Ukrainian available as a home language on FlashAcademy®. Access FREE Ukrainian resources here.
< Back to Blogs

Top 5 tips to set up an effective EAL team

The number 1 way to help EAL pupils integrate into the school and develop their English skills is to set up an effective EAL team. This team’s main mission is to help EAL pupils with their English learning and to make sure they are given the best resources.

We talked to some primary and secondary teachers who told us what their top 5 tips are to set up an effective EAL team. Here’s what they had to say:

EAL knowledge or experience

Whether it’s an EAL qualification or acknowledgement of good work being done, having some EAL knowledge or experience is an excellent starting point for an EAL team.

Good training

The school’s EAL team should receive training before starting their job. Everything should be done to ensure that EAL children feel at ease and are receiving help. Moreover, it is important that members of the team receive ongoing training, as new resources and techniques are constantly emerging.

Expertise within the team

It’s excellent to have an EAL team composed of individuals who have different skills sets and areas of expertise. This can mean having a team of individuals who speak different foreign languages and can communicate with EAL pupils in their home languages. It can also be a team of individuals with different strengths and experience.

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/flashacademy-16702015398 

EAL network

When developing an EAL network with other schools, schools can exchange practical information, tips and tricks and useful resources to help their EAL pupils. We suggest registering for our EAL Success Roadshow 2019 or joining our EAL Success Group on Facebook.

Building up resources

Good resources to aid learning English are crucial for EAL pupils. Thus, it is important to organise opportunities for the EAL team to share their favourite resources with each other and to think about new resources they could be using!

You need good resources to set up an effective EAL team

Picking passionate individuals who can bring knowledge or experience in helping EAL pupils is extremely important to set up an effective EAL team. Furthermore, it is important for the team to communicate internally, as well as with other EAL teams, to learn about tips and good resources to use with pupils.

We’d like to thank the teachers who attended our EAL Birmingham 2018 conference for sharing their tips with us. Click here to register for the EAL Success Roadshow 2019.

If you have any more ideas, please drop us a note on Twitter at @FlashAcademy_HQ!

Interested in all things EAL? Check out our tips on how to support EAL families and their language-learning! If you are looking for free EAL resources for your school, why not visit our resources page?

Previous: How to Support EAL Families and their Language-Learning Next: EAL Assessment Without Proficiency Codes