Strategies for Working
in Secondary Subject
Classrooms
SATEAL
March 2013
Aims
To consider:
How we can meet the learning needs of
bilingual learners in subject
classrooms.
Strategies that can be used to support
learning in the classroom .
Aberdeenshire Council
2 different scenarios:
• Some Secondary Schools with 10% or
more of bilingual pupils
• Some Secondary Schools with 1% or
less of bilingual pupils
Schools with 10% or more
School
Department
Classroom Teacher
EAL / Teacher
collaboration
School
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EAL Policy
Class allocation
Access previous reports
Timetable
Pupil Induction
Pupil EAL profiles accessible to all
teaching staff
Departments
• CPD
• EAL Policy
• Intranet access to bank of
translated resources
• SQA AAA
• Pupil folio
Classroom Teacher
Learner
• Pupil profile
• Acknowledge prior
learning
• High expectations
• Exam ‘readiness’
• SQA AAA
EAL not SfL
Learning
• Cummins Quadrant
• DARTs
• Translated resources
• Flexible grouping
• Cooperative teaching
• Differentiated
resources
SfL support
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Identify opportunities to use L1
Target subject language
Analyse demands of the lesson
Identify and plan for language learning
opportunities
• Resources
• Praise success
• Raise self esteem
EAL Collaboration
Planning
• Subject topic-content, knowledge,
understanding, skills
• Learning aims and outcomes
• Teaching activities
• Resources
• Pupil tasks and targets
• Pupil grouping
• Monitoring and Recording progress
• Assessment
Accessing the Curriculum
• ‘Learners acquire English best through
engagement with mainstream learning tasks
rather than from a specific English course
book.
• As learners hear and read English they are
actively involved in working out the
structure and rules of the language.’
(Page 13: Learning in 2+ Languages)
 Ensure that differentiation is on a linguistic and not
cognitive basis.
 Remember, support strategies for EAL learners will
benefit all learners within the classroom.
Schools with 1% or less
Prioritise timetable:
• New arrivals with low level of
language acquisition at any stage
• Senior pupils with 3 or less for their
level of language acquisition
First Things First!
Liaising with class teachers:
• Information about the pupil
• Information about pupil’s L1
• Advise on good dictionaries
• Provide translated resources
available
• Reinforce that Google Translate
cannot be relied on!
Strategies
Strategies for Supporting Bilingual
Learners
•
General
•
Speaking and
Listening
•
Reading
•
Writing
•
Vocabulary
Speaking and Listening
•
Make language structures explicit in lesson objectives and planning.
•
Model and explain the purpose and form of the language
structures
•
Set expectations for using formal language in presentations. Model
it first.
•
Display key vocabulary only for that lesson.
•
Group pupils with peer support and clear criteria for lesson
objectives / outcomes.
•
Allow opportunity for rehearsal – talk.
•
Encourage active listening- invite comments and questions
•
Provide a purpose for listening.
•
Demonstrate the use of listening frames.
Reading
• Model and describe the strategies – skimming,
scanning, reading on, using images.
• Use DARTs to access text and focus on the
information they need. Use colour to highlight.
• Paired reading
• Use gap filling information sheet/ close reading
questions to create notes for future writing.
• Encourage underlining of unfamiliar words.
• Allow annotating of text
Writing
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Model writing
Shared writing
Exemplars/sharing of good examples
Scaffold - writing frames
Structured questions – answers used to create
continuous prose.
Paragraph headings.
Quotes sheets.
Diagnostic marking and writing targets.
Thesaurus /collocations/dictionaries
Speaking and listening
Task:
Choose a subject lesson
• How are bilingual pupils involved in
speaking and listening activities?
• Are there opportunities for pupils to use
their first language?
• Discuss ways in which speaking and
listening skills can be further developed in
the lesson. List 3 strategies.
Reading
Task:
Choose a subject where an aspect of reading
is challenging for bilingual pupils.
• What do you currently do to support
reading tasks in a lesson?
• Discuss opportunities for text analysis
which encourage focus on information they
need.
• Identify 3 strategies which could be
developed for the chosen subject.
Writing
Task:
Choose a subject where an aspect of writing is challenging for
bilingual pupils.
• What do you currently do to support writing tasks in a
lesson?
• Are there opportunities for pupils to use their first
language?
• Discuss ways in which writing skills can be encouraged and
developed further in the lesson.
• Identify 3 strategies for writing that could be developed
for the chosen subject.
Some Strategies for
Specific Subjects
English
• L1 books
RATOS E HOMENS
Resumo e comentários da obra clássica de John E. Steinbeck
Obra: Of Mice and Men
Título em português: Ratos e Homens
Autor: John Ernst Steinbeck (Prêmio Nobel de Literatura
em 1962)
Ano: 1937 (original) e 1976 (ed. brasileira, traduzida por
Érico Veríssimo)
• Resumo do Livro
A história trata sobre o relacionamento de dois homens:
George Milton e Lennie Small.
English
• Graded readers
English
Differentiated resources sometimes
available at:
–Teachit www.teachit.co.uk/
–TES http://www.tes.co.uk/teachingresources/
•Plan for writing task with clear structure
•Scaffolding writing task – writing the first
sentence is always difficult
•Group or pair work
English
Use of dictionary:
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Oxford Student’s Dictionary (ISBN-13:978 0 19 431746 7)
Oxford Student’s Dictionary - book +CD ROM
(ISBN-13:978 0 19 431747 4)
Oxford Wordpower Dictionary for learners of English (ISBN-0 19 4315169)
Oxford Wordpower Polish-English (ISBN-13:978 0 19 431697 2)
Oxford River Books – English-Thai Dictionary (ISBN 0 19 956291 6)
Oxford Russian Dictionary (hardcover) (ISBN-13:978 0 19 8614203)
Oxford Picture Dictionary English-Spanish Edition (ISBN 978-0194740098)
Oxford Picture Dictionary English-Chinese Edition (ISBN 978-0194740128)
Oxford Picture Dictionary English-Thai Edition (ISBN 0 19 474018 0)
DK
DK
DK
DK
French English Visual Bilingual Dictionary (ISBN - 9781 4053 11205)
Chinese/English Visual bilingual Dictionary (ISBN – 978-140532916 3)
Spanish/English Visual bilingual Dictionary (ISBN – 978-140531106 9)
Polish/English Visual bilingual Dictionary (ISBN – 978 1 4053 3106 7)
Maths
Inform teacher of different
notation around the world!
Addition
Subtraction
Multiplication
b)
Division
Decimal point ,
Maths
+
–
x . * or ab (meaning a x
÷ : /
or . or · or even just a space
Maths
Numeral systems used in Arabic
mathematical notation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Arabic_mathematical_notation
Maths
Make teachers aware of:
• The use of calculator
• Different methods for subtracting
and dividing
Physics
Acceleration Equation
Where:
v - u
a
t
a is the acceleration in m/s²
u is the initial (starting)
velocity in m/s
v is the final velocity in m/s
t is the time it takes for the
velocity to change from u
to v in s
Physics
Acceleration Equation
Possible difficulties:
Understand what the lines mean in the
triangle
Vocabulary
Lack of previous knowledge
How to say m/s²
Physics
Calculate Initial Velocity
v – u = at
Possible difficulties:
• Know that the two letters together
mean multiplication
• Know the mathematical method to
solve the problem
Strategies for Science and
Practical Classes
• Print out from the board
• Collaboration with the teacher
• Use a dictionary or tablet for translation of key
words
• Have the revision book for the subject
• Use the BBC Bitesize website
• Past papers with marking instructions
• Scholar
• Structured Study
• Homework and lunch clubs
Obrigada!
• Any questions?