SUPPORTING ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE ( EAL ) STUDENTS AT GEMS FIRST POINT SCHOOL USING EDTECH
BY : EMMA MONTEITH
Since the pandemic , more teachers than ever have turned to EdTech as part of their toolkit for learning . Many schools were already using at least some element of EdTech , but its use has only increased during the period of remote and hybrid learning . The benefits of technology in the classroom have been transformational and truly powered a reading culture among students .
We ’ ve been using EdTech in a few different ways as early as 2014 . Many of our teachers originally saw the main benefits of EdTech as purely an assessment tool . However , the benefits have been far wider , specifically for our English as an Additional Language
( EAL ) students . The use of EdTech has really helped us transform the reading journey for pupils and has given them the opportunity to review their own progress against their personalised targets .
The challenges EAL students face
At GEMS FirstPoint , we have an incredibly unique set of demographics across our schools , including an average of 86 % of pupils who have English as an Additional Language ( EAL ). The school closures and remote learning over the past year presented various challenges for all pupils , but for EAL students who often don ’ t have English-speaking parents , maintaining their English reading and comprehension skills has been even more of a task .
Many have missed out on basic reading in English development , and for some who were at the very beginning of English development , they couldn ’ t even get on the reading scale or achieve basic reading targets . However , using EdTech meant we could track their individual progress and create personalised plans for each student . Many have started to see real progress and are regularly achieving their reading targets .
It ’ s also important to remember that some EAL students lack the basic elementary teaching of phonics ,
28 Term 3 Apr - Jun 2022
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