EAL Schemes of Work

[Joanna Knapik]

Dear All

I have been  requested to produce detailed Mid-Term Plans-Schemes of Work for all all EAL interventions/lessons I run.

 It includes KS3 EAL lessons, Induction classes, KS4 Options, Step up to  English (Fixed SOW). They are  expected to look like mainstream subjects' SOWs.

My SOWs are flexible and adapted on a weekly basis depending on my learners' needs and on what is happening in mainstream lessons.

 If I produce the above documents according to the given template (the same as mainstream subjects), they will not reflect authentic work I do with my students.

I would really appreciate any advice/guidance.

Regards

Joanna Knapik

EAL Teacher

Bishop Justus CE School

[Stuart Scott]

Hi Joanna

No colleague has responded to your email so far. The reason for this is probably not that the situation you are in is unusual. Inexperienced members of leadership teams, unfortunately, make inappropriate and naive demands. Teachers working with EAL pupils expend a lot of energy and imagination getting their hands on and heads around subject teachers' schemes of work in order to refine their formative assessment and develop appropriate next steps for the pupils they teach. 

I am no longer working in school, but when I did, I made a conscious effort to divide my time equally between crisis and development: half my time crafting 'next steps' for particular pupils and half my time working with subject colleagues to reduce the need for picking up the pieces by jointly developing EAL friendly mainstream lessons.  That meant I acquired a group of subject teacher colleagues who robustly defended how I spent my time and were good advocates when leadership questioned my work.

I do not know the climate you work in, but I do know that the opportunities to talk to colleagues, let alone plan together, have greatly diminished. Rest assured that you are doing the right thing but look around for allies to help you defend your practice.

Best wishes, Stuart

Collaborative Learning Project. A teacher network sharing talk for learning resources.

www.collaborativelearning.org

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[Catharine]

Dear Joanna,

Like Stuart, It is some time since I was an EAL HOD, however, I completely agree with your desire to remain flexible and responsive to the mainstream. Stuart has made many good suggestions about enlisting mainstream support, but this may also depend on what you can do for them!  Here are some more ideas to support your position. 

Do you have detailed provision maps demonstrating the expected coverage/outcomes of each sequence of lessons for specific cohorts of pupils and specific subjects? E.g. for year 7 proficiency A/B who have missed some years of Primary Education would also need language for Maths and some coverage of the Primary Maths curriculum. I have an old SOW I can share for this. 

Can you also provide teaching/ support for all core subjects as well as English at KS4? Maths and Science are just as important and are an entitlement for all. Be clear and transparent about the difference between the Step up English and the KS4 option (which ideally should support other GCSE subjects) Ensure that all English language teaching is in the service of the curriculum and explain to your leaders what Content Language integrated Learning ( CLIL) is. I certainly provided a scheme of work for my KS4 option class which included a lot of Science language work (as I was also supporting the mainstream lessons) 

But if there is just one of you, don't try and cover it all - maybe work with one department/subject each term to build good working relationships across the school. 

Do get in touch directly if you'd like to see some of my (slightly dated!) SOWs and provision map ideas. 

Catharine