Gold award for international school in Ukraine
It will not be a surprise to learn that the British International School Ukraine has had a tough time recently. Nonetheless, after evacuating its staff from Ukraine, it rapidly created a remote learning system maintaining the key elements of its learning offer for pupils with English as additional language that underlines how worthy the school is of the Gold EAL Quality Mark.
It is a multilingual school where over 90% of learners speak English as an additional language, often alongside two other languages. It enjoys its diversity. The curriculum is offered in both English and Ukrainian with parents choosing the mix they desire for their children.
Hear Stephen talk about the positive impact of TEMC training on a multiple site school.
At the heart of the school’s success is a major training initiative which has over the last two years given more than half the staff access to the acclaimed Teaching in English in multilingual classrooms course.[1] Its colour coding of the three key elements of written and spoken sentences (participant, process and circumstance) features in individual lesson plans and can be tracked across schemes of work. Structured talk in pairs and small groups has received an increased emphasis since learning has become remote and online.
Very striking in my conversations with senior and middle leaders was the consistent reference to talked based pedagogy underpinned by visual support (including pictographs for key instruction words), flexible seating plans, a focus on language structures and extending vocabulary. This consistency is across both the age range (in an age appropriate way) and, in normal times, across the two campuses in Kyiv and the one in Dnipro.
All the staff I spoke to have a clear understanding of the EAL assessment systems in place and, as a consequence, high expectations of EAL learners rooted in secure knowledge of how long it takes to acquire English. However, the most striking thing of all about the school is the pride that everyone takes in having such effective provision for its EAL learners.
[1] This course is for teachers in UK schools. Teachers elsewhere should book via LexisEd.
EAL in multilingual schools
The EAL Quality Mark is based on a school’s self-evaluation of its EAL provision. It is an award made to schools on their achievements in meeting the needs of pupils learning English as an additional language.
It is available as a bronze, silver or gold award, allowing schools the opportunity to re-visit the award and build on their practice over time. Any school with pupils on roll who are learning English as an additional language is eligible to apply.
Extended online EAL course
New cohorts launched every term
Requiring approximately 90 hours to complete over a six month period, our extended EAL online course provides the opportunity to examine a range of EAL issues in detail, studying at times that suit your schedule. With 4 core units and 2 electives, you can tailor the cross-phase course to suit your interests and the needs of your school.
EAL in an international school context
Online course
This course looks at some key aspects of EAL provision, such as the range of assessment arrangements and the falling number of native English speakers able to provide good models of English, from an international school perspective.