The Last Two weeks of EAL

Well ....it's been a hectic last two weeks. EAL classes have been off and on, as so much was happening in the classrooms. A point to remember for next year! We managed though to say goodbye to our students, at least for this year.

I am very proud of our students, many of whom arrived in September with very little and in some cases, no English at all. Many of them are now communicating confidently in English and are willing to take risks in order to improve further. We wish them all the very best as they move onwards in their school careers.

We say a very special goodbye to Erica who has truly been the thread of consistency in the EAL classroom throughout the whole year. Erica will be returning to New Zealand at the end of the summer. Her contribution has been amazing; not only in her capacity as assistant for EAL but also in her running of the Junior school Eco Club programme. She will be very much missed by all of us.

So, until we all come together again in September...... I wish all of you an enjoyable, restful summer holiday.

Warm wishes,

Katherine Bradford

EAL WEEK 12 (Reflection on Week 11)

The two sport's days on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week were the highlights of the week. We also had the Eco Club fieldtrip on Tuesday which was enjoyed by a group of fourteen club members when we went to two beaches along the "Line " to observe the biodiversity of marine life on one of the beaches and contribute to cleaning up on the other.

In between these exciting events we had classes as usual.

Special Events
PYP Graduation Friday 25 at 9.00am (Refreshments afterwards)

June Monday 28 June Yr 6 induction to Senior school

Friday 2 July School finishes at 12.00

What's been going on in the EAL classroom?

Beginner's Group 2N
Phonic sound work plus a trip over to the school garden at the back of Senior School to provide stimulation for free writing next week.

3VL/4LB
LO. to improve question and asking in the past tense.
Text and comprehension exercise on the first man on the moon.

Beginner's Group 5T
Phonic sounds practice and starting to look at the future tense and the difference between "will" and "going to."

Beginner's Group 6P
LO. Listening skill practice using game called Chance Island. Listening to recorded instructions to draw an island. Next week the adventure begins. Children practise their listening skills again to perform certain tasks which will allow them to leave the island unharmed.

Intermediate Group 4D/4LB
Reading practice and phonic sound work.

Intermediate Group 5G/5T
Continuing with work on fantasy stories. Choosing our characters, quest etc. Next week the writing begins.

Intermediate Group 6L
Discussion about the end of year Graduation Why is it important? What is the significance of finishing the PYP program? Also training past tense and participles of past tenses ready for test next week.

EAL WEEK 11 (Reflection on Week 10)

Last week was a strange week at school. Plans were made and changed due to the weather. Both Sport's Days were postponed until next week.(fingers crossed!)
Thursday broke up the week again and this time there were several absences from school on the Friday. The weather was grey and chilly for the time of year. I guess we are really spoilt living in Portugal and we don't like it when the weather plays tricks on us! We have only three weeks left at school now and it will be busy during those three weeks.

Special events
Tuesday 15 Eco Club Field Trip to Environmental Centre and two of the beaches along "The Line" (Eco Club children in Yrs 5 and 6) Morning only- back in class by 1.20pm
Tuesday 15 June Sports Day Nursery- Yr 2 8.30 - 12.00

Wednesday 16 June Sports Day Yr3 - Yr6 8.45 - 2. 30

PYP Graduation Friday 25 June

Monday 28 June Yr 6 induction to Senior school

Friday 2 July School finishes at 12.00

What's been going on in the EAL classroom?

Beginner's Group 2N
In class support
Writing up experiment on lit candle in glass jar. Why did the flame go out? Learning about prediction (Hypothesis) and Conclusion.

Beginner's Group 3VL/4LB
Third test on past tense verbs. Game using all the verbs in the three tests. Cloze exercise using the verbs.

Beginner's group 5T
Third test on past tense verbs followed by game using verbs from the three lists.
Writing exercise based on "Have You ever......?" Questions.

Beginner's Group 6P
Verb test Page three of past tense verbs.
Used Man on a Desert Island picture to review all forms of Present Perfect tense.

Intermediate Group 4D /4LB
Continued with work on adverbs. Choosing adverbs. Do they always end in"ly?"
Revision of Comparatives and Superlatives.

Intermediate Group 5G /5T
Continued with Fantasy Story reading of the Book of Powers. Preparation for children writing their own Fantasy stories next week.

Intermediate Group 6L
Concluded work on Present

EAL WEEK 10 (Reflection on Week 9)

It's been a short, busy week. Thursday was a day's holiday for "Corpo de Deus" and Friday morning was the dress rehearsal for Peter Pan. The children have been terrific and although excited and nervous have really done the best to be the "best they can be" for the Show. It's amazing and gratifying to see how children "bloom" in this type of event. It often reveals talent unrecognised and increases their self esteem by volumes.

Special events:
Tuesday 8 June Sports Day Nursery- Yr 2 8.30 - 12.00

Wednesday 9 June Sports Day Yr3 - Yr6 8.45 - 2. 30

Thursday 10 June no school (political holiday - Dia de Portugal)

Tuesday 15 June Eco Club trip to Environmental Centre and beach at Sao Pedro de Estoril. (Eco Club members from Yrs 4,5 and 6)

PYP Graduation Tuesday 22 June

Monday 28 June Yr 6 induction to Senior school

Friday 2 July School finishes at 12.00

What's been going on in the EAL classroom?

Beginner's Group 2N
In class support with science experiments (What happens when we mix oil and water?)
No lesson on Wednesday due to public holiday.

Beginner's Group 3VL/4LB
No lessons this week due to public holiday and Peter Pan rehearsal. Lots of making up to do next week.

Beginner's Group 5T
Spent time discussing books and reading . Went for walk around Senior School garden to revise vocabulary on vegetables and to introduce vocabulary on gardening.

(No verb test as student missing -will do it next week)

Beginner's Group 6P
Conversation stimulus of "Have You ever?" eg ...... done bungy jumping...... done surfing........

......gone mountain climbing // been bitten by a dog, broken a bone? (to practise present perfect "No I have never....... or Yes I have... I broke my arm when........ (switch to past tense)

Repeat of verb test for past and participle verb forms.

Intermediate Group Yr 4
Completed comprehension work on Cerebral Palsy. Spelling Strategies using suffixes.

Intermediate Group Yr 5
No lesson this week due to public holiday

Intermediate Group Yr6
No work this week due to public holiday

EAL WEEK 9 (Reflection on Week 8)

It has been a really succesful Arts Week. The opening concert on Monday morning was a wonderful oportunity for the children to show their musical talents. I am also always amazed at the art work produced by our children. The display in the reception area is amazing.

Next week we have a four day week culminating in the annual show which as you all know this year is Peter Pan. The children in the play are excited and eager to show you how well they can perform. Several staff and parents have been involved in the back stage preparations and are also eagerly awaiting the two big days.



Special events:

Thursday 3 June No school (religious holiday-Corpo de Deus)
Thursday 10 June No school (political holiday -Dia de Portugal)
Friday 4 June /Saturday 5 JuneJunior School Theatre Production - Peter Pan (not to be missed- tickets available soon!)
Tuesday 8 June Sports Day Nursery- Yr 2.Wednesday 9 June Sports Day Yr3 - Yr6

What Happened in the EAL Classroom Last Week

Beginner's Group 2N
Children on Field Trip so no in-class support on Tuesday.
Oral lesson- looked at three photographs of unknown people and made up questions to find out about them. (to practise question asking in the present tense.)

Beginner's Group 3VL/ 4LB
Second test on past tense verbs. Looked at story of Day In The Park. chldren made up story using past tense verbs. Games with opposite adjectives.

Beginner's Group 5T
First test on past tense verbs. Looked at present perfect with unfinished time eg Today I haven't had breakfast and with "yet"eg. he hasn't arrived yet.

Beginner's Group 6P

Looked at present perfect with unfinished time and with yet and with ever.
Only had three lessons this week due to Field Trip on Friday.

Intermediate Group Yr4
No lessons due to concert and substituting for PE teacher.

Intermediate Group 5G/5T
Reviewed fairy stories and fables. Started looking at Fantasy stories. looked at the Book of Powers Story. (Objective to write their own Fantasy stories.)

Intermediate Group 6
Played "Have you ever?" card game and wrote short passages about have you ever experiences.

Did more work on past tense verbs and participles.

EAL WEEK 8 (Reflection on Week 7)

We've eventually arrived at Arts Week. Please remember the opening concert which will be on Monday 24 at 9am. There will be an enjoyable hour of music and dance to entertain you. The children have been rehearsing hard for the concert and are looking forward to performing for you.
Each day at 12.30pm there will be musical events in the reception area. Also in the reception area we have a beautiful display of art work which has been produced by the children throughout the year. What a lot of talent we have at school!


Special events:
.Thursday 3 June No school (religious holiday-Corpo de Deus)
Thursday 10 June No school (political holiday -Dia de Portugal)
Friday 4 June /Saturday 5 JuneJunior School Theatre Production - Peter Pan (not to be missed- tickets available soon!)
Tuesday 8 June Sports Day Nursery- Yr 2.Wednesday 9 June Sports Day Yr3 - Yr6

What Happened in the EAL Classroom Last Week

Beginner's Group2N
In class support with presenting their own fables to Year 1.
Oral lesson cancelled this week due to Thursday being Portfolio Day for parents.

Beginner's Group 3VL/4LB (Objective- Consolidation of past tense verbs)
Revision of asking questions in the past tense. Stimulus picture of astronaut. Where did he/you go? What did he/you do there? Children working in pairs to be the astronaut and the interviewer.
First test on past tense verbs.

Beginner's Group 5T (Objective - Introduction of present perfect tense)
Gave past tense verbs to learn for test next week. Started looking at the present perfect tense eg I have eaten a sandwich. Looked at use with "just" either stated or implied.
In class support with Summative assessment for unit "It's Up To Me"


Beginner's Group 6P (Objective- support with summative assessment / continuation of present perfect tense and use of the participle. )
Support with summative assessment for unit on "Puberty." Gave list of verbs with past tenses and participles. First test Monday 24 May. Consolidated use of present perfect with "just" eg i have just been to the doctor's.


Intermediate Group 4 (Objective- Comprehension skills - looking for facts stated and inferred - stimulus - interview with a person with cerebral palsy.)

Intermediate Group 5 (Objective - Looking at fairy stories, as a lead up to block of work on fantasy stories / collective and non collective nouns)

Intermediate Group 6 (Objective - To continue with work on the present perfect tense)
Consolidation on use of present perfect tense- review of use with "just," unfinished time, with since and for, with "yet", with the question "How long have you........" and with "Have you ever....?"
We continued playing games with verb cards and revised past tense verbs and participles for tests on this work in the next few weeks.

EAL WEEK 7

The children are now coming to the end of their fifth unit of the year. In the EAL room we have been helping many of the children with their summative assessments. Please remind your child that if they need extra help with anything they are doing in class they have only to come and ask and we will do our best to accomodate them. We are as flexible as possible with our time and the class teachers are also pleased if we can provide extra support.

Please continue to read aloud with your child each evening and at the weekends. It really is vital for the development of language and also increases self esteem. We realise lives are busy but reading with your child has to have priority. Please remember parents ......Read, read, read.......


Special events:

Arts Week May 24 - 29

Opening concert at 9am.Each day at 12.30pm there will be an instrumental performance by students held in the reception area. We would love to see parents come along and support this.Don't forget the art display which will be in the reception area during the whole week.

Thursday 3 June No school (religious holiday-Corpo de Deus)


Thursday 10 June No school (political holiday -Dia de Portugal)


Friday 4 June /Saturday 5 JuneJunior School Theatre Production - Peter Pan (not to be missed- tickets available soon!)

Tuesday 8 June Sports Day Nursery- Yr 2.


Wednesday 9 June Sports Day Yr3 - Yr6


What Happened in the EAL Classroom Last Week

Beginner's Group2N (Objective - vocabulary enrichment)

Making up imaginary people. Asking questions about them. Question asking is always difficult at first. It's much easier just to answer. Children need a lot of practice with this.

Beginner's Group 3VL/4LB (Objective - Support with planning report and presentation for summative assessment)

We spent the EAL time helping the children prepare for their summative assessment for their unit "Same Thing, Different Way." Their enthusiasm and determination to succeed is remarkable.

Beginner's Group 5T (Objective - Only two lessons this week due to field trip.)

We started our sounds book where we will be looking at combined letter sounds in Englis eg ay,ai and a-e which all make the same sounds. These exercises will help the children with decoding as they read and also their reading.

Beginner's Group 6P (Objective- Introduction of use of present perfect tense and use of the participle. A tricky one this! eg I have just got up/ I haven't eaten yet this morning.

We have started to do some games with verb cards to help children learn the many irregular verbs in English. We try to make it as fun as possible and not dreary list learning but sometimes memorisation helps to enjoy the games, so yes, there will be weekly tests to help the children become familiar with these verbs.

Intermediate Group 4 (Objective- To provide support with summative assessment, as with the beginner's group.)

Intermediate Group 5 (Objective - To complete mini projects on Pompeii to develop research, notetaking and presentation skills.)

Intermediate Group 6 (Objective - To continue with work on the present perfect tense)

We looked this week at other situations when we use this tense as with the word "yet" and "Have you ever.......?" We also played games with verb cards and started to prepare for tests on this work in the next few weeks. Learning English is fun but a bit of memorisation helps too!

EAL WEEK 6

The weeks are flying by. The children who were new in September will soon have completed their first year at St. Dominic's. The EAL children are now starting to feel more comfortable in their home classrooms and are doing their best to understand what is going on arouind them. They still enjoy coming to EAL as it is a safe heaven for them three or four times a week. They also get a lot of individual attention which they still need.


Special events:

Arts Week May 24 - 29
Opening concert at 9am.Each day at 12.30pm there will be an instrumental performance by students held in the reception area. We would love to see parents come along and support this.Don't forget the art display which will be in the reception area during the whole week.

Thursday 3 June No school (religious holiday-Corpo de Deus)
Thursday 10 June No school (political holiday -Dia de Portugal)

Friday 4 June /Saturday 5 June
Junior School Theatre Production - Peter Pan (not to be missed- tickets available soon!)

Tuesday 8 June Sports Day Nursery- Yr 2.
Wednesday 9 June Sports Day Yr3 - Yr6

What Happened in the EAL Classroom Last Week
We mentioned last week the importance of hearing your child read each evening and at least once at the weekend. It is really important that they read aloud to help with pronunciation and intonation. Please check that they understand what they are reading as sometimes they are able to read but have little understanding of what they have read.

Beginner's Group2N
(Objective - vocabulary enrichment)
In our oral lesson we focussed on the vocabulary surrounding different sports and the equipment used. Next week we will play the "Guess My Sport Game" to reinforce new vocabulary and provide practice in question asking in the present tense.

Beginner's Group 3VL/4LB
(Objective - practising using homophones/ asking questions in the present and past tense/ assisting with information reports for unit work.)
We continued our work of question asking in both the present and past tenses. We looked at the homophones wear and where and the similarity between we're and were. (English can be very tricky!) We also started to support the children in 4LB with their summative assessment, learning about a specific learning disability.

Beginner's Group 5T
(Objective - Asking questions in the past tense)
We imagined an interview with "Desert island man" and thought up questions we could ask him about his time on a desert island. We continued to focus on the "W" questions and questions beginning with "did."

Beginners Group 6P
(Objective - Researching information /learning new vocabulary/asking and answering in the past tense.)
We only had the children for three out of the six lessons this week, due to the field trip to "Convento dos Capuchos." We read a true account of a jungle survival and have started to construct an interview situation between a journalist and the survivor. We will video the mock interviews for the children to analyse and critique their use of English. We also revised the use of contractions in English eg can't for cannot.

Intermediate Group 4
(Objective - comprehension skills)
We looked at homphones such as wear and where and marvelled at how many homophones there are in English. We read a book together called "What's It like? Blindness" and answered comprehension questions. (Link to classroom unit)

Intermediate Group 5
(Objective - research skills and vocabulary enrichment)
We continued our research into the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79 - Pompeii. by looking at other library books. The children have been practising the skill of notetaking and next week will write up their own account of the historically famous eruption.

Intermediate Group 6
(Objective looking at video of summative assessment of "How We Share the Planet unit /looking at usage of present perfect tense with "Just" and unfinished time. )
We looked at the video of the children presenting their information reports and action plans. We critiqued one another's performances with the view to learning from them for next time.

WE started to look at the tricky present perfect tense with emphasis on use with an action which has just happened eg I have just arrived home and unfinished time. eg I have had three cups of coffee today. (when the day has not yet finished)

NB We have stepped up our reading program with the Year 6 groups to ensure that they read aloud to someone at lest once a day. (Please note that it is still important for you to hear them read at home.)

EAL WEEK 5

The term is speeding by and the weather warming up. The summer term is always a pleasant one as there are so many enjojable events to look forward to. Here are the events coming up:

Special events:
Arts Week May 24 - 29 Opening concert at 9am.
Each day at 12.30pm there will be an instrumental performance by students held in the reception area. We would love to see parents come along and support this.
Don't forget the art display which will be in the reception area during the whole week.

Thursday 3 June No school (religious holiday-Corpo de Deus)
Thursday 10 June No school (political holiday -Dia de Portugal)

Friday 4 June /Saturday 5 June Junior School Theatre Production - Peter Pan (not to be missed- tickets available soon!)

Tuesday 8 June Sports Day Nursery- Yr 2.
Wednesday 9 June Sports Day Yr3 - Yr6

What Happened in the EAL Classroom Last Week

For all ages - Please continue to read with your child on a daily basis. It is vital for their development in English. Read with them and enjoy with them.

Beginners Group 3VL/4LB
Asking questions in the past tense. Dids and didn'ts can cause problems. We need lots of practice.
We started work on some of the tricky homophones eg wear, where, were and where're. These need lots of focus as they are often confused by younger children.
We also started a book caled Sounds and Words which helps us with our letter blends in English.

Beginners Group 5T
We continued with our question asking practice this week. We also looked at the importance of adjectives and pairing up adjective opposites, several of which were new to us.

Beginners Group 6P
We spent all of our EAL lessons this week supporting the children with there work on their Summative Assessment. The big day came on Thursday 29 April when the children presented to the rest of the class. We were very proud of our group of four who despite their nerves all did very well. We videod their presentations and this proved valuable feedback during our Reflection sessions on Friday. They were able to watch one another again and provide helpful and constructive feedback.
Intermediate Group 2N
We looked at vocabulary surrounding mealtimes and food.

Intermediate Group 4
This week we have been looking at antonyms and seeing how many words form the antonym by adding a suffix or prefix. The "in s" and "un s" can be tricky!

Intermediate Group5
We have been looking at a text on the eruption of the volcano at Pompeii. The LO was to help children learn how to look for facts and note take.

Intermediate Group 6
We have also been working with this group on their Summative assessment on their Unit on Sharing the Planet. We need the children in this group to be aware that if they need us for extra time, they only have to ask. If we have the time available we will be only too pleased to help. We have them for only four sessions a week due to timetable constraints but are sometimes able to fit in extra sessions. This is only their second year of English and still benefit from extra small group instruction.

EAL TERM 3 WEEK 4 What we did last week.

Welcome to a different type of EAL blog! We have been back at school now for two and a half weeks and I have realised that the needs of the EAL students are largely determined by what is going on in the classroom. Sometimes Iam able to carry out what I have planned at the beginning of the week and sometimes this is altered by the immediate needs of the students. ie by the help they require with tasks set in the classroom. This is particularly the case with the Intermediate group. For this reason I have decided to write the blog in retrospect; ie. by covering the work I have done with the children during the previous week. In this way, I hope to give a more accurate account of what your child is covering in the EAL classroom and how you can help them at home.
So........

What happened in the EAL classroom last week:

Beginners Group 3VL/4LB
We always read with the children and ask questions to ensure they understand their reading. Please continue to do this with your children at home each evening. It is so essential for their aquisition of English. We also supported them with the necessary vocabulary to begin their report on a specific disability.
On Friday the children were on a trip to Gulbenkian and we were unable to have them for EAL.

Beginners Group 5T
We concentrated on question asking in the present tense using the revised vocabulary areas of jobs and sports. When learning a language it is so easy to avoid asking questions and only answer them. The children need a lot of practise using the "w" question words ie. where, what, when, who and also how. They also need practise in the word order of Do you..... and Does He.......

Beginners Group Year 6
We have been helping the children complete their "Argument" writing disagreeing with the statement "There is nothing wrong with polluting our environment." This week we started looking at the summative assessment task which entails writing an information report on a particular aspect of pollution and preparing a plan of action to make a change.

2N
We are at the moment supporting the children in the classroom as they learn about the writing process, in particular how to create the beginning of a story by introducing characters and setting.

During our oral session we reviewed months of the year, the seasons, the weather and also looked at some simple life cycles. (linking this to the season of spring)

Yr4 (Intermediate)
At the beginning of the week we looked at our goals for EAL and checked that the children were clear as to the objectives of EAL sessions.
We focused on different plural endings in English ie "ies," "es," "oes," "f changing to v...eg knife to knives."

YR5 (Intermediate)
We focused on opposite adjectives /antonyms and learned ones which were new to us.
We started to look at prefixes which are used to make the opposite of the word eg edible / inedible.
YR6 (Intermediate)
We also spent our time with this group on their classroom tasks of formative and summative assessment. (see Y6 beginners)

EAL Term 3 Week3

Here we are at the beginning of Week 3. We have certainly had two seasons in one this week. Deciding whether to dress warmly or not in the morning can be quite tricky at the moment!

Last week the children started to become used to the slightly altered timetable. They need to remember to bring their diary, reading card and reading book to each of the EAL sessions. Reading with the children and discussing what they have read is an important part of their language development.

Important Dates:
Saturday 24 April Spring BBQ & Parents/Pupils/Teachers Sports Day 10am-4pm

What's Happening In The EAL Classroom

Beginners Groups
Year 2
For two out of three of the lessons we have with the children we are providing in-class support helping them with the writing process. Writing stories needs planning and organisation. At the moment we are looking at the beginning of stories where the scene is set.
In our oral lesson we are looking at vocabulary for seasons, months and the weather.

Year 3/4
We are doing a review of asking questions in the present tense. Answering questions is always more difficult than answering in a new language. We are also revising vocabulary for occupations and sports. In addition, we are learning more adjective opposites eg low/high.

Year 5
As for Year 4 plus question asking in the past tense. (Interviewing a person who has been on a desert island.eg what did you eat, where did you sleep?

Year 6
Genre- Persuasive writing. we will be working with the children on their class work on a persuasive text concerning pollution.

Oral - "Watching television is a waste of time"...pros and cons. Children to act out a debate situation concerning this statement.

Memorising a set of past tenses for test next Friday. Exercise fitting these past tenses into a text about a plane crash in the Amazon.

Intermediate Groups
Year 4
Discussing our goals for language development. How do we want to improve?
Oral /written- Vocabulary we will need for our new unit on disabilities " Same thing, different way." Revision of past tenses regular (different pronunciation of "ed" ending) and irregular.

Year 5
Discussing our goals for our language development. How do we want to inprove?
Oral /written- How can we keep ourselves healthy? Build up of vocabulary.
Grammar - antonyms. Worksheet and game.

Year 6
As for beginners group but at higher level.

EAL Term 3 Week 2

Hello Everyone,

It feels like summer but I really know it's too early! Let's make the most of the beautiful weather we have been having. This week begins our first full week of the new term. I am looking forward to being with the children again and finding out how their English has developed.

Important Dates:

Saturday 24 April Spring BBQ & Parents/Pupils/Teachers Sports Day 10am-4.00pm

What's Happening In The EAL Classroom
Beginners Groups
We will be looking at our goals for developing our skills in the English Language. The children are now feeling more comfortable in their classrooms as their acquisition of English increases.
They can communicate with their teachers and their peers and now comes the challenging, exciting phase where their language really starts to develop.

We will be revisiting question asking in the present and past tenses and practising further the present perfect eg I have just had breakfast. This tense can be a tricky one; which needs lifelong practice!
Each year group will be focusing on oral work, reading, comprehension and written work. Whereever possible we have chosen text material to fit in with the unit of Inquiry.

Intermediate Groups
We will also be focusing on personal goals for the improvement of our ability in English.
The children in the Intermediate groups can often communicate quite well but need additional support in extending vocabulary and applying grammar rules. Reading aloud sometimes needs practice and they may well need help in understanding what they have read.

The children in this group will be looking at texts connected to their units, building up vocabulary and learning strategies to work out inferred answers.

There will also be occasions when we provide in-class support for the child, and teachers are aware that we are available to do this if it is considered to be beneficial.

So let's all look forward to a succesful week with a lot of language learning happening. We hope that the children will enjoy coming to the EAL room and that it will be a place where they can reassure themselves of any doubts or anxiety they may have.

EAL Term 3 Week 1

Hello To All Parents,

It's good to be back. I can't believe it's already April. As you are aware I have been absent from St. Dominics for the last two months due to health reasons. I am now thankfully fully restored to health and looking forward to working with your children again. Erica and two substitute EAL teachers have been bravely "holding the fort" dring these two months and I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to them.

We will be starting this term by meeting with the classroom teachers and discussing the individual needs of the children. I believe it's essential that there is continual dialogue between us and the classroom teachers. In this way, we are able to plan the EAL sessions to best benefit the children and ensure that they are increasingly more able to access the class curriculum.

For this reason we will spend the first two or three days meeting with the teachers; discussing the children's needs and planning. We will also be checking that timetabling still works for all and there may be some adjusting of groups.

The EAL timetable will start a hundred percent from next Monday 12 April. Please do read the blog each week particularly noting how you can help at home to support your child with language acquisition. It's important for us all to remember that learning a new language should be fun, enriching and build self esteem.

So back I go to my "drawing board" to think about these first three days. Please also remember to feel free to book an appointment with me through Thea, should you at any time wish to discuss your child's progress in learning English. I would be happy to meet with you.

Spring is almost here full time and summer is around the corner. Wishing everyone a happy, successful term three.

EAL Term 2 Week 10

Monday March 15 2010

Mr Hick finished at St Dominics last Friday. Welcome to Mr O`Donnell, who will be teaching in the EAL classroom until the end of this term. Mrs Bradford is making a great recovery and will return to school at the beginning of Term 3.

Congratulations to all the Year 6 EAL students for a fantastic exhibition last Tuesday and Wednesday! Exhibition is a chance for students to showcase all the skills they have learnt over their 6 years in the PYP programme and it assesses the childrens´process skills, such as planning, organisation, teamwork etc, as well as their finished pieces of work. Preparation took place over 7 weeks, culminating in 2 days of displays and role plays. EAL students had additional support from mentors and the EAL department and performed really well, producing some great pieces of work and engaging role plays with their teams.

Due to the disruptions to lessons caused by both Exhibition and having substitute teachers covering for Mrs Bradford, it has been decided to delay writing reports for EAL students. Reports will be written and sent home to parents half way through Term 3 instead.

Important Dates

Wednesday 24 March - Three way conferences between students, parents and teachers. Your child should brought home your meeting time, if not, please contact Thea Vedor, the Junior School Secretary. There will be no school on that day. Please make arrangements for your child to come home with you after your meeting is completed.

Friday 26 March - End of term 2. Classes end at noon. Bus children will home at that time.

This week in the EAL classroom:

Beginner groups

We will continue working with the past tenses, focusing on the formation of the simple past and present perfect.

Examples are: I went to the beach yesterday.I haven’t been to the beach yet this year.

We will also learn and practise vocabulary and “chunks” of language relating to classroom Units of Inquiry.

Intermediate groups

This week we will study the past simple and present perfect tenses using both regular and irregular verbs, and when it is appropriate to use each tense. For example: I ate all my breakfast. / I have eaten my lunch.

We will also work on practising the first and second conditionals.For example: If I have enough money, I will go to Brazil on holiday. /If I was a billionaire, I would buy a private jet.

How to Help Your Child This Week

• Ask your child what they did today, encouraging their use of a variety of verbs.
• Ask “What will we do e.g. in the summer / at the weekend, if it is sunny / rainy?” ensuring they use “If + present simple, I will” in their answers.
• Ask “What would you do if e.g. you were President?” ensuring they use “If + past simple, I would” in their answers.

EAL Term 2 Week 9

Dear Parents, Teachers and Students ,

Hello! Welcome to the St. Dominics’s EAL blog page. We hope you were able to go out and enjoy the beautiful Spring-like weather this past weekend.

Important Dates:

Wednesday, March 10

Year 6 students will be holding Exhibition of their projects. The EAL students have worked very hard as part of their class groups and have produced some wonderful work which showcases their learning and their progress in English during their time in the Junior School. Please come by from 4pm until 6pm to see their work displayed in the Year 6 classrooms.

Wednesday, March 24 Three Way Conference

These conferences provide the opportunity for your child to demonstrate to you, using examples of their work, the progress they have made this term. The conferences involve the student, parents and teacher. Your child should have given you a form to complete to indicate what time during that day you would like to attend the conference. Please make sure this is returned to school as soon as possible. There will be no regular classes that day and your child will only be at school for the appointment and must leave school at the conclusion of the meeting.

This week in the EAL classroom we will be learning:
Beginner Group
The beginner group will continue to work on past tense with regular verbs and forming questions. Some examples include “Did you buy an ice cream?” “Yes, I bought an ice cream.” They will also work on the future tense using “going to” and “will”.
Examples include:
a) She is going to help him with his homework.
b) He will do all of his homework before football practice.
c) She will practice her piano before going to the cinema.

Intermediate Group
The Intermediate Group wil review present perfect tense (ex. I have lived in Cascais for 2 years) and will begin Conditionals (ex. If I earn enough money, I will go to the cinema. If I fall in the river, then I will get wet.) They will also work on reading and answering comprehension questions.

Monday 8 March 2010

EAL Week 8
Welcome to Mr Hick, who is relieving for Mrs Bradford as she recovers from her operation.

Important Dates:

Wednesday 3 March This is the official World Maths Day but this will start for us at 11am on Tuesday 2nd March. This is because at this time the 3rd March has already started for some countries! Encourage your children to sign on to their computers and take part
I hope that we will all be able to take part in the live on-line competition at home this week and help break that world record! Let's also see if we can have somebody from our school appear in the Hall of Fame!

Monday 8 March The American Author David Greenberg will be visiting our school on Monday March 8th. To know more about the author visit

http://www.authorsillustrators.com/greenberg/greenberg.htm

He will run sessions during the day for classes. From 6pm until 7pm on the 8th he will run a session for all JS parents in the refectory.
Friday 26 March End of Term 2. Classes finish at noon.

This week in the EAL classroom we will be learning:

Beginner groups
We will be working with the past tense. We will form questions with the past tense.
Examples are: Did you go to the cinema on the weekend?
Who went to the football match?

Additionally we´ll work on the future tense using "going to".
For example: I am going to visit my grandmother.

We will do reading and writing that relates to classroom Units of Inquiry.

Intermediate groups
This week we will study the present perfect tense using regular verbs.
For example: I have played football for five years.

We will also make sentences using conditionals.
For example: If our team wins, we will play in the championship.

Reminder
It is important for your child to practise reading out loud on a daily basis. This helps with pronunciation and vocabulary. All children in the beginner group will be changing reading books each time they come for EAL lessons. Please ask them to read to you and please sign their reading card afterwards.

EAL Week 14

Monday 13 December

We have arrived at the last week of the first term. The children are looking forward to performing for their parents in the "Celebrations Around The World " concert on Wednesday 16.
We will be having a small Christmas party for the EAL students on Thursday 17 periods 1 and 2.
After break the children will be returning to their mainstream classrooms to leave Ms Erica and myself free to work out the timetable for Term two. Your child will be spending more of the day with his or her mainstream class but will continue to be supported by the EAL department on a regular basis. Before Christmas you will be receiving the first term's report for your child.

It has been a real privilege to work with your children during this first term.

Their enthusiasm and resourcefulness as they battle their way through each day of trying to work out just what is going on is admirable! Sometimes there have been sighs of frustration, but there has been a lot of laughter in the EAL room too! Next term, as is expained more fully in the reports, your children will begin to spend more time in their mainstream classes. We will continue to support them in their language development either by withdrawing them from the class or with in-class support. We will always try to be available to help them with any area of language they may be struggling with.

Important Dates

Wednesday 16 December at 2pm. Celebrations Around The World Concert. Please be there if you can, to see your child take part in a dramatisation of the poem "Christmas Is Coming."

You may take your child home immediately after the performance.

Thursday 17 December

EAL Christmas party I will be talking with the children on Monday about what they might like to bring to the party.

Friday 18 December

School finishes for the Christmas break at 12pm. School buses leave shortly afterwards.

We return to start Term 2 on Thursday January 7 2010!

This week in the EAL classroom

No test at the end of the week this week.

We will be talking about our trip to the "Viver Nos Limits" Ciença Viva exhibition at the Pavilhão do Conhecemento. (Thank you Erica for putting a great slide show on the blog.) During the time we were there we managed to visit two other exhibition areas: Explora and Casa Inacabada. The children were unusually quiet on the bus during the journey home. I think they were rather weary! We had certainly done a lot and seen a lot during the morning. It will be a good opportunity to use more of our past tenses as we talk about what we did and saw and learnt etc.

We will also be looking forward to the Christmas break and talking about what we are planning to do with our families. (use of the "going to"planned future tense.)

We will do some spiralling this week, revisiting our favourite tiny words the "prepositions" eg in , on, at in front of, between etc.

Hopefully we will have time to do some Christmas craft work and make a special pop up Father Christmas card or Christmas wreath to take home for our families.

Maths

There were so many field trips last week that we got rather behind with our maths. Year 6 will be finishing the work on area of composite shapes and looking at how to work out the area of a circle. Years 3,4 and 5 are looking at how to tell the time. A lot of mathematical language on "Time words to learn before we can say that we're ready to say the time.

Well it looks like this is the last blog of Term 1. I hope reading the blog each week has helped parents to be part of their children's school world. Thank you for opening them up and reading them.

EAL WeeK 13

Monday December 7
Another short week as we move closer towards the end of the first term. Children's concentration is starting to falter as we get closer to Christmas! However they will be thinking about their test this week which we will have on Monday 7. As stated on last week's blog, we do not want the children to become anxious about the test, but we do want them to read through everything in their books which we have studied since the beginning of the term as a review of all we have covered.

We will carry on with practising our contribution to "Celebrations Around The World. " We need to have all the costumes ready by the end of this week. If anyone has a fake grey beard, please let me know as soon as possible as we need one for the "old man" in the poem.

Important Dates:
Tuesday December 8 National holiday (Immaculada Conceção)
Play "Cabaret" from Senior school to be performed evenings of 10,11 and 12 December. Tickets available from school.
Wednesday December 16 "Celebrations Around The World" concert. 2.00pm -3.00pm
Term finishes Friday December 18 at noon.

This week in the EAL classroom:
We will do our test on Monday 7
We will be revisiting the following during this week:
Forming past tense questions with "did."(including the "W" questions.)
Answering in the negative ------ No I didn't..........
Coparatives and superlatives.
Prepositions

We will be preparing for our trip to Pavilhão do Conhecimento Ciência Viva to see the exhibition "Viver No Limits." This exhibition is about living in extreme conditions of cold, heat and aridity. It really is well worth a visit. We have been looking for a suitable place for a while to take our EAL group. We were looking for something which was suitable for all age ranges from eight through to twelve. Please see the yellow letter re the trip which was sent home last week.

While talking about our visit we will take the opportunity to introduce the "going to" form of the future as definite future.

Christmas Craft
Children will decide this week whether to make a Christmas card or wreath to take home at the end of them.

Maths
Yrs 3,4 and 5 will finish their work on constructing a bar graph.
They will then move onto work on "Time." First of all we will find out how much the children know about the language of time the language of Time. ie digital, clockface, hands of the clock, digital, analogue etc.

Yr 6 will continue with work on finding out areas of composite shapes, moving onto areas of circles towards the end of the week.

EAL Week 12

Monday 30 November 2009

A short week this week. We are very busy at school, fitting as much as we can into each day.

The children need to find time this week at home to revise vocabulary lists, look at how we use the present simple and revise the past tense verbs they know. On Monday December 7 we will have a revision test for them to try. There is no need for them to worry about the test. It is just a way of assimilating their learning over the past three months. Parents please ensure that they do not become unecessarily anxious about the test. We will be speaking to them about it on Monday 30.


We will also be practising for our part in the "Celebrations Around The World Concert" Our contribution will be a short dramatisation of the Christmas poem "Christmas is coming.........

Important DatesTuesday December 1 National holiday (Restauraçáo da Indepêndencia - Political)

Saturday December 5 St. Dominic's Christmas Fair. 12.30pm until 4pm

Tuesday December 8 National holiday (Imaculada Conceiçáo- Religious)

Wednesday December 16 Celebrations Around The World Concert 2pm until 3pm

Term 1 finishes December 18 at 12pm. (Please note early finish)

This week in the EAL classroom

Vocabulary

We will be having some fun looking at vocabulary associated with the Christmas season.

We will use this vacabulary to talk in the present simple about how we usually celebrate Christmas and also use the past tense to talk about how we celebrated it last year.

We wil focus on question asking in both tenses. If time allows we will introduce the "going to" form of the future.

Prepositions require a lot of practice in English. We will continue with these small words which can be very confusing for an English language learner.

Towards the end of the week we will begin to use the language of craft making as we begin our Christmas gift to take home to our family.

Maths

Yrs 3, 4 and 5 will be collecting data this week to construct their own bar graphs. They should by now be familiar with the following language: axis (plural axes), data, tally marks, bar graph or chart. We will also be doing some timetable revision.

Yr 6 have been demonsrating their ability to work on some quite difficult exercises involving scale. . The last exercises linked to our work on house plans and was particularly well executed. We will now look again at area; this time focusing on how we calculate the area of right angle triangles, moving onto the area of composite shapes.

We still haven't managed to find time to attend to our portfolios. This week and next this is a must!

EAL Week 11

Monday November 23
The weeks are going by very quickly to the end of the first term. This is a busy time, but an enjoyable one. We have four weeks to go and two of them will be four day weeks as we have the two National holidays on the 1 and 8 of December. So........ no time to waste!

The children are looking forward to the Cross Country running competition which will be held this week. They have beeen practising hard in their PE lessons during the past few weeks.

Important Dates
Tuesday December 1 National holiday (Restauraçáo da Indepêndencia - Political)
Saturday December 5 St. Dominic's Christmas Fair. 12.30pm until 4pm
Tuesday December 8 National holiday (Imaculada Conceiçáo- Religious)
Wednesday December 16 Celebrations Around The World Concert.
Term 1 finishes December 18 at 12pm.

This week in the EAL classroom

Vocabulary
We will link with our previous week's theme of inside and outside our homes to learn the vocabulary for what we put inside them to make our lives comfortable eg furniture and electrical appliances.

The children will produce "bird's eye view" plans of their "Dream Homes."They will choose the furniture and decide where it is to be placed. We may just have some budding architects and interior designers in our midst!

There will be two vocabulary tests this week - on Thursday for the vocabulary of inside and outside the house and one on Friday for the vocabulary learnt this week on what we put inside. (Last week we had no EAL on Thursday or Friday as the children spent these two days in their mainstream class. ) Mrs Bradford was needed to look after other classes in the Junior school as we had a lot of absenteeism due to the Sport's Tournament and sickness amongst staff.)

Present Tense We will revisit the present tense and write a paragraph "All About Me" We will also write about a cartoon character to enable us to write in the third person with the added s on the end of the verb. eg He lives ............

Past Tense
The children will relate simple stories using a picture story sequence. They will then ask each other questions about the story to encourage "question asking" in the past tense.

Prepositions
Using worksheet with pictures of a kitchen, children will instruct one another where to place the objects. This is a pair work exercise where two children have corresponding worksheets and work back to back.

Maths
Years 3, 4 and 5 will continue with data handling. They will make one bar graph from given data and another from collected data. Year 6 will continue with work on Scale. Both groups will revise maths vocabulary associated with times tables.

Extras

• We will be looking at the work samples we have done so far and deciding what to put inside our portfolios. We hope to show a progression of our work in EAL, demonstrating the development of our English language skills.


• We will be learning a Christmas poem to recite in our slot for the Celebrations Around The World Concert coming up on December 16. Look out for "Christmas is coming and the ........

EAL Week 10

Monday November 16


We had a very "hungry" week in the EAL classroom last week. All that talk of food made it difficult to stretch until lunchtimes! It's amazing what an emotive subject it is! The children had a fairly good idea of the foods which are healthy and those which are not so healthy and need to be eaten in moderation. This week we turn our attention to our homes and the vocabulary associated with the outside and inside of where we live. As always we will be finding out what the children already know and using that as a starting point.

Important Dates

Tuesday December 1 National holiday (Restauraçáo da Indepêndencia - Political) Tuesday December 8 National holiday (Imaculada Conceiçáo- Religious) Term 1 finishes December 18 at 12pm. Another important date is the Christmas Fair which this year is on the 5 December. Times of the fair to be published next week.

This week in the EAL classroom.
We will begin the week by thinking about laying the table. We will learn the collective term for knives, forks etc. (cutlery) we will revise some of the vocabulary of last week as we use our imaginations to decide what would be our favourite meal.

We will learn the vocabulary of homes in two sections a) things around the home eg gate, chimney and b) the different rooms in the house, together with stairs, corridors and hallway.
We will design either our home as it is now or our dream home. Then we will use our new language to explain the layout of our design.

Past tense takes an important place on the timetable this week as there re so many irregular past tenses and few rules to follow. We will also be looking at prepositions,. This is another area of grammar with few guidelines.

Maths

Year 6 will be working on scale. (linked to work being down in the mainstream class)
Years 3, 4 and 5 will be finishing off area and starting to look at ways to collect and record information ie. data.

We will look again this week at classroom rules and see how they connect to the PYP attitudes and profiles.
This week too, we will decide on our contribution to the Celebrations Around the World concert to be held in the last week of school. For the moment we'll keep you guessing!

EAL Week 9

Monday November 9

It looks as if we have gone into autumn and mornings and evenings are a little chilly. Please make sure your children have their jumpers and fleeces with them as the temperatures lower.

Important Dates
Please remind your child that he/she needs to bring 2 euros to buy the chestnuts which will be sold here at school on Tuesday 10 November. We are a little ahead as S. Martinhou is celebrated here in Portugal on the 11.

Tuesday December 1 National holiday (Restauração da Indepêndencia - Political)Tuesday December 8 National holiday (Imaculada Conceição - Religious)Term 1 finishes on Friday 18 December 18 at 12pm

Reminders

The vocabulary this week will be focused on food. We will be learning the names of foods children generally enjoy , with the addition of a few healthy fruit and vegetables. There will be 26 words to learn this week for the test on Friday 13

This week in the EAL classroom.

Vocabulary -As well as learning the names of foods, the children will be learning the names of mealtimes and planning a day's menu. They will plan one menu for a healthy eater and one for a non healthy eater.

Past Tense - Irregular verbs end in "ed" but have three different forms of pronounciation. "d", "id" and "t". Children will play a "How well did you hear" game to help them get used to these different endings. Many verbs in English have irregular past tenses ie they do not end in "ed"This week we begin by learning about six of these verbs. (see Grammar section of the blog)
(We were unable to begin this week last week.)

Review of comparative and superlative eg big/bigger than/ the biggest // more comfortable than / the most comfortable. Link to food preferences tasty / tastier than / the tastiest- good / better than / the best- healthy / healthier than / the healthiest.

Rules

This week we will start to look at classroom rules. We will try to understand what they mean and rewrite them inn a simpler way. (linking to IB profiles and attitudes)

Maths

Year 6 will finish off their work on perimeter and area and begin work on scale which links to work being done in the Year 6 classroom.

Years 5, 4 and 3 will do consolidation work on vocabulary associated with length and perimeter. They will start to try to use worksheets working out simple instructions with support where necessary.

EAL Week 8

Monday November 2 2009

We hope you are all feeling refreshed after the week's break. Although it feels like summer, according to the calendar we are now in autumn and I keep having to remind myself of the time of year. We are in the month of November have some busy weeks ahead leading up to the end of the first term.

Important Dates
Tuesday November10 We are celebrating "Dia de São Martinho" a day early here at school. Look out for further information on hot chestnuts being sold here at school!

Tuesday December 1 National holiday (Restauração da Indepêndencia - Political)
Tuesday December 8 National holiday (Imaculada Conceição - Religious)
Term 1 finishes on Friday 18 December 18 at 12pm

Reminders
Every Monday the children receive vocabulary to learn for a test on the Friday.


This week in the EAL classroom

Vocabulary on Occupations. We will be linking this to our Who is Who Gallery of people who work at St.Dominic's.

Grammar link - The difference between the use of who and which, eg, A nurse is a person who works in a hospital / a fire hose is something which is used by a fireman.

Past Tense
Many verbs in English have irregular past tenses ie they do not end in "ed"
This week we begin by learning about six of these verbs. (see Grammar section of the blog)

Review of comparative and superlative eg big/bigger than/ the biggest // more comfortable than / the most comfortable

Possesive Pronouns
my/your/his/her etc

Maths
Year 6 will be concentrating on using the four different operations +,--,x, divide. They will also be looking at word sums which require understanding of these operations but have language involved which also requires understanding.
Year 6 and 5, 4 and 3 will be looking at the language involved in measuring length , perimeter and area.

EAL Week 6

Important Dates

Thursday October 22 International Day
Come and join us from 3.30pm to 6.30pm
Friday 23 October Beginning of half term break. (one week)
School resumes Monday 2 November for the second half of term one.

Reminders

Frustration levels can be high during the first few weeks of new language acquisition. The Portuguese speaking children really look forward to Portuguese when they can take a big sigh of relief and speak in their own language. For the non Portuguese speakers they do not have this relief. The children need to be patient with themselves. It will get easier and one day they will not believe that they never knew how to speak English!


This week in the EAL classroom:

• Year 6 will be catching up on work missed while they were preparing for and off on the camping trip. It will be interesting to see how well they can tell us (in English... ) about the trip!
  
• We will be prepararing our "All About Me" boxes. These boxes will be modelled by Mrs Bradford and Ms Erica at the beginning of the week. They will contain artefacts which tell us about the person eg A pilates DVD for Mrs B. and a rugby ball (!!!) for Ms Erica. The children will need to have their own boxes ready by Friday 16. We will then practise ..."I like.... I don't like....
  In this way we hope that the children can more easily talk about themselves and we will also learn more about them.
  
• We will start looking at adjectives and how they are essential to our everyday language and placing them with appropriate nouns.
  
• We will start working with possessive pronouns ie mine, his, hers, ours, theirs. (these can be confusing at first)
  
• The children have been told about International Day coming up soon. They will internalise the information about this day by making posters to advertise the day.
  
• We will continue taking photos of staff around school, in order to make a photo gallery of Who's Who. We will learn about what these people do /what their specific jobs are.
  
  It's going to be a busy week in EAL.
  
  

Please remember to talk with your child about what he/she has been doing during the day.
There is always a lot of conversation going on in our room. (mostly in English!) They will love to show off to you what they have learned and earn your praise.

EAL Week 5

• Important Dates
  
  Thursday October 22 International Day
  Friday October 23 Beginning of half term break (one week)
  School resumes Monday 2 November for the second half of term one.
  
  Reminders
  
  The Year 6 members of the EAL class are very excited about the camp trip planned for Thursday through Friday. Please see the Year 6 blog for more detail.
  
  Your child needs plenty of sleep to cope with the rigours of a long school day and learning a new language. Some of our children have to get on the school bus very early in the morning . Please make every effort to get them to bed at a reasonable time the night before.
  
  This week in the EAL classroom we will be learning:
  


• Clothes vocabulary (Consolidating vocabulary of last week. )
  


• What is inside the case?There is a t shirt/ There is a pair of trousers/ There are some black shoes.
  


• Sports vocabulary / what are they doing? They are skiing.
  What is your favourite sport?/ My favourite sport is .........
  


• Weather vocabulary... What is the weather like? It is hot, sunny, cold etc.
  


• Adjectives
  We will be looking at how we need to know adjectives in order to describe things better.
  eg clothes / family members.
  


• Prepositions
  Where is the purse? on /in /under/ on top of / behind etc.
  
  Maths
  We will be looking at 3D shapes and their properties as we only worked with 2D shapes last week.
  
  Mathematical Language
  
  We will be focusing on: halving and doubling numbers, finding out the difference between two numbers. Yrs 3 and $ will be working with tens .
  
  Yrs 5 and 6 will be working with hundreds and thousands.
  
  The EAL class will also be talking about the International Day coming up shortly. Time permitting we will be making posters advertising the event.
  
  
  It is a shorter week this week as we had a national holiday on Monday 5 October. please remember to talk with your child about the reason why we have these holidays. You would be surprised at their interest.
  
  Enjoy the four day working week everyone.

EAL Week 4

Important Dates

Thursday October 22 International Day

Friday October 23 Beginning of half term break. (one week)

School resumes Monday 2 November for the second half of term one.

Reminders
Please remember water bottles for your children as the weather is still very hot. This Indian summer we are having is truly beautiful but we do need to keep hydrated.

When your child's class go on a field trip connected to the unit they are studying please remember that he /she will go along too. Although at this stage of their learning they will not have done any work connected with the trip, it is important that they go with their class mates to avoid any excusion from the group. Please watch out for letters sent home connected to field trips.
This week YR 3VL are going on a field trip to "Banco Alimentar" on Tuesday 29.

This week in EAL we will be learning:

Clothes vocabulary (Continuation of last week)
Action verbs eg running, walking, playing, jumping etc
We will be using our puppets to help reinforce these two areas.

We will be doing a lot of revision this week of work covered so far:

Classroom objects,
Days of the week, months of the year, (prepositions connected to this eg in September, on Monday)
Question asking, (important for EAL learners to get as much practice as possible in this as it is more difficult than responding to a question)
Ailments eg sore throat, stomach ache
Body parts

Maths
We will be revising how to write numbers Yrs 3 and 4 Nos. 1 - 100
Yrs 5 and 6 Nos. 1-1000
We will be extending our mathematical language to include more than and less that eg What is 3 more than 398? (Yrs3and 4 1- 999 Yrs 5and 6 100 - 9999)

Shapes We will be looking at 2D shapes and 3D shapes and learning the vocabulary associated with shapes and their properties.

Reading
Please remember to read with your child each evening, checking pronounciation and especially understanding of what they have read. Please continue to give plenty of encouragement and be enthusiastic about your child's progress.

The children are I feel settled now into the routine of the day and feeling more comfortable in the EAL classroom and with one another. They spend time with their classmates each day when they join them for PE and Art and in some cases play with them during the breaks.

Please remember to contact me should you have any concerns about your child's welfare or progress and I will do what I can to assist.