In an article in Headteacher Update in October, The Bell Foundation’s Silvana Richardson outlined specific pupils for whom English is an additional language (EAL) who will need significant and intensive catch-up support to close an attainment gap that has been intensified by the first national Covid-19 lockdown (Richardson, 2020).
In the article, we discovered that these pupils are typically:
Not only do these learners need to catch-up on missed curriculum content, but also on missed English language development opportunities. Most notably, they may have had a limited or lack of exposure to a broad range of English language models, including the academic language needed to be successful across the curriculum. EAL learners may also have had a period with limited opportunity to develop their listening, speaking, reading, and their writing skills in English.
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