Recently in Year 1, Ms Ord and Ms Tinnelly have been combining their Literacy and EAL instructional methods to better support students in the transition to the co-teaching model. The two teachers have been collaborating to trial this style of lesson in anticipation for the next school year when the majority of the Year 1 Literacy lessons will be conducted in this way. Our future goal is for this model to be used throughout YCIS Puxi Primary, with Year 1 being chosen as a logical starting point, considering ECE students are already familiar with lessons conducted in a fully language immersive environment.
In a co-teaching arrangement, EAL and homeroom teachers combine to deliver lessons in students’ regular classrooms or within the Learning Community. This replaces the traditional model where students were taken out of their classes and supported in EAL classrooms separate from their peers. Co-teaching benefits students’ English language growth by immersing them in a more language rich environment, which is then able to accelerate their academic language growth. Further to this, it provides students with additional opportunities to work within a variety of teacher-facilitated groups according to their individual needs. The feedback from everyone who has observed the class in action and from Ms. Ord, Ms. Tinnelly and the students themselves has been overwhelmingly positive. The entire Year 1 and EAL teaching teams now look forward to implementing this model next year and to continue sharing their knowledge of this practice with the school community.
Primary EAL Team Leader – Pat Rogers