten by..
Prey
Opportunities to report back (AFL)
Science: magnets
The magnet did
attract this
pin
pencil sharpener
iron filings
plastic
The magnet
didn’t attract this
Reporting Back
1. Highly contextualised talk using a key visual
shared experience)
(from a
2. Using the completed key visual as a means of reporting
back to the class (not a shared experience)
1. “try this one…..no it doesn’t go…..it doesn’t move….try
that…..yes… it does a bit….that won’t work…..it’s not
metal…..these are the best…..it’s making them go really
fast”
2.
“We tried a pin, a pencil sharpener, some iron filings
and a piece of plastic. The magnet didn’t attract the pin,
but it did attract the pencil sharpener and the iron filings.
It didn’t attract the plastic.”
Using key visuals
1. Completing a diagram
2. Classifying pictures and text
3. Listening to and sequencing a text
4. Using clues
5. Reading texts
6. Matching, classifying, sequencing, ranking/ evaluating
statements
Literature Geography
History
Literature
Describing
Evaluating
Expressing feelings
The top/bottom of the hill… the hillside..
Geography
Naming
Locating
Describing
Cause and effect
The peak…the slope…the valley…the
riverbank…rainfall…erosion
History
Naming
Locating
Describing
Deducing
Hypothesising
The scenery….down by the river
beautiful, rugged, rolling hills, isolated, bleak,
grandeur
steep, contours, features
caused by…occurs when…
Hilltop…slope…valley…riverbank….
hill fort.. fortification…rampart…village…dwellings
defence…safety…shelter
was probably…could have been …most likely
because…
Examples of language functions in History, Geography and
Science
Naming/
identifying
That’s the source of the river.
He’s a chimney sweep.
Describing
Tutankhamun’s funeral mask was made of gold with…
Classifying
These are different kinds of Egyptian jewellery. Those
are equipment for cooking.
Limestone is a permeable rock.
That’s made of glass.
Sequencing
First of all the Persians invaded Greece. Then…
The first thing that happens is that water flows over rock.
The water then…
Comparing
and contrasting
The climate in England is… whereas in Saint Lucia it
is…
Marble is harder rock than chalk
Examples of language functions in History, Geography and
Science
Explaining
Henry VIII married six times because….
Ranking/evaluating
I think that rivers are important because they
provide water for us.
People in….find that the best use of water is for…..
The most important man in Egyptian society was
the Pharaoh.
Cause and effect
Rivers affect the landscape by….
A cool box is a thermal insulator. As it can keep the
heat out so the food inside the box stays cool
Deducing
I think that he’s a Roman soldier because he’s
carrying….
Hypothesising
They found lots of …. in the Mary Rose. That tells
us that Tudor sailors probably used to….
In Egyptian times the Pharaoh would have…….
We know this because….
The Knowledge Framework (Mohan 1986)
Classification
Principles
Evaluation
Description
Sequence
Choice
The Knowledge Framework, (Mohan 1986)
Classification
Classify chess
pieces
Description
Identify chess
pieces
Principles
Understand the rules
for moves
Sequence
Sequence moves
Evaluation
Evaluate moves
according
to strategies
Choice
Choose
appropriate moves
Key Visuals
Used for:
Organising thinking around texts, pictures etc.
Enhancing pupil discussion about texts, pictures,
videos, artefacts etc.
Reporting back
Technical Vocabulary
Language of reasoning and logic
then……because…..must be….can’t be….could be therefore
Science
Which part of the plant do you eat?
root
Carrot
stem
leaf
seeds
flesh
flower
Explanations
Why/ How? (Causal explanation)
Existing condition
Cause
Effect
How an animal can
live in its habitat
because…
as…
which leads to…
which means that…
therefore…..
Why a thermos flask
is good for keeping
drinks hot
which helps it to…
Why people like/
dislike a character in
a story
Why the Romans
invaded Britain
which lead to…
which meant that…
Why rivers get
polluted
as a result…
Existing
condition
Cause
A camel is
perfect for the
desert
Effect
has large
spreading toes
Another reason
can walk on
soft sand
sand doesn’t
go up them
can close
nostrils
because
as
so
therefore
this means
Key visuals for reading
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Responding to texts
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Scanning texts
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Extracting and recording information
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Recalling information more easily
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Reading and understanding textual organisation
Trying some texts
Activity
Which key visuals would / could you use with these texts?
Applications of Key Visuals
 Explanatory – increase content understanding
 Evaluative – to assess understanding
 Generative – to promote language
Examples of interrogating visuals
Learning vocabulary through tentative grasp at
meanings:
– Animal Cells
– Plant Cells
– Structure of an atom
At sentence level
– Testing substances for pH
Sentence level
pH Value
Acid / alkali /
neutral
vinegar
5
acid
Sodium
hydroxide
12
alkali
1
Acid
7
neutral
Substance
colour
red
water
Provide a Pattern….
‘Vinegar has a pH value of 5.’
Now make up similar sentences, based on the Table:
x has a pH value of y,
etc …
Follow up….
It is a weak acid / strong acid.
It is a strong alkali.
It is a weaker acid than ….
Alternative access via written work
1.
Pupil is consolidating content of lesson
2.
Pupil is practising sentence patterns of that particular
subject.
3.
Pupil is producing appropriate units of discourse
generalised statement
exemplification
elaboration
clarification
Key Visuals CD
A CD of key visuals templates produced by HLS was issued.
This comprises activities relating to:
– Matching
– Sequencing
– Sorting
– Cause/effect
– Ranking
– Reading
– Writing
– Planning
Reporting back – a strategy for language development
3. Our experiment was to find out what
a magnet attracted. We discovered
that a magnet attracts some kinds of
metal. It attracted the iron filings, but
not the pin. It also did not attract
things that were not metal.
4. A magnet is a piece of metal which is
surrounded by an invisible field of
force within it. It is able to pick up a
piece of steel or iron because its
magnetic field flows into the metal,
turning it into a temporary magnet.
1.
“try this one…..no it doesn’t
go…..it doesn’t move….try
that…..yes..it does a bit….that
won’t work…..it’s not
metal…..these are the best…..it’s
making them go really fast”
2.
2. “We tried a pin, a pencil
sharpener, some iron filings and a
piece of plastic. The magnet didn’t
attract the pin, but it did attract the
pencil sharpener and the iron
filings. It didn’t attract the plastic.”