Developing Competence
These strategies support pupils who have been assessed at "Developing Competence" acquisition of English. The EAL Primary profile or the EAL Secondary 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
DARTs activities (Directed Activities Related to Text)
ask focused questions to check or confirm understanding of text
Listening and Talking
devise collaborative tasks such as problem solving/information seeking activities
support extended listening with tape and book or through Literacy Toolbox
check pupils’ understanding by questioning and encourage them to ask questions
enable contributions to presentations and demonstrations and give independent feedback at plenary
engage pupil in informal conversation to develop fluency and confidence
provide time for pupils to initiate talk and give thinking time for responses
encourage partner talk and reporting back (think, pair, share) with good language model peers
play games to practice positional & descriptive language including substitution tables
provide keyword cards as aide memoirs for listening and retelling
extend range of vocabulary through homework activities (in home language and English)
make language topic displays and word banks
highlight and encourage the recording of keywords and sentence structures for all lessons
topic specific barrier games to develop use of key vocabulary
provide opportunities for pupils to rehearse and consolidate new language structures orally in pairs/groups
Reading
pick out key words (g. underlining, highlighting) to help understanding
preview text (g. pre teach key words prior to meeting in text, ideas, subject matter, share similar stories) and use mindmaps etc
establish peer modelling and provide opportunities to talk about text pictures/illustrations with a partner
encourage re-reading
use teacher/adult-led shared reading strategies
listen to stories for intonation / developing reading stamina
set up role play activities / act out play scripts
reinforce subject specific language
use visual / audio / video support for text
provide opportunities to link reading to personal experiences
provide a framework to ask / answer questions about the text eg. who, what, where grid
write book reviews
make cross-curricular references, links and glossaries (mono and bilingual)
use collaborative reading activities eg information gap, jigsaw reading etc.
processes, matching the beginning and ends of sentences etc
ask pupil to find/match/highlight letters in words, words in texts, phrases in texts
ask pupil to transfer or remodel information from a text into a key visual by using graphic organisers such as tables, classifying information, sequencing of key points
encourage prediction about text content using visual and contextual cues
Use strategies such as SOLO taxonomy to develop higher order thinking and collaborative learning
Writing
provide visual stimuli for pupils to write from eg. photos, video, artefacts
talk about the structure of English and possible similarities and differences with other languages eg. different word order, articles etc. (Omniglot details some common challenges speakers of other languages have)
provide opportunities to rehearse before writing
encourage paired work and peer evaluation
Use activities such as Dictogloss to practice note taking and use to develop writing
play games / provide activities to help understanding and use of prepositions, match nouns and pronouns, teach articles
provide support for pupils to match simple sentence starters to sentence endings, then ask pupil to copy complete sentences
ask pupil to sort/sequence simple jumbled sentences
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
model writing for the pupil and providing good examples
use writing frames to scaffold questions leading to how / why question
introduce different connectives/conjunctions Connectives and starters word list – basic or Connectives and starters word list – advanced eg because, so, then, but, however etc
encourage students to learn from their mistakes and use Correction Code
encourage pupils to punctuate while writing
ask pupil to read back the sentences to see if they ’sound right’, use Clicker 6 to do this
pre teach new words through providing interactive display g. of new or key words
encourage the ongoing use of dual language/English to English dictionary as appropriate