·      As discussed in the theory section, it is vitally important that learners continue to develop their first language.

·      The EAL Service do not teach pupils their first language but can provide advice, resources and support to enable learners to continue to develop their first language and use it in their learning.

·      It is important to build good links with the family and open lines of communication. See the parental engagement section for more advice.

·      Often families will believe and may have been advised that they should drop first language and use English at home. This is at odds with recognised good practice. The Be Bilingual leaflet (available in Inside the classroom resources) gives information in first language on why families should continue developing first language at home.

·      Encourage families to continue developing first language at home. Teachers can provide key word lists in English to discuss at home. Families can add the first language equivalent and discuss the language and concepts at home to support learners in building their understanding of concepts. This will support them in making links between home language and English, and in developing their overall understanding of concepts.

There are many ways that teachers can support learners to use first language to support learning. You can find out about these in ‘Inside the Classroom’:

·      Dictionaries and dual language texts

·      Translated resources and apps

·      Peers who share the same first language

·      Translanguaging

·      Developing First Language – signposting first language schools, books and other first language resources and strategies that families can access.

·      Understanding the differences between languages. If a second language is very different from a learner’s first language it can be harder to learn than one which is similar – Languages themselves are not necessarily harder to learn, but it is the differences between the languages that make the new language harder to learn.

·      See also:

o   Are some languages more difficult than others? - Edinburgh Impact | The University of Edinburgh

o   Learner English: A Teacher's Guide to Interference and other Problems (Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers) : Swan, Michael: Amazon.co.uk: Books This book is quite academic but goes into detail about the common things that learners find difficult about learning English depending on what their first language is.