CRS – Ideas for the Classroom – Primary – Case Study 1

Ideas for the Classroom - Primary - Case Study 1 - Advice

Find out:

· When did he arrive in the UK?

· What language is spoken at home?

· Does Miguel have any siblings or extended family?

· Do the family have friends with the same home language?

· Does Miguel have any friends who share the same first language to support his Spanish social language?

· Has Miguel been in contact with any English language before joining primary one?

· Has he been to an early years setting?

· Is he happy at home and in class?

· Are there concerns about Miguel’s development at home?

Advice:

· Children can go through a ‘silent period’ in the initial stages of new language acquisition. This is okay and may last a short time or a long time as they continue to process the new language.

· It can be really tiring for children who are learning in English while also learning English. Miguel may need a lot of breaks.

· Miguel may feel frustrated if he doesn’t understand or feels lost or confused. Clear repeated instructions will help if his frustration manifests as poor behaviour.

· It can help for the class teacher to role play social situations with the class if Miguel is finding it hard to interact with peers.

· Continue to follow the P1 curriculum with visuals to increase his vocabulary

· Use a visual timetable

· Play lots of vocabulary building games including teddy talk, barrier games (any game where children cannot see something and have to communicate to find things out – Guess who, Headbands).

· Give a lot of praise (Stickers!) – You can get some translated stickers too!

· Plan quality time (daily) for the pupil to spend with either the teacher or PSA

· Invite parents or older pupils who are literate in first language to read a dual language story (could be on video)

· Encourage opportunities to ‘have a go’

· Further strategies can be found here

Further advice:

Learning in 2+ Languages Section 4 (Advice for classroom)

Bilingual Family p22 (silent period), p38 (Communication with parents)

Primary Teachers’ ALDO Course (EAL Training)

HGIOS Inclusion and Equality Series Part 4: EEPBL p12,13 (Examples of good practice)

See also:

HGIOS 4