Supporting pupils with EAL to access the curriculum

Understand the needs of children with EAL and find a range of tools to help teachers guide them through the challenges of the curriculum, from a strategic seating plan to differentiated activities. See how one school embedded support for EAL pupils into its inclusion policy.

Last reviewed on 22 June 2021
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 13150
Contents
  1. Get to know pupils’ needs
  2. How to organise the classroom
  3. Adapt whole-class activities
  4. Targeted interventions
  5. Use our CPD toolkit to develop staff knowledge 
  6. Resources to share with your teachers
  7. How one school includes EAL pupils in its strategy

We’d like to thank 2 of our associate education experts, Diane Leedham and Charlotte Raby, for their help with this article. 

Get to know pupils’ needs

Pupils with English as an additional language (EAL) will have a wide variety of needs, and will have strengths and weaknesses in different skills.

Have an initial meeting with the parents 

Use an interpreter if necessary. This is important to understand the pupil’s starting point and context, and to get to know them as an individual.

Try to find out about the pupil’s:

This will help