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These strategies support pupils who have been assessed at "Confident" acquisition of English. The EAL Profile shows the level which the pupil is working on. If the strategies are highlighted there are resource materials available by clicking on the highlighted text.
Teachers and pupils are encouraged to work across the 3 modes of language – integrating listening & talking, reading and writing into all activities, topics or themes.
Common Strategies
Common Strategies
DARTs activities (Directed Activities Related to Text)
ask focused questions to check or confirm understanding of text
Listening and Talking
Listening and Talking
devise collaborative tasks that will necessitate extended speaking
set up problem-solving activities
give independent feedback at plenary as well as encouraging partner talk and reporting back (think, pair, share) with good language model peers
check pupils’ understanding using formative assessment strategies
provide activities to model and practise language for different settings and audiences
higher order thinking: elicit language for higher order thinking (explain, predict, hypothesise, evaluate). Provide language structures for these functions (e.g. I think; it might be; it could be … because, I disagree)
enable contributions to presentations and demonstrations
engage pupil in informal conversation to develop fluency and confidence
provide time for pupils to initiate talk and give thinking time for responses
ask guided questions for varied roles e.g. interviews / enterprise tasks etc
provide opportunities for pupils to play games to practise positional & descriptive language including substitution tables
extend range of vocabulary through homework activities (in home language and English)
complex processes or topic specific barrier games to develop use of key vocabulary
make language topic displays, word banks and glossaries
provide a range of thesauruses and dictionaries (including bilingual dictionaries)
encourage the use of translation tools for words and phrases only
use of a personal vocabulary jotter
be aware of language needed for academic success for example tier 2 words (inc assessments)
Reading
Reading
pick out key words or events; unknown words (eg. underlining, highlighting), annotate text
explain cultural references/nuances/homonyms/idioms, including ambiguous phrases and hidden meanings
provide dictionary/thesaurus work
reinforce subject-specific language and use vocabulary building strategies: word banks at appropriate level, crosswords, word searches, matching vocabulary with definitions etc
identify and highlight specific language structures associated with particular types of text/genres to support pupils’ understanding and control of style/tone/genre etc
scaffold questions leading to how / why questions
ask specific skimming questions
ask specific scanning questions
use colour coding/numbering etc to identify different types of information in text
discuss symbolism/allegory
use running dictation
ask pupils to match headlines to pictures/titles to texts e.g. in textbooks, newspapers
ask pupils to identify topic sentences of paragraphs
use Reciprocal Reading techniques (predicting, clarifying, questioning and summarising) to engage pupils with text, giving each a role/responsibility within a group reading task
encourage pupils to look for bias and recognise different perspectives of a common event
make cross-curricular references, links and glossaries (mono and bilingual)
Writing
Writing
talk about the structure of English within the context of the text, e.g. parts of speech, differences between spoken and written language
provide opportunities to rehearse before writing
encourage paired work, possibly with writing partners, to brainstorm ideas before writing and discuss the context and then peer evaluation afterwards
Use activities such as Dictogloss to practice note taking and use to develop writing
clearly organise information on the board using graphic organisers and provide simple grids or tables for pupils to complete
use gap fill exercises or cloze procedure to develop awareness of synonyms
model writing for the pupil and provide lots of different examples
use writing frames to scaffold first attempts and to encourage paragraphs and structure
encourage students to learn from their mistakes and use Correction Code
encourage pupils to punctuate to clarify meaning while writing
ask pupils to read back the writing to check for flow and continuity
pre-teach new words and broaden the vocabulary around the theme through providing interactive display e.g. of new or key words
develop awareness of word families (eg photograph, photography etc) and semantic awareness (eg volume in music and science)
encourage the ongoing use of dual language/English dictionary as appropriate
Focus on grammar patterns by drawing pupils' attention to different aspects of grammar, while teaching the subject content
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