Ways in which EAL students may differ - Essex Primary SCITT



Ways in which EAL students may differ

(Learning and teaching in secondary schools – Viv Ellis)

|Where they were born and |In the UK or overseas. May have moved a lot between or within countries or may have always lived in the same place. May have parents |

|where they have lived |from more than one country who speak different languages. May have come from country/countries, experiencing war or internal |

| |conflict. May have come from a very secure and settled background and this is their first move to a new place. |

|Their schooling |May have attended schools in countries where the following are very different to England: |

|experiences and learning |the starting age |

|styles |how classrooms are arranged |

| |what is expected in terms of behaviour and showing what you know and have learned |

| |student-teacher relationships |

| |and where: |

| |there are better or poorer or very different resources for learning |

| |schooling has been severely disrupted due to conflict, war, etc |

|The languages they speak |There is no simple relationship between home-one language, school – another language. Many EAL students will speak one language with |

|and have expertise in |one parent, another language with the other, perhaps a different language with siblings, other relatives. May have a language for |

| |spiritual practices that is different to the language they use socially with relatives. May have very different levels of expertise |

| |in their different languages. |

|Their knowledge of spoken |This will vary depending on previous educational and social experiences. Some will be able to read English quite well or fluently, |

|and written English |but not speak it and vice versa. Some will know dialect or ‘pidgin’ forms of English. Some will be complete beginners in English |

|Their spiritual and |EAL students will come from all faith groups. Even when they share a religion/faith there can be large differences in belief and |

|cultural practices |practice. Care needs to be taken not to assume that all Christians, or all Muslims, practice their faith in the same way. Children |

| |may be involved in learning outside school in community and religious classes. These may have very different learning and teaching |

| |practices to the mainstream English classroom, while not detracting from the children’s learning in their English school. |

|Their socio - economic |Some learners (and/or their parents) will be from middle-class homes, the children of professionals (e.g. doctors, university |

|status |lecturers, dentists); some learners will come from working-class backgrounds and/or from very rural/agriculture-based backgrounds. |

| |Learners and their families will therefore have differing access to social, cultural and economic resources (like all learners in our|

| |schools). |

|The value placed on their |Some will speak languages that are highly valued in England (e.g. French, Italian, German) whilst others will speak languages that |

|mother tongue and the |are undervalued (e.g. Bengali). |

|languages they use outside| |

|school | |

|Their gender and ethnicity|For example, assumptions and expectations exist in the UK about South-East Asian girls and boys. Assumptions are made about ethnicity|

|and other people’s |and about families. In addition, many EAL learners are also minority ethnic students and experience name-calling and other forms of |

|responses to these aspects|racism in and outside school. |

|of their identity | |

|The amount of time they |Some EAL learners will have been born and lived all their lives in the UK; they will be EAL learners because they speak and use |

|have lived in the UK and |languages other than English in the home (and sometimes in the community). Some EAL learners will have just arrived in the UK and be |

|will continue to live in |settling into a new home and country. Some may have moved within the UK. Some EAL learners will only be living and going to school |

|the UK |in the UK for one or two years (learners whose parents are in the UK on short-term contracts in universities, hospitals or in the |

| |private or agricultural sectors) while for others the UK is their permanent home and they will complete their schooling in the UK. |

|Their life experiences |Some EAL learners will have lived very secure and settled lives; others will have lived very mobile livers; others will be asylum |

| |seekers and refugees and may be living in the UK without their families. These learners may have recently experienced violence and |

| |trauma. |

|Their school and community|Some EAL learners will be attending school and living in communities where there are other people who share their languages, cultural|

|setting |and faith practices and ethnicity, while others will be the only or one of a few EAL students in their school. They may be the only |

| |child who speaks a particular language and may be the only member of a particular faith group. They may not live close to people who |

| |share their cultural and faith practices or ethnicity. |

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