EAL

A Report from EAL this Term 

A spade full of soil, poetry and laughter are very common in our Primary EAL program. EAL classes are sessions for students who are blessed with the opportunity to speak or be raised in a family where languages additional to English are spoken.

Miss Canov and I are privileged to be able to work with these incredibly clever students.

Our EAL children have been extremely busy this year and would love to share some of it with you. Our super star Senior Primary students have been invited to share with you some of their favourite activities and our Junior Primary students have written about their gingerbread making experiences. 

Daniela Repse

Literacy Enrichment Teacher (EAL)

JP EAL Gingerbread Decorating

On Thursday we made gingerbread men. First, I put icing on the gingerbread. Second, I put on M&Ms, and snake lollies. Lastly, I put on heart-shaped gummies. It was so much fun. 

David

On Thursday in EAL we decorated gingerbread cookies.

First, we got a picture and coloured it how we’d decorate our cookie. 

Next, we got a cookie.

Then, we put icing, candy, M&Ms and hard candies on the cookie. 

Lastly, we put it in a sandwich bag, took it home and ate it. 

Van

SP Writing

In EAL we have this thing called a ‘Hamburger’. Now, when I say ‘hamburger’, you’re probably thinking about the food. But I’m talking about hamburger paragraph writing. This is a thing we do at EAL. The hamburger bun (bread) is the first sentence in a paragraph, it is the main idea. The tomato, lettuce and patty are the adding details. And last but not least, the second bun, is the conclusion. 

(Image of Hamburger visual- sourced from Twinkl)

Mission 

Phonological Awareness - Finger waving and Sound practise

At EAL class we do sounds where we break words apart into their sounds, or we swap sounds for other sounds. This helps us activate our brains and get them thinking. It is also good for spelling. It is called ‘Phonological Awareness’. For example, Mrs Repse says “say the word ‘act’”. Then we say “act”. The she says now say it but don’t say “c”, say “n” and we have to work out what the word becomes. ‘Act’ becomes ‘ant’. 

Mrs Repse uses her fingers to show us which part of the word we have to focus on. You can see us in the photo holding up our fingers like she does. The words and what we have to do gets progressively harder and the highest level is saying a word backwards. The easiest level is just saying the word. 

Simon, Cung & Mrs Repse

Switch and Swap

Do you want to avoid getting a fine or going to jail? Then this is the skill you would need to use. It’s called ‘Switch and Swap’ and it will stop you from plagiarising which is a fancy word for copying someone else’s work. This is how you use it… 

‘Switch’ is when you switch the words around. For example, in the sentence “The giant squid is one of the most mysterious animals in the Southern Ocean”, this is what a switch strategy would do - it now becomes, “The most mysterious animal in the Southern Ocean is the giant squid”. That sounds amazing, right? 

You also need to use the ‘Swap’ strategy where you look at a thesaurus and change some of the words that you have. For example, the word ‘good’ could be swapped for ‘merit’. You must make sure it makes sense. 

That is how you do, ‘Switch and Swap’. 

Jenny 

Garden Goodies

In EAL, we get to place plants in the garden and when they are ready, we get to harvest them and eat them! One time, we planted some lettuce, like cos lettuce, butter lettuce and the red coloured butter lettuce! 

When they are ready to get, we harvest them, wash them and put them in a salad spinner to dry. 

Once it looked dry, we put it in another bowl and mixed some apple cider vinegar, garlic, honey, oil, salt, pepper and chilli, and lemon juice for the dressing. Then we mixed it with a spoon and once we were all done mixing, we ate it! 

It was very yummy and delighted my taste buds!

Simon

Dictionary Race 

In EAL we do many games but one favourite game we do is called ‘Dictionary Race’. We each get a dictionary and a piece of paper. We look for a word in the dictionary and write it down on a piece of paper. Then Mrs Repse chooses a piece of paper randomly and whoever’s piece of paper that is has their turn. They have to run from point A to point B until someone finds their word. Every time they make a run it is a point. Our best score in MP is Hayul with 44 for the word ‘prevaricate’. Our SP best score is 41 for Stanley for the word ‘pneumonia’.  

Mary

Chop Stick and Cotton Ball Race

Using chop sticks is a serious skill! One that many of our EAL students have mastered. Unfortunately, I have not! We spent a lesson analysing a procedural piece of writing directing us how to use chop sticks. The students concentrated fiercely to get all the cotton balls into the basket - the fastest was the winner. Needless to say it was never me!  

Mrs Repse