This is an email which I have received from the parent of one of my newly-arrived students who speaks English as an Additional Language (EAL).
I have had many conversations with parents whose education system differs from the UK one. They are used to having textbooks, so they know exactly what their children have studied in lessons. The parents feel enabled to help, if the students need help.
Some parents struggle to find what homework has been assigned in an English school. This information is scattered across multiple sites (like Teams or Edulink) and only in English. In most cases, people draw upon their family and friends to decipher this information, however they often get conflicting advice.
As I run induction and pre-teaching sessions for some of our multilingual learners, I decided to test out a different homework format based on the idea that I found on Twitter. @Jmosley_history’s Learning Postcards were getting a positive reception and were being adapted by various subject teachers.
My EAL Learning Postcards are used for various levels of English language advancement and I always get the postcards back with notes like:
How do EAL Learning Postcards work?
1. We cover subject-specific vocabulary like mathematical shapes, adaptation features, literary terms and tectonic hazards
2. I send the EAL Learning Postcard to parents/carers – sometimes in English, sometimes in both English and parents’ first/strongest language. They can do it with siblings or grandparents or whoever they choose.
3. Parents can discuss what their children have learnt in any language and give me feedback in any language they feel most comfortable in
4. There is a star rating; interestingly some parents are very strict and only award three stars out of five. Some added an extra star or two for an outstanding performance!
The filled in postcards are great for pre-teaching, revision, showing we value first languages and for keeping parents in the loop.
We are having an emphasis on oracy this year, so it is a useful way of opening up multilingual communication between parents and children. Oracy in their first language is a helpful way of keeping up first language and preparing students for taking GCSE in home languages.
I am thinking now how to take it further and collaborate with subject colleagues.
