EAL Student Support
In March 2020, the division's English as an Additional Language (EAL) Consultant and two ELA Instructional Coaches completed a project to support increased graduation rates. Successfully completing five secondary level English Language Arts course credits continues to be a struggle for many EAL students. Meeting the needs of EAL students while still meeting the curricular outcomes can be challenging. This project brought all of our high school ELA teachers together to explore differentiation strategies for supporting their EAL students.
50 English teachers from 22 different schools within the division participated in PD sessions to discuss and connect the differentiation practices detailed in the Ministry of Education's Adaptive Dimension document with current lessons and unit plans. The teachers had discussions and made notes for each adaptive dimension category: Learning Environment, Instruction, Assessment, and Resources. The day resulted in the teachers exploring strategies to use in the classroom that will make a significant impact on the learning environment and progression for EAL students, as well as other students in the class.