LEARNING IN 2 LANGUAGES

1
LEARNING IN 2 LANGUAGES

• Ensuring Effective Inclusion for Bilingual
  Learners
• Training Materials

2
The Education of Bilingual Learners in the
Current Scottish Context
3
Legislation

• The needs of Bilingual Learners are embedded in
  Scottish Educational Legislation
• The Education (Additional Support for Learning )
  (Scotland) Act 2004
• The Standards in Scotlands Schools etc Act 2000
• The Children (Scotland) Act 1995
• The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
• National Priorities and Ambitious Excellent
  Schools

4
Introduction to Bilingualism

• Learners with English as an Additional
• Language (EAL) come from all types of social,
  educational,
• linguistic, emotional and cultural backgrounds.

5
Definition of Bilingualism

• Bilingual Learners
• are learners who function in more than one
  language in their daily lives

6
Myths

• The brain has a limited capacity for language
• First language is a barrier to second language
• Second language acquisition can only be
  successful at the expense of the first

7
Current Research

• The brain has unlimited capacity for learning
• The more you learn, the more you can learn

8
Dual Iceberg Theory

• Language 1 Language 2

9
Benefits of Bilingualism

• Greater knowledge of how language works
• Enhanced problem-solving abilities
• Heightened creative potential
• Greater appreciation of language use

• Aids development of decoding and other literacy
  skills
• Helps with additional language learning
• Useful for Maths and ICT
• Helps with writing and critical understanding
• Aids recognition of context and audience

10
One wheel can get you places.
So can a big wheel and a little wheel.
However, when your wheels are nicely balanced and
fully inflated youll go safer,further and
faster.
adapted from Cummins,J 1981
11
Meeting the Needs of Bilingual Learners

• Good practice for bilingual learners is good
  practice for all learners
• Bilingual learners bring diversity to monolingual
  learners
• There are cognitive benefits for monolingual
  learners who work with bilingual learners

12
Language Proficiency

• Social Purposes

• Academic Purposes

13
The Multilingual School
14
New Arrivals and Beginners in English

• Welcoming, Accessible and Structured Approach
  at Enrolment
• Effective and Accurate Information Gathering
• Referral to the EAL Service
• Appropriate, Supportive and Challenging
  Educational Programme, within the Mainstream
  Curriculum

15
Strategies for Supporting Beginners in English

• General
• Speaking and Listening
• Reading
• Writing
• Vocabulary

16
Strategies for Supporting Beginners in English

• Present exercises using English and Dual
  Language Dictionaries
• Develop glossaries of vocabulary related to
  subject
• Highlight key words to list in alphabetical order
• Emphasise five key points of lesson
• Provide sentences, based on topic, to order
• Compose sentence halves to be matched
• Create gaps in sentences to be filled
• Form True/False statements

17
Supporting the Development of English as an
Additional Language in the Classroom
18
Planning and Managing Appropriate EAL Support

• Class and Group Allocation
• Planning for EAL Learners
• Functions and Role of the EAL Service

19
Class and Group Allocation

• Place in appropriate group for age
• Take account of previous educational background
• Involve in mainstream activities from the start
• Mix with articulate speakers of English
• Consult EAL Staff

20
Implications for Teachers

• Careful grouping
• Level and type of support
• Underperformance in Written Tasks and Formal
  Assessment
• Discrepancies in expected progress

• Take account of learner potential and advantages
  of collaborative learning
• Respond to findings from careful monitoring
• Take account of social fluency and ability with
  academic language
• Check tasks and assessments are appropriately
  scaffolded
• Be aware that passive language skills develop
  faster than expressive
• Language may not progress in line with
  curriculum. Additional support required.

21
Presentation of Class Task

• Cummins Model
• Plan lesson with quadrant in mind
• Avoid red sector, whenever possible
• Support bilingual learners to cognitive demand,
  with little contextual clue, by working through
  sector which is green

Cognitively Demanding
Context Reduced
Context Embedded
Cognitively undemanding
22
Planning for EAL Learners

• What does the learner bring to the task?
• What are the task demands?
• What additional support needs to be planned?

• Social processes
• Cognitive processes
• Linguistic processes

23
Appropriate Support for EAL Learners

• Holistic approach
• Interaction
• Independence in learning

24
Holistic Approach

• Gather and share all relevant information
• Value and utilise home languages for learning
• Plan for individual cultural identities and for
  the diversity reflected in Scottish schools

Reproduced from the UNESCO Courier
25
Interaction

• Discuss aim and purpose of learning
• Activate previous knowledge
• Build in collaborative working
• Ensure cognitive challenge

26
Independence in Learning

• Teacher acts as mediator for learning
• Methods used are based on learning styles and
  educational/cultural background
• Challenges are met and risks taken with learning
• Reflection on knowledge as integral aspect of
  lesson

27
Functions and Role of EAL Support Staff

• Strategic Support
• Support school policies to meet the requirements
  of the current legislative framework and promote
  best practice
• Contribute to staff development

28
Functions and Roles of EAL Staff

• Operational Support
• Work collaboratively to support the planning,
  review and assessment process
• Provide support which may involve direct teaching
  to individual learners or to groups which include
  native speakers of English

29
Partnership with Parents and Carers
30
Welcoming Parents and Carers
31
Assessing the Progress of Bilingual Learners
32
Holistic Assessment

• In particular
• Prior knowledge and skills brought to learning in
  English
• First Language Proficiency - listening, speaking,
  reading and writing
• Length of time spent within an education system

33
Language Support Needs

• Ability to communicate
• Success with accessing the curriculum
• Mastery of technical aspects of language

34
Stages of English Language Acquisition

• New to English
• Early Acquisition
• Developing Competence
• Competent
• Fluent

35
Tools for Assessment

• Formative assessment
• Regular in-class observation
• Samples of language use in English and First
  Language
• Class work and writing in both languages
• Summative assessment and use of published test
  materials

36
Bilingual Learners with Other Additional Support
Needs

• There will be a Range of Other Additional Support
  Needs as
• encompassed by the Additional Support for
  Learners Act (2004)

Good Practice Build up a profile over time
through careful tracking of progress Early
identification Reliant on accurate and
complete enrolment information and
continuity with regard to family links
Need to determine whether lack of
progress is due to English as an
Additional Language Development or to Learning
Difficulty
37
Evidence Gathering

• Language background EAL and home language
• Educational background/experience
• Possibility of similar difficulties in the home
  language
• Teachers observations
• Potential problems with standardised tests
• School and outside factors which may affect
  learning

It is important to assess
38
Planning and Mechanism for Review of Support

• Collate information from all staff who work with
  the learner and from parents/carers
• Involve parents/carers throughout
• Seek and take account of the views of the learner
• Draw up an appropriate support plan and agree to
  review on a regular basis
• Work within the schools staged support system

Refer to all principles within Learning in 2
Languages throughout the process