A resource to help teachers address the challenges faced by deaf children who use English as an additional language has been published by the National Deaf Children’s Society and The Bell Foundation.
The booklet and short video offer practical advice, classroom strategies and case studies of deaf children and their families. Suggested classroom strategies include using assessments effectively, working in small groups, and pre-teaching to explain vocabulary and key concepts before lessons.
The advice comes from teachers of the deaf (specially trained teachers with a qualification in working with deaf children) and The Bell Foundation, which co-funded the work and contributed its expertise in working with EAL learners.
Meanwhile, The Bell Foundation has also published another resource offering guiding principles for early years professionals working with EAL children. The new evidence-informed guiding principles and support strategies are designed to support policy-makers and practitioners in EYFS settings in meeting the needs of their EAL learners.
- The resources for deaf EAL pupils are available via www.ndcs.org.uk/eal while the guiding principles for early years can be found via www.bell-foundation.org.uk/eal-assessment-framework-version-1-1/