There are many teaching strategies that teachers can use to incorporate EAL children into school life. For example, in regards to the classroom environment, staff/pupil attitudes, use of resources, and the use of the teaching assistant as a support system for these children.

It is essential to incorporate the needs of the EAL children into lesson plans. It is important to take into consideration that these children see your lesson much different in comparison to the other children, EAL children may find it more difficult due to the language barrier. Often teachers would set work out slightly different for these children and make sure they have constant access to the resources they need to help them with their learning.

As well as doing your own research in regards to what languages your children speak and where they come from, it is important that the whole class is educated with the concept of language barriers and other cultures so that the English speaking children can understand EAL children better so that they can make sense of why they may act the way they do and are more aware of what they are going through.

·      No childcare

·      An unusual id

·      Low/no income

·      Lack of networks

·      Distance

·      Distrust of authority

·      Lack of legal aid

·      Limited English

·      No permanent address

·      Hostile environment

·      Lack of knowledge of UK services

 

One warning sign socially would be if the EAL pupil was not integrating into the class like the other pupils. This may be because of social barriers that make it difficult for them to interact and collaborate with other pupils. This will not only make group tasks and activities more difficult for them but will also lead to them being withdrawn and not making many friends in the class. This could lead to bullying within the school. To try and encourage social interactions the teacher needs to monitor group activities with EAL pupils closely to see whether they are engaging with the other pupils or not. If not, the teacher will have to adapt the activity to make sure all pupils are included, this could be done by assigning roles within the group, so everybody has to contribute. If an EAL pupil is not contributing in social activities and also alone in times such as playtime then these are warning signs for the class teacher. From these teachers need to adapt to include EAL pupils and encourage more social interactions. 

 

One warning sign intellectually would be if the EAL pupil is not meeting targets for their age group. The teacher must find out why this is and also adapt lessons to make them more accessible for the EAL pupil. Is it that they do not understand the lesson content, or they do not understand how it is being delivered to them? This could mean teachers have to adjust how they are delivering the lesson to make the content more accessible for the EAL pupil. If the pupil is not making progress throughout many months in school, then this is a warning sign as they will not be able to keep up with the increased difficulty of lessons in the future. Therefore this is when the class teacher must step in and make extra provisions for the EAL pupil in their class.

It is important that when an EAL student joins a new classroom that the pupils are aware that there may be a language barrier and communication may be difficult. To help with this, students can be taught the basics of that language so that the EAL student feels more welcomed into the classroom. As well as learning the basics of their language, students can also be taught to be more patient when speaking to someone whose first language isn’t English and speaking slowly and clearly so the EAL pupil can understand what it being said 

Depending on where the EAL student comes from, the pupils in the class may not be fully aware of cultural differences between the two. As well as culture many schools operate differently around the world than they would in the UK and it may take sometime to adjust to that transition. For example school days, in Brazil schools tend to end at noon and in China they end at 5pm. In most European schools, there is also no uniform. These are small things that pupils should be educated on so that they can be more accustomed the how life was in that particular EAL students country.