Meeting the needs of English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners in the VCE Vocational major and Victorian pathway certificate.
Meeting the needs of English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners in the VCE Vocational major and Victorian pathway certificate.
VicTESOL Symposium 2023.
Friday 13th October, 2023, The Academy of Teaching and Leadership
Presenter: Sarah Douglas, Leading Teacher: EAL/Literacy/Numeracy, River Nile School
Summary
This session introduced how schools can cater for EAL learners within the VCE vocational major (VM) and Victorian Pathway Certificate (VCP). Drawing from principles of applied learning and informed by VCAA EAL curriculum the session covered ways to effectively plan for EAL learners based on VCAA language levels. The session demonstrated both how language can be developed through the VM required units; Literacy or VCE English, VCE VM Numeracy or VCE Mathematics, VCE VM Work Related Skills and VCE VM Personal Development Skills. This included focusing on key vocabulary required for each unit scaffolding text and language to support English language development and utilising principles of communicative language scaffolding. The session also unpacked the ways VM units can be designed to be culturally responsive to EAL learners such as including relevant topics for leaners cultural context including health, financial and civic literacy, and the use of authentic assessment tasks.
The session provided practical examples of how EAL learners can be catered for within the VM pathway and the ways in which teachers of VM can user understanding of learners’ language progression to inform units that support language development.
Resources
