Starting From Scratch
In January 2020, with huge excitement and some trepidation, I found myself signing a contract to take up a position as Head of EAL in a start-up school in Singapore. A few months later the world changed irrevocably, and now I was setting up an EAL department in a new school during a global pandemic. As spring turned into summer (or rather the weather just remained relentlessly humid) delays to the building of the school continued due to Covid restrictions, and it was announced that we would not be able to open our doors as our building literally had no doors to open. In August 2020 I now found myself in the somewhat unique position of setting up an EAL department in a start-up school, during a global pandemic, in a temporary venue. It was certainly a challenging year, but one year on, the EAL department is established and (dare I say it) thriving. Whilst I generally refrain from giving huge amounts of advice (like newborn babies, EAL differs vastly depending on your school context and demographic and any second time mother will know that no two babies are alike) here are some useful principles that underpinned my approach last year.
Embrace a clear vision
Formulate your vision for EAL in your school (tip: make sure this is aligned with your school’s mission and vision!) and stick to it. Keep this in mind at all times.
Back your vision with structures and systems
This part is less glamorous. It means setting up structures for identifying, assessing, and tracking EAL students. It’s writing a department handbook. It’s figuring out if you’re going to use the CEFR, WIDA, or other ways of measuring language proficiency. It’s working out where EAL fits (academically and pastorally). It’s often building a curriculum from scratch or in a vacuum.
Get to know your students
Spending time at the start of the year getting to know your students’ interests and backgrounds, as well as their proficiency in English is always beneficial. If possible, find out about their linguistic backgrounds and their home languages. Get them to help you pronounce their names properly. Children and teenagers intuitively know when someone is really interested in them.
Support teachers
Teachers need help with EAL. For us language teachers it’s easy to rattle off about extended oral discourse or the difference between productive and receptive skills but not all teachers are well versed in understanding and teaching language learners. The first thing I did was establish an EAL register for teachers. This took a lot of time and effort, but the idea behind it was that teachers could access information easily. A one stop shop, so to speak, with both a wealth of information on students and links to support strategies for the mainstream classroom. Another thing I did a lot of last year was in-house PD. Teachers reported that this was useful in their understanding of EAL students, their role as teachers of both language and content, and the role of the EAL department.
Keep going
EAL can be a lonely road, especially in a department of one. There’s nobody to bounce ideas off, and often you find yourself craving the simplicity of a curriculum that is mapped out, punctuated with content and assessments, units that are neatly contained. EAL is messy and nuanced in a world where we like to put numbers on attainment and progress. Some EAL students can make tremendous progress; others seem to stagnate. Language acquisition is hugely complex with factors such as personality, motivation, and the strength of the home language all coming into play. It can at times be overwhelming. When you’re feeling isolated, reach out to other EAL teachers. Collaborate, support each other, and share ideas.