Understanding and supporting an EAL/D learner

Hello. My name is Samantha Nagin.

And today I will be using and applying the band

scales framework to determine where one english as an additional

language or dialect.

Also referred to as E.

A. L.

D. Learner is.

In terms of his language proficiency.

I will then be suggesting appropriate differentiated teaching strategies that

would be suitable for use with this student in a

whole class context.

The student who will be focused on throughout this presentation

goes by the name of MAX.

MaX attends a local state school which will be referred

to as primary school one or PS one.

When auditing a school.

In regards to their multicultural capital.

We need to look at the multicultural capital framework which

includes five categories.

Drawing upon economic theory and sociology.

These five categories will be briefly looked at to audit

the resources and capital of PS one where MAx currently

attends primary school.

Physical capital refers to material resources.

Ps one has a library with a large variety of

multicultural books to promote diversity and all students participate in

a compulsory indigenous language program.

The human capital is made up of teachers and admin

members who are predominantly anglo centric.

There are a few indigenous teacher aides and support staff.

In terms of PS 1's natural capital.

The school is in a low socioeconomic area with 48%

of students being indigenous.

Category four is the social capital of the school.

The school has a rich educational history.

Beginning in 1898 with many fourth generation families attending.

The final category.

Known as cultural capital refers to the statements and policies

that affirm socio cultural diversity.

The school's vision and purpose is to create a safe,

supportive and inclusive environment, embracing diversity and equity so that

students, staff, parents, carers, family and community members feel welcome,

valued and included as evident from the audit.

The school has various initiatives in place to support high

levels of multicultural capital being into culturally proactive and using

a whole school approach to multicultural education in terms of

the class context max is in a year one class

with 21 24 students, five of who are indigenous or

Torres strait islander.

These five students are all E.

A. L.

D. Students along with one Japanese students, all students enjoy

group work with a full time teacher aid present in

the class at all times.

Only around 20% of students have access to a computer

or tablet at home and two students are on an

individual learning plan.

Mhm. Yeah.

Language load is the identification of language and literacy skills

that are evident in a curriculum according to Gibbons, we

need to create an integrated curriculum where the language learning

needs of the students and the key language required to

learn in a subject area is taken into account when

planning. Most teachers refer to the subject content, subject learning

the tasks the students will participate in and the resources

they require.

Gibbons believes we need to focus on much more, suggesting

unpacking a unit or topic to provide all students with

an equal opportunity to succeed in this primary school classroom

max is currently attending a book called sticky jam.

The story of sugar will be unpacked to break down

the language load so that we can see the concepts

that E.

A L.

D. Students might struggle with.

There are many topics specific language words used in the

text such as cane farmer, harvest, art and refinery as

english is not their first language.

This student will need many Familiarization opportunities with these words

to form confidence using and pronouncing them as well as

an explanation as to what they actually are.

Some verbs in the text include planted, grew cut, shipped.

We know from the observation document that max uses Torres

strait islander creole past tense markers or leaves out verbs

so it is important to understand and highlight these when

exploring the text.

Max also struggles with some plural markings missing on downs.

So when it comes to the peace and the text,

the millions and millions of shiny bright crystals, it would

be beneficial to have him repeat the sentence and an

explanation of the plural would also come in handy.

There are also many words in the text that start

with a tea or a hate with the pronounced T

and hate sherry with the pronunciation of the including this

there and they max will struggle with these words as

he is known to pronounce the with a dip to

make the dit sound.

There are also many expanded noun groups in the text

such as the Earth became the refinery by breaking down

this tax and all the resources used within the classroom.

We are giving students and in particular E.

A. L.

D. Students the best chance of comprehending and learning alongside

their peers.

Teachers are able to use the band scales for E.

A. L.

D. Learners as a way to determine where their students

are at based on the development of standard Australian english

which will also be referred to as S.

E. Once a student is put into A level based

on observable language learner behaviors.

We can then use this information to plan for additional

support and to monitor their overall progress.

This is part of a whole school approach to catering

for the needs of E.

L. D.

Students. The band scales are broken down into two phases

of learning the early phase for students in the first

few years of schooling, usually up to grade three and

then the middle phase for year four and above.

There are six levels in each phase, each comprising of

a set of descriptors of observable language behaviors.

The levels start at level one which is new to

S. A.

Two level six which has become incompetent with S.

A. And each of the four macro skills of listening

speaking, reading or doing and writing are included max is

currently in grade one so we're going to look at

the early face speaking and writing and assign him to

A level in order to plan for differentiated teaching strategies.

In terms of MAx's speaking, I have placed him at

a level two where students try short utterances on their

own. There are a few reasons I have placed max

into level two.

You will see there are some aspects of level three

that he is also meeting by the ticks, but I

have decided to keep him at A level two due

to there being more descriptors that match his speaking abilities.

The first being the fact that he uses routine and

rehearsed social S.

E. With the example given by the teacher observation document

where he chance, Good morning miss see with the rest

of the class and can easily say can I please

sharpen my pencil Max is also beginning to combine 2-3

word utterances with the support of the teacher.

In the recording max can be heard answering from jam

and then with further support.

He says it grows in the sun and in the

rain. Max is also making slight deviations in routine S.

A. Which indicates that S.

A. Is not his first language in the recording he

has heard saying he are eating a jam sandwich, replacing

is with our and it's been cut replacing gets with

being max also joins in on the repetitive language of

stories as the observation document states he loves having familiar

books read to him and joins in readily with familiar

rhymes and songs and other familiar class routines.

Max talks spontaneously in his home language, explaining some mass

concepts to classmates in Torres strait creole.

He also gets excited when retelling a story and uses

this creole before returning to say at the teacher's request.

Max also relies heavily on gestures from the teacher to

help his communication in the recording, the teacher is often

heard prompting him further in his storytelling, giving him clues

and hints while referring to the pictures.

The level three ticks I have given max include using

his home language for social interaction, which he does in

the playground and needing a long wait time before responding

an essay which is evident in the recording, where he

needs to process the question before answering.

Now that we know what level max is up.

We can use this valuable information to plan for differentiated

teaching and assessment strategies.

The Australian professional standards for teachers requires teachers to be

able to differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs

of students across a full range of abilities, differentiated classroom,

support students who learn in various ways and at various

rates and who bring diverse talents and interests to school.

As max uses body language often to convey his meaning.

A strategy would include linking language and content by utilizing

a student's existing knowledge and providing verbal and non verbal

representations of the content.

The content can illustrate intercultural sharing and understanding as well

as include positive images of people from diverse cultural backgrounds.

This will benefit max and other E.

A. L.

D. Students in the classroom by allowing them to see

themselves and their culture represented in the learning resources during

english lessons.

Another strategy use can be grouping strategies where students are

organized based on their literacy capabilities so that text are

appropriately challenging for their level.

Because MAx does try to use short part essay sentences.

He needs the support to build essay in his speaking

and writing.

To help this.

The use of a word wall in the classroom will

help max and his E.

L. D.

Piers where words their definitions and a picture can be

displayed so that students can use these within their own

writing tasks.

In terms of differentiating the assessment task to suit max

and his other E.

L. D.

Peers. The process one of four of Tomlinson's differentiation strategies

will be used differentiating the process refers to how a

student makes sense or understands the information and ideas presented

by differentiating the process.

A teacher is reflecting on a student's individual learning style

and preference allowing the assessment to have varied options and

different levels of difficulties.

This would mean that max has additional time to complete

an assessment as it is proven from his observations and

recording that he does take time to process questions and

think of his answers.

Max could also create a visual representation of his learning

rather than having to write or speak.

Max will also be provided a dictionary of common Torres

strait islander creole converted to standard Australian english in which

he can have on him throughout all assessment tasks.

So yeah, The Australian professional standards for teachers, standard 7.3

requires teachers to be able to engage with parents and

carers effectively sensitively and confidential, confidentially.

The motto at the school where max intent is we

enroll families as well as students.

The school is very committed to involving parents in every

step of the students schooling journey.

As max is an E.

L. D.

Student. His parents also have english as their second language,

so communication with them needs to be appropriate and respectful.

Max's teacher can provide his parents or carers with information

on how they can help max learn english at home.

This could be provided in the form of a parent

teacher night, a parent teacher get together or a personalized

handout. Studies have shown that students perform better at school

if their parents are involved.

So encouraging them to be a part of this process

will benefit max and other emailed each student's max's teacher

can recommend the following to his parents or carers reading

to him and both the home language and in english,

encouraging him to use his home language, talking about his

experiences at school and arranging meetings with the teacher to

monitor his progress.

It has been proven that students who have a strong

foundation in their home language are more likely to learn

english quicker.

This is why it is vital that parents and carers

encourage their child to keep using their home language so

that english has learned quickly and successfully at school.

Mhm. I believe that the strategies listed previously will benefit

max and his E.

A. L.

D. Peers in the classroom improving his attendance, engagement and

overall achievement levels.

The strategies are responsive to the learning strengths and needs

of students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

Which will create a differentiated classroom where all students roadmaps.

Road maps for learning are unique unfortunately in the Australian

education system.

The invisibility of indigenous peoples language has long been evident,

intends to remain in the sidelines often referred to as

the elephant in the room suggesting the invisible yet significantly

important nature that language plays in an individual's life.

It is so important to make max in his different

differing language feels seen and acknowledged.

To combat this issue of language invisibility.

It will be important for the teacher to allow max

to use his home language and different context.

So that two way learning occurs.

Two way learning is where people from different cultures and

backgrounds learn with and from each other creating meaningful learning

opportunities building knowledge and fostering respectful relationships.

Yeah so as seen in this presentation it is vitally

important that we use the band scale framework in our

classrooms to be able to differentiate for our E.

A. L.

D. Students.

This will allow them to succeed in the class alongside

their non e A.

L. D.

Speaking peers.

Thank you for listening to my presentation, and the references

will follow.

Mhm.

Understanding and supporting an EAL/D learner

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