EAL Teaching and Learning: Raising Standards to Improve Outcomes

Use this time to explore the agenda for the day and make new connections with peers.

A short explainer video will help you explore how to make the most of our new next generation Conference platform.

You’ll be able to create networking meet ups, access content on demand and use our new Q&A, chat functions and virtual polling tools.

Dr Constant Leung will outline the key themes for the day, which will include policies and best practice around the catch-up period for pupils using EAL, following COVID-19, the longer-term vision for blended learning in relation to EAL, and how to ensure pupils are supported in line with their achievement potential.

• Outlining what the latest research tells us about the key factors affecting the attainment of EAL learners
• Exploring the impact of the pandemic on EAL learners
• Understanding why multilingualism matters
• Addressing key factors in supporting EAL learners and considering how you can implement these in your setting

 This session will include time for delegate questions and answers

In this session Professor Strand will draw upon the findings from his three-year research programme and recent EAL journal article and discuss:

• The important role of proficiency in English in understanding the educational achievement of pupils
• The problem presented by the continual conflation of ‘EAL’ with requiring ‘language support’, and how schools and local authorities assess proficiency in English
• Bilingualism as an asset for individuals’ academic achievement and pupil’s learning
• What assessment for PIE should look like, and how we can achieve this?

This session will include time for delegate questions and answers.

Your opportunity to make the most of the virtual Conference, meet up with fellow delegates, make connections, tour our real-time resources and content and take part on discussions via the tailored channels.

Don’t forget if you’ve missed a session, you can use our replay functions, so you can watch all the content on demand at a time that suits you.

Using data gathered by the Education Policy Institute this session will:

• Offer updates on the Educational Outcomes of Children with English as an Additional Language Report published by EPI and The Bell Foundation in 2018, framing this in a post-Covid perspective
• Draw upon findings outlined in the Education in England: Annual Report 2020, demonstrating that the ethnicity gap for students with English as an Additional Language has widened significantly over the last 10 years
• Explore the extent to which the stage and age that students enter state schools in England and have EAL impacts assessment, and how to mitigate this moving forwards

This session will include time for delegate questions and answers.

In this session Dr Naomi Flynn will present:

• Why does talk-rich teaching work for EAL? A practical overview of what research tells us can work for EAL learners and why talk is at the heart of this.
• How can I make my teaching more talk-rich? Guidance on how to shape classroom activities that encourage more talk from pupils and less talk from teachers.
• What does great EAL practice look like? Examples of great talk-rich teaching practice from schools at home and abroad.

Please note that attendees will be able to access all the event resources and replay sessions for up to 30 days after the event.

*Programme subject to change

Before proceedings get underway, this short explainer session will explore how you can get the most out of our new next generation Conference platform.

Our IG Team will run through how to make virtual connections, creating networking meet ups, accessing content on demand and how to use our new Q&A, chat functions and virtual polling tools.

The Chair will outline the key themes for the day, which will include policies and best practice around the catch-up period for pupils using EAL, following COVID-19, the longer-term vision for blended learning in relation to EAL, and how to ensure pupils are supported in line with their achievement potential.

• Research should be informed by the demonstrated needs of the community of practice it is intended to inform.
• The project presented here involved teachers, parents and EAL pupils in prioritising new avenues for research on EAL.
• The project resulted in a Top 10 of EAL research priorities, which are being publicised to researchers and research funders.
• Both practitioners and researchers stand to gain by working together in this way: practice informs research, which in turn informs practice. Everyone stands to gain.
• Implications of the findings of the project will be discussed and for future research/practitioner collaboration will be considered.

This session will include time for delegate questions and answers.

The Chiltern Learning Trust has a trust-wide average of 60% of pupils who have English as a Second Language (ESL). In this session you will:

• Discuss some of the unique challenges that Chiltern Learning Trust face as a Trust with such a high proportion of EAL learners
• Understand the integral role EdTech has played in supporting EAL learners at Chiltern Learning Trust, particularly pupils at the very start of their English development
• Gain key insights into the methods that Chiltern Learning Trust have implemented in order to ensure the continued development of EAL learners, through the utilisation of personalised plans and support
• Explore the broader impact of Edtech in pupil’s learning, bridging the gap between their first language and English, and encouraging them to develop confidence in their language skills

This session will include time for delegate questions and answers.

Your opportunity to make the most of the virtual Conference, meet up with fellow delegates, make connections, tour our real-time resources, and content and take part on discussions via the tailored channels.

Don’t forget if you’ve missed a session, you can use our replay functions, so you can watch all the content on demand at a time that suits you.

• Using best practice from across the TESOL sector to inform EAL teaching in schools, specifically focusing on enhanced knowledge of language learning and teaching
• Exploring how we teach teachers to teach English, by bridging the gap between theory and practice, and the important role of theory in supporting the continued development of EAL learners
• Consider how to get the most of out best-practice examples, translating this into your classroom

This session will include time for delegate questions and answers.

In this session you will:

• Gain insights into the challenges students with EAL faced and continue to face as a result of covid-related school closures and remote learning
• Break down the attainment gap, critically analysing the extent to which the widening of this is contributing to EAL learners being ‘left behind’
• Explore some of the unique challenges EAL learners face and how, by using a research informed approach, you can better support pupils improve and achieve
• Learn from some examples of best practice that will better equip you to support and encourage EAL pupils in school and continue their learning outside of school

This session will include time for delegate questions and answers.

In this you will join an interactive workshop with Graham Smith to:

• Identify the differences between the acquisition of everyday language and academic language in a classroom setting, considering how best to tailor teaching to mitigate these variations
• Discuss how you use oral activities which use dialogue to broaden vocabulary and to prepare students for written tasks, reflecting on how effective this is in your setting, and receiving guidance on how to best use oral activities to support your EAL learners
• Consider how to design scaffolded reading and writing activities to improve students’ comprehension and production of written texts most effectively in the classroom using real-life examples and guidance

*Programme subject to change