When I was a teacher, seeing the progress of learners with English as an Additional Language was impressive, I couldn’t learn a new language at the speed they do! But when they first arrive in your classroom, it can be daunting for both you and them. You have a class of children you need to teach (what feels like) a million and one things that day, and a child that cannot understand English (yet!) Never mind everything else you are juggling. It can be overwhelming.
You want to be welcoming to the new child in your class, you want to understand their needs and help them to learn the basics to get them through the school day, but you are also aware of all the pressures on you to teach your class to be proficient in areas they are not going to be able to access without learning some basic English first. What on EARTH do you give them to do?
I’ve compiled a few suggestions of websites to use for EAL resources below:
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/ – A huge variety of printable resources, videos and games.
https://www.duolingo.com/ – You may have heard of this one for your holidays, but I had never thought until now to use it for children too!
https://www.gamestolearnenglish.com/ – Lots of games!
https://storylineonline.net/ – A variety of picture books read by celebrities, great to get them hearing stories but visuals are included too.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ – Maths games to introduce them to the names of English numbers and to practise maths in a variety of ways, dependent on their level of understanding.
https://flashacademy.com/ – Requires a free trial (I’ve not tried this one, but it sounds great!)
On Teacher Toolbox, we also have a variety of free resources that may help:
EAL resources can be hard to find, but hopefully these suggestions help! If you are looking for anything in particular, contact us on hello@teachertoolbox.co.uk. We are always open to expanding our library of resources and we would love to know what you need!
