English as an Additional Language (EAL) Information
EAL at Wellington School
At Wellington we aim to support pupils and parents/carers of our EAL learners to ensure that all members of our school community can access the full Wellington experience.
We use EAL assessment where necessary to support teaching and learning as well as further interventions some pupils may require, including intervention programmes and resources to best support our learners.
We seek to make our curriculum reading-rich and our classrooms create an immersive experience for all EAL learners developing their spoken and written English. Similarly, our LRC includes a range of dual-language texts and bilingual dictionaries to support learners in lessons and in completing homework and independent work at break, lunch and after school.
EAL Policy
Home Communication
It is important to us that we effectively communicate with parents and carers. If we can support you further with school communications and their format, then please do complete the form below and we will accommodate your requirements as best we can.
https://forms.office.com/r/LLNgiDsi9p
Guidance for Parents/Carers
Below are translated guidance booklets in a range of languages which detail general Guidance for Parents on school communications and support your child’s learning, as well as general information on the secondary school education system in England. You will find translations in Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese, Dari, Gujarati, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Pashto, Polish, Punjabi, Russian, Slovak and Urdu.
Practical Guidance for Parents with EAL (Multiple Languages)
The English Secondary Education System (Multiple Languages)
If you require any specific advice and/or information pertaining to EAL, please do not hesitate to contact Miss Z. Hitchens (Assistant Headteacher) at the School via email.
How to support your child’s learning at home
Schools in the UK expect children to do homework and parents to help and encourage home learning. We understand that if English is not your first language that this can be hard, so this is why the EAL department is here to support you!
Here are some ideas on how you can help your child to learn:
Ask your child’s school for their ‘homework policy’ so you know what the school expects, and you can then help your child with their homework.
To help children with homework:
- Ask questions and talk about the topics studied in your first language.
- Encourage your child to use a bilingual dictionary to translate words.
- Encourage your child to write down any new words in English and/or their first language to help them remember them.
- Encourage your child to ask their teachers if they do not understand something.
Read with your child at home
You can do this in your first language and talk about the pictures and what is happening in the story. With older children you can listen to them read and ask them to guess words if they don’t know what they mean.
Year 7 Transition Pupil Booklets
Transition-Pupil-Booklet-UKRANIAN
Transition-Pupil-Booklet-MANDARIN
Transition-Pupil-Booklet-FRENCH
Transition-Pupil-Booklet-CANTONESE
Transition-Pupil-Booklet-ARABIC
Recommended EAL Apps to Support Pupils and Parents/Carers
There’s a wealth of excellent websites, apps and programmes that can support EAL learners and parents/carers. Here are some recommendations:
This will translate text and whole documents for you! There is also a playback feature so the audio of texts can be heard.
Website: https://translate.google.co.uk/
Tutorial Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaBrwzPQbhM
Audible is an audio book and podcast provider which requires a subscription. Texts are available in a number of languages.
Website: https://www.audible.co.uk/
Duolingo helps language learners listen, read, write, and speak a new language. Duolingo has several different mini-games, challenges, and activities to help learn a language.
Website: https://www.duolingo.com/
Memrise helps build up language learners’ vocabulary by memorizing words and phrases. They offer different courses, blog posts, and interactive videos to help ESL students learn real-life phrases and understand language in a real-world context.
Website: https://www.memrise.com/
Say Hi is a translation app, similar to Google Translate. It will translate spoken language and resources into a range of languages, including Cantonese. It can be downloaded onto most devices.
https://www.sayhi.com/en/translate/
Young Interpreters Scheme
With the wonderful range of languages spoken by our School community, 100 Y7-Y10 pupils are trained at Wellington as Young Interpreters to support our EAL pupils – especially those who are new to the School.
Pupils complete four training sessions which explore empathising with pupils who speak English as an additional language, learning how to be a buddy for new pupils, as well as contributing ideas and leading a committee to implement ideas so that we can further enhance the Wellington experience for our pupils.
We value the importance of Community at Wellington and will ensure that our buddies play a great role in supporting pupils who speak English as an additional language.