Learning in 2 + Languages identifies good practice when supporting children to access the curriculum where English is not their first language. It includes an overview of the education of bilingual learners in the Scottish context, including policy and legislation. The key messages are that:

§ “Local authorities and schools need to address the needs of bilingual learners, individually, proactively and inclusively.”

§ Local authorities must make adequate and appropriate provision for children who speak English as an Additional Language (Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act 2004 (as amended 2009).

§ UN Rights of the child include children’s rights to:

·      celebrate their identity, language and culture. (Article 8)

·      use languages other than English to make their voice heard. (Article 12)

·      choose their own religion and beliefs. (Article 14)

·      develop and celebrate their talents and abilities including their multilingualism. (Article 29)

·      learn to live peacefully, protect the environment and respect other people, including their diverse cultures. (Article 29)

·      practice and use their own culture, language and religion, including opportunities to use first language in school. (Article 30)

§ The Equality Act (2010) protects people who have, or are perceived to have, one of the protected characteristics. Schools are required to ensure that multilingual learners are not affected by discrimination and to build an inclusive ethos and climate of respect where equality is promoted.

§ Curriculum for Excellence provides opportunities for teachers to include the languages and cultures of multilingual pupils in the curriculum.

§ GIRFEC allows teachers to focus on wellbeing needs of multilingual pupils that could include building friendships or experience of racism. GIRFEC Aberdeenshire | Getting it Right for Every Child in Aberdeenshire – Getting it Right for Every Child in Aberdeenshire (girfec-aberdeenshire.org).

§ HGIOS Part 4 EEPBL evaluating educational provision for bilingual learners has indicators of good practice for schools. This resource has not been updated and there is not an active equivalent but the content in this resource is still valid and helpful.

See Learning in 2 + Languages section 2 for more details.

·      There are several resources and descriptors that can be used to track and monitor the different stages of a learner’s language acquisition.

·      Learning in 2 + Languages describes five stages of English language acquisition or proficiency that can be used to assess a learner’s English language development across listening, talking, reading and writing. The names of these levels match with the ScotXed level descriptors that schools across Scotland use.

·      The EAL Service work in partnership with schools to track learner’s progress in their English language acquisition through a range of resources differentiated by learner’s level of need.

·      The Bell foundation also have advice on Levels of Proficiency in English - The Bell Foundation (bell-foundation.org.uk)

·      All learners are different and may not acquire language in the same way or at the same rate as others.

·      Some learners can develop a ‘spiky’ profile where some of their skills are much more developed than others.

·      Professional judgement is required to describe which level best reflects learner’s language development, considering their age, cognitive skills and length of time learning English.

·      It can take up to 10+ years to acquire the cognitive academic language skills required to reach English language fluency.

·      Monitoring language levels allows school staff to identify where learners are making progress in their language acquisition, or where they may need some additional support. For example, learners who reach developing competence may plateau in their development as the language demands of the curriculum become more complex. They may seem to be doing well, but using a tracking resource may reveal that their progress has slowed down/plateaued and that they may need some additional strategies or resources in place to support them to progress.

·      See more information in Whole school – Monitoring language acquisition – Aberdeenshire EAL Service

There are many excellent books and resources to support professional learning. Some key ones include:

Books

·      Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Multilingual Matters.

ISBN-13: 978-1847693556

·      Baker, C. (2014). A Parents’ and Teachers’ Guide to Bilingualism. Parents’ and Teachers’ Guides.

ISBN-13: 978-1783091591

·      Cummins, J. (2000) Language Power and Pedagogy, Clevedon, Multilingual Matters.

ISBN-13: 978-1853594731

·      Gibbons, P. (2002). Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

ISBN-13: 978-0325056647

·      Krashen, S. (2003) Explorations in Language Acquisition and Use, New Hampshire, Heinemann.

ISBN-13: 978-0275979126

·      Sharples, R. (2021). Teaching EAL: Using Evidence-Based Str. Multilingual Matters Limited.

ISBN-13: 978-1788924429

·      Smyth, G. (2012). Helping bilingual pupils to access the curriculum. In David Fulton Publishers eBooks. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203963111

ISBN: 1853468762

·      Washbourne, A. (2011). EAL Pocketbook. Teachers’ Pocketbooks.

ISBN-13: 978-1906610302

Web:

·      Learning in 2 + Languages | Resources | National Improvement Hub (education.gov.scot)

·      The Bell Foundation - Changing lives and overcoming exclusion through language education (bell-foundation.org.uk)

·      NALDIC | EAL National Subject Association

·      British Council | The UK’s international culture and education organisation