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EAL/D learning at home

In order to effectively support the needs of EAL/D students in learning across the curriculum, teachers should identify the language and literacy demands as well as any cultural and conceptual knowledge underlying the curriculum and texts used in class programs.

Virtual learning platforms allow students and teachers to learn flexibly. The Microsoft Community team has resources to support teachers in using Microsoft Teams to support and continue students' learning through remote access.

Immersive Reader is a learning tool available across multiple platforms (Word, OneNote, Microsoft Edge) that provides written and spoken home language translation for a range of existing and teacher constructed texts. Immersive reader also has a built-in picture dictionary which can support students to link words with concepts.

Scaffolding for EAL/D students online

Online learning can present challenges for EAL/D students as teacher feedback and oral scaffolding may not be immediate or dynamic. There can be a greater demand on the student to access texts and produce language independently which might otherwise be scaffolded live by the teacher. This can be addressed through additional planned scaffolding using strategies such as:

  • Concept maps and graphic organisers. Advice and examples can be found at the English Textual Concepts webpage. These might be completed by the teacher and provided as a pre-reading overview to aid comprehension, or they might be completed by the student when engaging with a text.
  • Features of Google Classroom such as the assignment function and shared documents allow individualised formative feedback on student drafts.
  • Copyright-free images provide visual support for vocabulary and concepts and can be sourced from websites such as ph. These can be used to support literal comprehension and critical literacy.

Task instructions should be explicit and transparent as the online setting may limit EAL/D students’ opportunities to ask for clarification.

Consider the needs of newly arrived EAL/D students including accessibility to quality, explicit and highly scaffolded learning.

Teachers need to:

  • determine which students have online access at home and which students will need resources printed and provided to them
  • prepare a timetable for your students which includes:
    • visual support and links to learning
    • when to use specific resources
    • supports them to effectively manage their time and understand learning expectations
    • explicitly teach students ways in which they can practice their English at home
    • centre the learning around a rich task and sequence tasks where the language will be modelled and practised.

When preparing teaching and learning resources, it is essential that teachers consider the challenges that newly arrived EAL/D students may encounter:

  • Do students know how to access the websites, apps or resources required?
  • What non-digital resources can students access?
  • Are instructions clear and in plain English?
  • What built-in scaffolding has been provided, for example, first language support, visuals, audio and content presented in multiple ways?
  • Does the student have a family member or sibling who can assist with learning? What home language supports have been provided for example, bilingual picture dictionaries or texts, access to translating tools?
  • How can feedback be provided at the point of need? What structures are in place to be able to provide timely, appropriate and effective feedback to students?

Students from refugee backgrounds may find disruptions to normal school routines challenging. They may also have difficulty accessing online learning from home. It is important to ensure students and their families understand the reasons for any disruptions to normal school routines, using interpreters, if necessary.

Resources are allocated to schools with recently enrolled students from refugee backgrounds to enable them to provide additional targeted support. Schools with newly arrived students from a refugee background may wish to direct students and families to The Welcome Program resource. This resource helps schools provide an orientation to school in NSW.

For more information about how schools support students from refugee backgrounds, see supporting refugee students.

The Henry Parkes Equity Resource Centre library houses over 45,000 resources including multi-media classroom resources. Borrowing items from the library is free for all teachers, with items mailed directly to schools. Bilingual books and dictionaries are also available from the library in a range of languages. All students in intensive English settings can be provided with the Thematic Picture Dictionary and workbook. This resource is suitable for Stage 3 and secondary students.

The library is currently closed to visitors but is still open for online borrowing. Teachers can access the library's resource catalogue online. For more information please visit the Henry Parkes Equity Resource Centre webpage.

Model and share the following strategies with your students so they can continue to practise their English at home.

Hands on learning and drawing

Provide students with word cards with visuals or a bilingual picture dictionary (for example, shapes, colours, family) to complete the following:

  • Make patterns using blocks or toys. Draw your pattern. What pattern did you make? (colours, shape) Write the pattern under your drawing (for example, circle, square, circle or red, blue, red).
  • Draw a house using different coloured shapes. Label the shapes and colours. Tell someone about your picture.
  • Draw a picture of your family. Label the people in your family. Tell someone about your picture.
  • Draw a bird’s eye view of your house. Label the different rooms. Make a model of your house using recyclable materials.
  • Design a game board and write instructions using home language or English. Play the game with a family member explaining how to play in English.

Using toys:

  • Practice asking and responding to questions on familiar topics, for example, your home, your family, your friends, your day.
  • Use toys to role-play different scenarios/ activities or example, buying or selling from a shop. Practice asking and responding to questions or example, Can I please have 2 apples?
  • Put your toys into different groups. Talk about the groups you made or example, 'These toys are bears.' 'These toys are trucks.' 'These toys are big.' 'These toys are small.'

Using catalogues and newspapers:

  • Cut and paste groups of pictures, for example, food (fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy), clothes (shorts, t-shirts, dresses, shoes), things in different rooms in the house (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom). Write the names of each item using a bilingual picture dictionary.
  • Write English words on sticky notes and stick them to the items around the house, for example, TV, chair, door.
  • Cut and paste food items into everyday foods and sometimes foods. Explain your choices to someone.
  • Choose a picture and talk to someone about it. What is the picture of? What is happening in the picture? Why do you like it?

Using a sight word list:

  • find sight words in a newspaper article and circle or highlight. How many of each word did you find?
  • make sight words using letters from catalogues or newspapers
  • write each sight word in a sentence. Read your sentences to a family member or friend.

Talking and listening activities

  • Interview a parent or sibling in first language or English asking them about their likes and dislikes (foods, activities, TV shows, sports). Draw some of their favourite things, label them or write a sentence.
  • Listen to a story. Tell someone what the story was about.
  • Make up your own story and tell it to a friend or family member or record it.
  • Help someone prepare a meal. Talk about the ingredients and the steps. Draw and write about how you made the meal.

Free writing

  • Draw pictures of things you do each day. Write words or sentences that match each picture.

Television

  • Choose one of a television shows selected by your teacher. After watching the show, tell someone what the show was about. Tell them what you enjoyed and what you didn’t enjoy.

Model and share the following strategies with your students so they can continue to practise their English at home.

Using a free local newspaper

  • Read an article and make a dot point summary.
  • Read an article and make a paragraph summary and your response to the article. Do you agree/disagree? Why? How does it make you feel?
  • Choose one paragraph and highlight the punctuation such as capital letters, full-stops, commas and question marks. Why are they each used?
  • Write a list of five words you don’t know the meaning of. Find and write a translation of these words. Write the English translation.
  • Find and list the details of 3 activities happening in your community.
  • Be a reporter and write an article that could be included in a future edition of the newspaper.

Using free supermarket catalogues

  • Find five foods you like and learn the English word for them
  • Choose 5 to 20 foods in the catalogue and list them in alphabetical order
  • Find foods you like and write about them. ‘I like/love … because …’
  • Find foods you don’t like and write about them. ‘I don’t like/ hate … because …’
  • Make comparisons about foods you do and don’t like. ‘I like … but I don’t like …’ ‘I like …but I prefer …’
  • Cut out pictures of foods and divide them into the five food groups.
  • Imagine you have $10 to spend. Choosing foods from the catalogue, what would you buy and why?
  • Look through the catalogue and choose some foods that you could use to cook a meal or cake. List the ingredients and write the instructions how to cook this dish.
  • Write or talk about your favourite meal.
    • When do you eat this meal - for example, for a special occasion?
    • Describe this meal, how is it cooked and who would cook this?
    • How do you feel when you smell this meal being cooked and when you eat it?
  • Write about a special meal you remember having.
    • What was special about it?
    • Why was it so special?
    • Why does this meal have such good/ strong memories for you?
  • What is a food you would like to learn to cook and why?

Supply a sight word list to complete the following activities:

  • Find sight words in a newspaper article and circle or highlight. How many of each word did you find?
  • Make sight words using letters from catalogues or newspapers.
  • Write each sight word in a sentence. Read your sentences to a family member or friend.

Free writing

Provide a small exercise book for each student to:

  • Write a daily diary – what you did today, how are you feeling, a weather report, plans for tomorrow.
  • Write a letter to your school principal to persuade him/ her to introduce a food you like into the school canteen menu. You will need to explain the reasons why this food should be sold in your school’s canteen.
  • Write about a topic from a suggested list glued into the front of the book and ticked off as you write about one each day.

Television

Choose one of the television programs selected by your teacher.

  • What is it about?
  • How do you know that? Do you like this show?
  • Why or why not?

Radio and podcasts

  • Listen to your favourite songs and try to write the lyrics.
  • Listen to the news and take notes.
  • Listen to a podcast your teacher has provided.
    • What is it about?
    • How do you know?

Talking and listening activities

  • Interview a parent or sibling in your first language or English asking them about their likes and dislikes (foods, activities, TV shows, sports). Draw some of their favourite things, label them or write a sentence.
  • Listen to a story. Tell someone about what the story was about.
  • Make up your own story and tell it to a friend or family member or record it.
  • Help someone prepare a meal. Talk about the ingredients and the steps. Draw and write about how you made the meal.
  • Teach your parents/ carers and siblings the English you know for directions, talking to the doctor, police, teacher, asking for help or similar.

Category:

  • Teaching and learning

Topics:

  • Support
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