Shared Sharing Practice

Stepping stones to a smooth transition

Photograph of primary school children holding up signs which have the names and flags of eastern European countries on them

The Falkirk Bilingual and Traveller Pupil Support Service has a team of 3.5 EAL (English as an Additional Language) teachers and 2 Bilingual Home/School Liaison Workers, speaking Punjabi, Urdu and Cantonese. The council has arranged funding to employ a Polish teacher on a part-time basis.

The aim of the team is to support bilingual and Gypsy/Traveller pupils, their schools and families across the Falkirk area.

In the past, most of the bilingual pupils the team worked with had been born in the UK and required additional support in order to reach their potential. The arrival of a complete beginner in one of the authority's schools was unusual.

However, more recently, the number of complete beginners arriving in the area has increased dramatically.  These new arrivals are mainly from Eastern European countries.

The team recognised the challenges facing many of these new pupils and their families, moving to a new country and having to cope with the transition to a different culture, language and school system.

It was also recognised that the arrival of these pupils would also present new challenges for school staff. During staff development sessions, many class teachers and support staff expressed feelings of inadequacy and anxiety when faced with the prospect of working with a complete beginner in English.

Consequently, for the sake of all involved, it was important for the service to ensure an effective and supportive transition process. Experience has shown that the transition for the pupil will be made easier if enough time is given to all concerned to prepare for the pupil's arrival.

Falkirk Bilingual and Traveller Pupil Support Service has put in place guidelines for good practice in supporting new arrivals into the Scottish school system:

Before pupils start school

  • Contact the EAL service and arrange for a home visit from an EAL teacher (with an interpreter, if appropriate), in order to gather information and build up a profile of the pupil. The visit also enables the parents to ask questions and to feel more confident about this transition for their child.
  • Arrange a meeting between the class teacher and the EAL teacher to discuss how to support the pupil and to arrange regular EAL input.
  • Gather resources: The Bilingual and Traveller Pupil Support Service 'Beginners' Survival Pack' (worksheets and workbooks) is designed to help children start to develop English with minimal input from adults. This is needed for times when the teacher is not able to work directly with the pupil or when the teacher is working with a group/class where it would not be appropriate for the beginner to be involved.
  • Contact Library Support for Schools to arrange for a delivery of dual-language books, Polish dictionaries, picture dictionaries and books/posters about Poland.
  • Gather resources within the school, eg P1 Phonics etc.
  • Organise staff support for the beginner, eg Support for Learning teacher and assistants.
  • Invite a parent helper who shares the pupil's language to become involved (if available).
  • Prepare the class for the new pupil's arrival and choose special buddies. The class teacher and class learn a few words/phrases in Polish, to welcome the pupil.

The first few days

  • Teach essential language, eg toilet; feel ill, etc.
  • Keep the class routine as regular as possible so that the pupil can adapt quickly and become familiar with the class routine.
  • When you talk to the child, use simple but 'proper' English and use the same form of language each time, giving the child the chance to hear the same language constructions repeated.
  • Use facial expressions, gestures and body language where appropriate to aid understanding. 
  • Take photographs round the school and in the classroom to use as flashcards or to produce a simple reading book.
  • Group the beginner with pupils who provide good models of English.
  • Group the beginner according to potential rather than their proficiency in English.
  • Use games to help the child to develop vocabulary. Playing with other children will help the child to hear repetition of chunks of language, eg 'It's your turn,' and 'You're next.'
  • Encourage collaborative work so that the beginner can benefit from hearing other children discussing the task.
  • Build some 'time out' into the school day because the pupil will become very tired having to deal with all the new demands. For example, time could be spent using the computer, listening to a tape in Polish, reading Polish books and playing games.

Ongoing plan for pupils

  • Number work: Aim to support the new pupil to work at a level according to their ability as soon as possible. The pupil may have the mechanical skills but not have the English to cope with the number work at the correct level. Consequently, the appropriate mathematical language may have to be taught specifically. (Make posters for the wall, indicating the different terms/language for addition etc.)
  • Listening and speaking: Aim to develop the pupil's confidence. The beginner will need a lot of listening time before they can begin to use English. In the early stages, the pupil will often understand more that they can say. Focus on participation not accuracy! Involve the pupil in group activities which are less threatening and will encourage them to use English. Use simple tapes and books to help to develop listening skills.
  • Reading: Introduce a reading scheme, but be aware that mechanical reading skills may develop more quickly than reading comprehension skills.
  • Writing: Use resources to build up the child's understanding of the construction of language. Provide word banks and key word lists (with illustrations if needed), sentence starters, useful phrases, joining sentence halves, choosing sentence endings etc.
  • In all areas: Use a variety of ways to check understanding: oral, pictorial and written.

The future

  • The new pupil will quickly develop English skills. However, the teacher should be aware that apparent fluency can mask problems with understanding. Surface English (social English) is acquired quickly, within two years. It takes much longer to develop higher order listening, talking, reading and writing skills (academic English).
  • Strategies that work for monolingual pupils will also work for bilingual pupils. Effective teachers always consider the language demands of a lesson and plan to support pupils' language and cognitive needs. In this way, the learning needs of all pupils are supported.