Evidence of your understanding of differentiation and EALD issues and

how they are reflected in your plans.

Within my classroom students of EAL backgrounds are between the middle and high
functioning end of the spectrum. Most of these children were born in Australia and have
satisfactory English skills however skills are not greatly developed as a result of speaking
a different language at home. The main way I plan to provide differentiated instruction for
these children is through small group session post whole class instruction. This will allow
these students to engage more explicit teacher instruction targeted for their needs which
will allow students to work towards the same learning outcomes as the class only through
differentiated activities. Improvement of speaking and writing skills are most effective for
EAL students when lessons offer opportunities to develop their range of vocabulary
(Simons, 2011). During each lesson students will build a word bank whereby any words
unfamiliar to them will be recorded and defined (with teacher support) to assist in this.
Focus on developing childrens oral language is an essential step in the process of
improving literacy outcomes, therefore differentiation strategies will be centered on
speaking opportunities. Effective teachers orchestrate EAL students participation in
classroom discourse by providing a more detailed instructional strategy which is specified
to support the needs and engagement of these children (Simons, 2007). In order to
achieve class learning outcomes students will complete the same or similar task as the
whole class, for example creating a character profile however it will be done as an entire
group from a selection of card with descriptions in order to generate insightful discussion.
Teachers will continue to implement the 4 stage curriculum learning cycle identified by
Gibbons (2002) however will create simplified activities so these students are still able to
analyse the same text structures and language features as the class (Hammond, 2001).
For example in the first lesson when students are building content knowledge the teacher
will help students navigate the website, identify and synthesise information as doing this
independently would be beyond their current capabilities. Most importantly, the teacher
should aim to create a classroom environment where students feel confident to
experiment with language and explore their abilities in contributing to a product of work
thereby raising self-confidence (Simmons, 2007)