The role of the EAL/D Teacher is to support the literacy development of the children in our school who have a language background other than English, who speak a language other than English in the home or whose parents/guardians speak a language other than English at home.
The focus is on oral activities that enhance the literacy development of the EAL/D students. Correct sentence structure and grammar are modelled and opportunities are provided for the children to practise these skills in many varied oral activities. The children are prepared for their classroom work by vocabulary building activities and by introducing technical language.
All work prepared supports the topics that are being covered in the classroom. A lot of time is spent preparing (scaffolding) for the activities the children will be required to write or complete independently at a later date. Lessons are designed to be fun, child centred and involve a lot of oral interaction within the group.
Our EAL/D teacher at OLOR, plans and teaches co-operatively with the classroom teachers. Resources are found for teachers and suggestions are made on how to adapt classroom programs so that they better cater for EAL/D students.
The EAL/D teacher is also an advocate for the needs of the EAL/D students and those of their families and ensures that the children have opportunities to show pride in and share their backgrounds and cultures.
