6.2 EAL English and Humanities Biography unit
Teaching strategies appropriate for students with disrupted
schooling:
By Elena Di Mascolo Dandenong HS
Refugee high needs learners usually bring with them rich experiences from other
cultures and countries. Due to the significant ‘sacrifices’ made to come to Australia,
they are often very willing to learn and have a great determination to honour their
family with academic success. Also, these students often have a greater level of
maturity and a wider perspective gained through their considerable life experiences.
However, due to their background of restricted opportunities in education, the
learning needs of these students are greater than for regular EAL students. They can
be characterised by a lack of formal knowledge of any language and formal learning
of concepts, including number concepts, and a lack of knowledge of information
technologies. Thus, they are learning how to learn at the same time as they are
learning a new language. This can greatly slow their initial development in learning
English and in academic study compared to their regular EAL peers. It is
understandable then, that in a mainstream classroom, EAL students with disrupted
schooling can be quickly overwhelmed and discouraged by the enormity of the
learning challenges they face, unless they are provided with appropriate supports.
A unit on biographies has been used to exemplify suitable strategies to use with these
learners.
Approaches to teaching high needs refugee background
learners
Strategies have been categorised under the following headings:
1. Choosing themes, topics and texts
2. Introducing topics
3. Teaching thinking skills
4. Teaching concepts
5. Teaching subject-specific language (vocabulary)
6. Teaching research skills
7. Preparing worksheets
8. Presenting activities
9. Teaching reading – decoding
10. Teaching reading – comprehension
11. Teaching basic writing skills
12. Teaching text-types
EAL Humanities/Biography unit
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13. Teaching speaking skills
14. Assessing students
Area
Strategies
Examples
CHOOSING
TOPICS and
TEXTS (including
NOVELS)
Topic selection affects inclusion and
engagement. Effective topics:
 relate to the Victorian Essential
learning Standards (VELS) as well as
school curriculum, cultural context
and student experiences
 are at an appropriate level of difficulty
– for both language and concepts
 validate students’ experiences
 value diversity
 give students opportunities to make
authentic links with their personal
experience
 are open to a range of media
 introduce students to local cultural
knowledge and/or the
 Western/English/Australian canon of
knowledge.
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
In English/Humanities, students study biographies
from different cultures as well as the local area and
Australia. Students then go on to write their own
biography on a chosen “successful person”,
developing and utilising basic writing skills.
High needs learners need exposure to a range
of holistic experiences associated with the
topic. They gain access to new experiences
and ideas in context with minimal literacy
demands and with access to mainstream
speakers. These experiences could include:
 visual and kinaesthetic experiences
 narrative forms of knowledge
transmission
 excursions into the community
 demonstrative experiments
 group-work activities
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
To introduce students to biographies, students:
 visit the Immigration Museum
 listen to multicultural speakers from the
local area
 watch a TV interview of an important
Australian figure (Steve Irwin) and
 view and respond to a montage of
pictures of a range of individuals
experiencing success
all in the context of mixed-ability groups of peers.
INTRODUCING
TOPICS
EAL Humanities/Biography unit
HISTORY
The topic “The History of Dandenong” allows for
students to contribute their knowledge, learn
relevant local information, have direct experience
of the site, work with extensive visual and
kinaesthetic sources and contribute to ongoing
history-making.
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Area
Strategies
Value and build on prior learning.
Encourage students to make links with
former knowledge and experiences.
Examples
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
Students engage in a series of short activities
which include:
 completing a survey of their classmates
about events in their lives and comparing
and contrasting these to their own,
 placing five important events in their life
on a joint timeline with others in the class,
and
 discussing the people they have seen as
“successful” and explaining why.
TEACHING
CONCEPTS
Identify and pre-teach core concepts
 Use physical, spatial and social
activities to teach concepts
 Begin with the personal and concrete
and increasingly develop
understanding and application of the
more abstract and remote.
 Give multiple examples and nonexamples
 Specifically show links between the
concrete and abstract.
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
To learn the concept of chronological order before
writing an autobiography,
1. Students observe the teacher putting their
life events in order on a timeline.
2. They then put events in order in teams,
3. They put dates to pictures of events in
their own lives,
4. They stand in order with their classmates
and place the events on a joint timeline.
5. Students then add events from others’
lives, in order.
6. Later, after viewing a biographical
interview, students sequence events in the
person’s life in groups.
TEACHING
THINKING SKILLS
Guide students’ verbal responses to
stimuli (preferably visual) to encourage
the development of higher order thinking
through speaking.
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
As students respond to a montage of photos of
people experiencing success, teachers begin
with students’ raw perceptions then draw links
to develop understanding and use of causal
thinking, use of examples, facts and opinions,
etc.
EAL Humanities/Biography unit
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Area
TEACHING
REASEARCH
SKILLS
Strategies
Research skills are used commonly across
domains. High needs learners need a
differentiated approach.




Provide resources with strong visual
support, as an option for EAL literacy
learners.
Provide data charts, and scaffolds to
suit students’ abilities and explicitly
teach students how to use them,
using a number of texts.
Teach simple referencing, skimming
and scanning and note-taking skills
explicitly.
Teach basic information technology
skills.
EAL Humanities/Biography unit
Examples
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
Students choose a ‘successful’ person to research.
Students are shown how to use a search engine
and find some material (mostly visual) on the
internet.
They are given a biography scaffold booklet”,
which includes:
 pictures and short, simple texts about the
person’s life (including those they
collected)
 captions for each picture
 some samples of highlighting for notetaking
 specific questions to guide research
 a data chart with specific questions,
spaces for notes, cloze sentences and
sentence starters relating to the questions
 a model of a simple, finished biography
Students are explicitly taught how to skim and
scan. They are taught how to note take using a
data chart and reference skills using the model
biography. Note: this will need considerable
practice.
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Area
PREPARING
WORKSHEETS
Strategies
There are a number of techniques which
can transform an impenetrable worksheet
into an effective learning tool. These
include:
 Clear headings and subheadings to
chunk information
 Large and clear font (14 point is most
accessible)
 Use of images – at the top for
overview and throughout to aid
understanding
 Clear and explicit statements of rules,
steps and/or examples
 Activities should be modelled
 Activities are usually best completed
on the page
 Language demands of tasks can be
supported with the use of drawing (to
show comprehension), matching,
multiple choice, cloze exercises, word
banks, sentence starters.
EAL Humanities/Biography unit
Examples
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
To assist students studying the specific language of
biographies, students were given a language study
booklet with each target feature of the language
presented with an explicit, simple explanation of
the grammar rule, pictures and activities utilising
drawing, matching, multiple choice and cloze
exercises.
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Area
PRESENTING
ACTIVITIES
Strategies
Understanding how to do activities can be
more demanding for students than the
task itself. The sequence of steps in a
presentation is very important.
1. Explain the purpose of the activity.
2. Make links between lessons, with
previously learned concepts and with
students’ own knowledge/experience.
3. Explain the activity, clearly, succinctly
and simply.
4. Provide a sample of the finished
product.
5. Model the process first.
6. Provide a demonstration of each step
- this can be written and/or
kinaesthetic, as relevant
7. Record steps for later reference (on
board), with pictures/diagram if
necessary
8. Transfer agency to student(s)
incrementally.
9. Demonstrate again with student(s) to
prepare for independent construction
10. Develop word choices and language
structure options through
demonstration and record on
board/worksheet for students’ future
use
11. Monitor comprehension by having
students repeat or complete
instructions
12. Regularly check progress during the
lesson.
EAL Humanities/Biography unit
Examples
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
When presenting the biography scaffold booklet,
links are drawn with the many preparatory
activities students have participated in.
The task is explained clearly and simply, referring
to the completed model of a biography, provided
in the booklet.
The tasks of note-taking and sentence completion
are modelled by the teacher then completed in
pairs with a feedback/correction stage and finally
completed independently.
Students are given extra assistance as needed.
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Area
TEACHING
READING –
DECODING and
WHOLE WORD
Strategies
Teaching reading at the sound and word
decoding level is often necessary for high
needs students. Teaching needs to be
both explicit and situated in a meaningful
context
 Explicitly teach students how to
decode English language, utilising a
structured program of systematic
phonics using vocabulary students are
familiar with
 Study the most common sight words
in the English language
 Draw links between word groups in
texts which are being read for
meaning in classroom activities
 Play word games regularly, focusing
on word sounds.
EAL Humanities/Biography unit
Examples
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
As well as studying words in the context of their
study of biographies, high needs students
complete regular study of common words,
phonetic word groups and grammar skills in
parallel lessons.
Note: For guidance on teaching decoding skills see
For the EAL Teacher: Teaching Literacy (link)
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Area
TEACHING
READING –
COMPREHENSIO
N
Strategies
Reading comprehension can be slower to
develop in EAL literacy learners than
decoding skills, therefore it is important it
is assessed and tackled explicitly and
regularly. Students need to learn both the
skills for understanding texts at their
reading level as well as skills to access
more difficult, age-appropriate texts.
They also need to learn new vocabulary in
context including correct pronunciation
and word stress.
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Teach and practise before reading,
while reading and after reading
comprehension strategies in context
(when reading for meaning in class),
such as:
previewing,
finding meaning of important/new
words,
predicting,
finding the main idea,
finding the author’s purpose,
visualising,
recalling facts and details,
sequencing,
skimming and scanning and
summarising.
Get students to make graphic
representations of texts they have
read
Arrange a regular home-reading
program where students keep a
reading log of home-reading with
summaries of books read.
EAL Humanities/Biography unit
Examples
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
Whilst “exploring” biographies of varying degrees
of difficulty, before analysing or writing their own,
students are taught previewing in a series of steps
and also taught skimming and scanning skills.
They are given templates to fill in to record their
predictions, main points of interest and to
represent their findings in a graphic organiser. The
purpose of the graphic organiser is explained and
the process of transferring information is modelled
and then completed in pairs.
Specific ‘while reading’ skills eg visualisation are
demonstrated through teacher ‘think alouds’ and
practised in a shared reading approach of a sample
biography.
Students read books of an appropriate level of
difficulty at home and complete summaries which
are scaffolded with a writing frame as a part of a
structured home-reading program.
Students keep a personal dictionary organised into
topics
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Area
TEACHING BASIC
WRITING SKILLS
Strategies
Students should be taught sentence,
paragraph and extended writing
construction explicitly within the context
of personal writing and classroom writing.
Instruction should develop from simple
sentences to more complex sentences and
structures, at a pace which suits the
student(s). Writing should always develop
from the more personal to the more
abstract. Some strategies for developing
basic writing skills are:
 Provide students with models
(sentences/paragraphs/extended
pieces) and scaffolded writing.
Scaffolding techniques might include:
simple models
sentence starters
cloze sentences/paragraphs
word banks
matching activities
 Use journals for regular writing with
regular feedback. Initially teach
students to use simple structures.
Develop from personal reflection,
recount and explore more complex
structures
 Use journal with index book to
develop personal dictionary, Teach
language skills and give short activities
as required and set writing challenges
Develop journal as students’ writing
skills develop. Include:
o drawing with labels
o personal recount
o personal reflection
o summaries/reflections of
books read
o reports on chosen topics
o creative stories
EAL Humanities/Biography unit
Examples
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
While writing their biography, in their biography
scaffold booklet students are given models and
sentence starters for simple sentences which
directly relate to the questions they have
researched. The scaffolding decreases throughout
the booklet, allowing students to increasingly apply
their sentence-writing skills. Students also have
their own language study booklet which lists
words they commonly use in biographies.
Initially, students are explicitly taught how to write
a simple journal entry with a journal writing
worksheet.
Over the course of the year, students complete a
journal with increasing linguistic complexity.
Teachers provide regular feedback and related
exercises, either to prepare students for the next
writing skill or in response to errors which indicate
which language features the student is “ready to
learn”.
Students also record spelling errors from their
journal into their index books and make sentences
using these words.
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Area
Strategies
Examples
TEACHING TEXTTYPES
The first step of learning a new writing genre is
for students to be exposed to many examples
of the genre.
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
Students learning about biographies are exposed
to many biographical texts in a range of media,
including:
 Conversation
 Speeches
 TV Interviews
 Short, simple biographies with
many pictures
 Biographies of interest on the
internet
 Simple biographies which exactly
model the desired outcome
Similarities and differences between the different
media are discussed.
Audio-visual forms of the genre can help to
reinforce the written form, as long as
differences are made explicit.
Each writing genre will have given structures
and language features, which should be
explicitly taught. Students should also be given
opportunities to ‘discover’ the structure and
language features. This can be done in a series
of steps:
 Ask students to identify those
structures which are common to the
range of writing formats they have
been given – through multiple choice,
if necessary
 Define the structures and give
examples
 Ask students to identify the structures
in a simple example
 Where possible, have students use cut
and paste and move around the room
with labelled card to emphasise the
spatial relationships between the
structures
 Reinforce the structures with
activities and games.
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
Initially, students examine a range of biographies
and try to identify common language features and
structures. The parts of the biography are
explained, with examples.
To assist students with writing, use a scaffold
(with proximal examples) or have students
complete shorter activities which can be
collected to form a larger written piece.
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
in the biography scaffold booklet ,notes are
positioned next to related sentence-starters, with
the model attached, so students can transfer their
notes almost directly into the given sentence
structures.
EAL Humanities/Biography unit
Then, based on a short biography students have
already viewed in interview form, they work in
groups to analyse a simple example of the text,
identifying:
 structure – introduction, body of
text (paragraphs with topic
sentences) and conclusion
 language features – third person,
time-markers, linking words,
descriptive words
Students are then given a language study booklet
to learn more about the language features
identified in biographies and are engaged in
related games as a group.
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Area
Strategies
Examples
TEACHING
SPEAKING
SKILLS
EAL literacy learners can initially lack yet crave
the confidence to speak in front of their peers.
Informal talk supports language learning,
through giving students the opportunity to
practise the language they will need in context.
For this reason, it is important to build the
skills and include many opportunities for both
informal and semi-formal speaking, utilising
the following strategies:
 Where possible, have a regular
speaking activity where increasingly
complex speaking forms are practised,
preferably early in the lesson, in a
small group with teacher guidance
and/or in pairs.
 Demonstrate the task and allow time
for guided practice
 Explicitly teach speaking
modalities/registers, especially those
valued in school environments. Eg.
polite forms, negotiating in groups,
expressing emotion appropriately
 Where appropriate, have students
rehearse language they will later write
in spoken form, in pairs or groups eg
in reporting back
 Early in a new unit, if possible, allow
students to participate in multiple
ability grouping to facilitate exposure
to the mainstream students’ language
and understandings and to exchange
of ideas.
 As their skills develop, ensure
opportunities for students to
participate in structured, short
presentations to a group.
 Student’s skills and knowledge should
be thoroughly assessed on their entry
into the class.
 Students can be assessed against the
EAL Companion to VELS using the EAL
Continuum. Care should be taken to
highlight achievements and to explain
their meaning.
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
Early in their study of biographies, students are
engaged in the following types of conversations
and speaking opportunities:
 conversations about events in their own
lives
 short and informal interviews of
classmates
 groups/whole class discussion of
biographies viewed, read
 reporting back to whole class on
discussions allowing opportunities for the
teacher to recast language
 short, sequencing activities with
classmates
 discussion of people they consider
successful
 collaborative group-work on sequencing
and labelling the writing format
 sharing of research findings
 oral presentation of finished biographies
ASSESSMENT
EAL Humanities/Biography unit
ENGLISH/HUMANITIES
There is ongoing assessment throughout the unit.
Assessment includes dated observations against a
checklist of student skills based on the EAL
Developmental Continuum.
The final assessment activity, the production of a
biography is assessed using a rubric which
highlights strengths of their piece and areas for
improvement.
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