Literacy at Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1

d. English as an additional language

In our multicultural society, student teachers are going to encounter children from all over the world; some will be in schools that serve a predominantly ethnic minority population who may share a range of different languages; other children will be in a minority in monolingual English speaking schools. Student teachers need to be prepared to help children with English as an additional language by building on their existing knowledge.

Most student teachers will be unaware of the range of multi-lingual literacy knowledge that children will bring into school with them: newspapers, calendars, religious texts, letters and videos (Kenner, 2000).

• They may not realise how important it is to ensure that every child coming into their classroom can find something familiar that they can identify with: pictures, texts and artifacts that they can recognise and that reflect their particular culture. One of the extracts in the NLS video Supporting Pupils Learning English as an Additional Language (2002) takes place in a classroom where the teacher recognises the multilingual nature of the class: words and phrases in different scripts; bilingual versions of texts; pictures and maps.
• Links with home are particularly valuable; it is vital to know what languages are spoken in the home, whether the child attends any after school religious or language class and, if the family has arrived recently, where they have come from.

• The child coming into a nursery or reception class with little or no English will need enhanced time for play, with sand and water, with small toys, blocks and in the role play area.

• Student teachers need to consider their role working with Teaching Assistants or EMAG teachers to support the particular needs of individual children who are learning English as a second language. There is a useful short sequence of joint planning between the teacher and the language support teacher in the NLS video. If the video is not readily available student teachers should be encouraged to discuss ways of working with language support teachers.

See also 5b. English as an Additional Language

and

Pam Craig on Working with Others in the Wider Workforce