At LEH Foshan, the English language is no doubt an essential part of our curriculum and is the cornerstone to success in all subjects. However, as an international school, we respect the fact that our students come from a wide variety of geographic, cultural and language backgrounds, which means some of them might need extra language support to access the full British curriculum.
But that is what a school is for; we provide multiple engaging learning support programmes to help our students acquire the academic and language knowledge and skills from an early age.
In this article, we invited Ms Mandy Bateman, Head of Prep School, to introduce the English Language Learning (ELL) programmes at LEH Foshan Prep School.
Ms Bateman
Head of Prep School
Ms Mandy Bateman graduated from Cambridge University with a master's degree in SEN Education and has 25 years of experience as an educator and leader in both British and international schools in the UK, Portugal, and Egypt.
1 Pull-out Sessions
We provide individualised English learning programmes for our young learners based on their English assessment analysis. We do this by supporting them during the time they should be in lessons such as Spanish, Mandarin and PSHE, to offer intensive language support and enhance their English skills. Once students reach a suitable level, we will begin to reintroduce them back into the classroom. Where they will continue to receive support, and they will also become more confident and independent with their English skills.
2 ELL Support in Classroom
The school has a strong team of ELL support staff. Not only do they lead the English language acquisition programmes, but they also support in classrooms with students and support understanding during lessons. They will enable our students to understand concepts and objectives within the lessons, enabling them to focus on the language needed to access the curriculum.
3 Phonics/reading Programme
We use a world recognised phonics and reading programme Oxford Owl, that helps support all our learners, not just ELL students. The more words your child knows, the easier they will find it to understand ideas and tasks, join in with conversations, write well and express themselves accurately. When children have a very small vocabulary it is hard for them to access schoolwork; we can call this a ‘word gap’. A word gap can be a real problem when children go up to secondary school. So, we use our reading and phonics scheme to support and build students' knowledge of the English language.
4 ELL Extra-Curricular Activities
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Prep students can further improve their English language skills in extra-curricular activities (ECAs) as well. They can choose to participate in ECAs such as the School Newspaper Club which presents various opportunities to enhance literacy skills in interviewing, writing and editing.
On a side note, we are about to publish the first issue of LEH Foshan Prep student magazine, so please follow us and stay in touch for the update!
5 Language-Rich Environment
We aspire to create a full immersive English environment to include a variety of opportunities for Prep students to listen, speak, read and write. This can include word walls, multi-media resources, read alouds, spelling games and creative writings. There are also English-speaking tables in the dining hall to encourage English conversation during lunchtime.
However, an immersive English environment doesn’t mean the complete exclusion of non-English languages, as we recognise and value the importance of their native languages as much as English. Ms Bateman is currently learning Chinese and as a starter she does feel for our young English learners, “my brain has had enough after an hour of learning Chinese, so I do have some sympathy with our students and allow them 10 or 15 minutes break to speak with their friends in their own languages.”
6 Well-Stocked Libraries & Book Corners
Reading stimulates children’s curiosity and imagination, expands their vocabulary, and improves their literacy skills; all these help with their English learning and form the basis of all their future learning and intellectual capability.
Aside from the main library which serves the whole school, at Prep School there is a dedicated Prep Library with a spacious reading area and many age-appropriate and varied reading materials. The library is located opposite the Prep classrooms, providing easy and convenient access to books for our young students. There are also book corners dotted in classrooms and common space in Prep School with selected reads by our teachers.