Advice on curriculum review- withdrawal from MFL as oppposed to Maths for KS3 Literacy

[Anwar Khan]

Dear Colleagues,

 

I'm looking for some advice or references/quotes before submitting comments for our schools' curriculum review.

 

Currently, new arrivals in KS3 are withdrawn from 1 Maths lesson per week to work in small groups to develop their literacy, oracy, social skills and confidence, until they no longer need the additional sessions.

 

As a result of our curriculum review, its proposed that EAL learners/ other learners with low levels of literacy, be withdrawn from MFL (Modern Languages) to develop their literacy.

 

My current understanding is that MFL supports learners overall language development, as it builds on what's common - CUP, Cummins' common underlying proficiency, and in this way benefits all subjects.

 

Before I submit my comments, suggesting that its not the best subject from where we should withdraw our learners, I'd like to hear some other views/guidance.

 

Many thanks for your time.

 

Regards

Anwar

 

 

 

 

            Anwar Khan

                Language Development Department

Plumstead Manor School & Sixth Form

Wickham Lane, London SE2 0XX

 

Tel:  07807 677 771(mobile) 

Fax: 020 8320 5249 

www.plumsteadmanor.com 

 

[Ann Horton]

It depends on whether or not the new arrivals are mid-term entries. We withdraw EAL students from MFL if we have mid-term entries who have never done any of our languages on offer before, since they would then be having to catch up in another language as well as learning English.

Many of our lower level EAL students who arrive at the normal time in year 7 do remain in MFL as well. We always discuss with parents what they and their child want to do, if the level of English is really low. Currently we have quite a lot of withdrawals even in year 7, but most of these did not arrive at the start of year 7, had NO English and will do a "home language" GCSE at some point in their school career.

In general our school does withdraw low-literacy pupils from MFL - not a decision I was involved in.

Ann

---

From: Anwar Khan <anwar...@plumsteadmanor.com>
To: "eal-bi...@googlegroups.com" <eal-bi...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2013 2:16 PM
Subject: [EAL-Bilingual;2520] Advice on curriculum review- withdrawal from MFL as oppposed to Maths for KS3 Literacy

--
This group is managed by NALDIC, the UK's EAL Professional Association. Please visit our website for further information: www.naldic.org.uk
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "EAL-bilingual" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to eal-bilingua...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send an email to eal-bi...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/eal-bilingual?hl=en-GB.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.