I have had an interesting 6 months working as series editor for Harper Collins and the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) to produce a series of maths books for their primary schools. The books were written on a tight schedule by a strong author team and needed to match the ADEC curriculum and incorporate their ‘New School Model’ teaching approach:
In April I spent two weeks visiting schools and training teachers in Abu Dhabi. It is always good to get into schools and it was rewarding to see the books being used, especially the Teachers Guide that offered plenty of practical non-book based activities.
Maths is mainly taught by English-speaking teachers from across the world. As well as students being taught in a second language there was the added variety of different English vocabularies and accents – Australian, American, Irish, British and African as well as different approaches to teaching from each home country.
Most of the children are Arabic-speaking with little English spoken at home, so explaining maths in a second language is really challenging. This is where the use of models and images to represent the maths takes on an even more important role in developing concepts. Demonstration and modeling is also key, with English being developed alongside practical activities and active learning.
It was also interesting to observe first language Arabic teachers in Cycle 1 (ages 6-11) teaching maths in English. They did not explain things in Arabic alongside English, in fact one teacher said her students tell her off if she tries to explain things in Arabic rather than persevering in English.
Maths is mainly taught by English-speaking teachers from across the world. As well as students being taught in a second language there was the added variety of different English vocabularies and accents – Australian, American, Irish, British and African as well as different approaches to teaching from each home country.
Most of the children are Arabic-speaking with little English spoken at home, so explaining maths in a second language is really challenging. This is where the use of models and images to represent the maths takes on an even more important role in developing concepts. Demonstration and modeling is also key, with English being developed alongside practical activities and active learning.
It was also interesting to observe first language Arabic teachers in Cycle 1 (ages 6-11) teaching maths in English. They did not explain things in Arabic alongside English, in fact one teacher said her students tell her off if she tries to explain things in Arabic rather than persevering in English.
I have visited schools in Nigeria, Trinidad, Jamaica, Jordan and Egypt over the years and even with different cultures all children are delighted when then have a break-through ‘aha’ moment. They all want to learn the next little step in their maths journey and these small steps of progression in maths are fundamentally the same the world over. The tricky bit is matching the teaching to where the child is in their learning – which is where AfL comes in. Looking back at the list, the ADEC New School Model pedagogical approach seems to make a lot of sense.
The British Council provides support and resources for EAL learners, teachers and parents.
There are teaching resources available as well as research studies and the whole site is well worth a visit for those with EAL students in your classroom.
There are teaching resources available as well as research studies and the whole site is well worth a visit for those with EAL students in your classroom.
