Up and Away - National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

20
What is the objective of language support?
The principal objective of the language support programme is to integrate the pupil as quickly as possible
into all mainstream learning and activities of the school.
At the beginning
Newcomer pupils can be assigned to classes at any stage of the school year. Take time to:
1. Find out which classes the pupils are in.
At the beginning
2. If possible get feedback from the class teacher with his/her first impressions – see page 22 for the type
of initial information that is useful. Further information (see page 23) is useful at intervals during the
year, for example every six weeks or half term.
3. Carry out an initial basic assessment – see next page.
4. Identify the most appropriate period for the child’s class each day, taking the age, class and English
language proficiency of the pupil into account.
5. Wait a period of weeks before carrying out a more formal assessment.
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! Points to remember!
Achieving an accurate assessment of a pupil shortly after arrival is unusual. It is important to allow
a ‘settling down’ period before attempting this.
Language proficiency is rarely consistent at the same level across all skills (listening, speaking,
reading and writing) and across different units of work. Some pupils may appear very fluent orally
but have difficulty with reading and writing (if appropriate to the age of the pupil). On occasion this
situation may be reversed.
The ability of any pupil to perform in the classroom must always be viewed in relation to the
performance of the native-speaking peer group. For example, children in the infant classes are not
expected to have developed literacy.
Equally, for a child in Senior Primary who is not yet literate, it is a matter of some urgency that
literacy development should begin.
A regular flow of communication between the
class teacher and the language support teacher
is vital not only to help the child to develop in
language learning, but also to access
curriculum learning and to socialize in the
school.
Taking time to observe how a child is
performing in different situations in the school
(mainstream class, playground, etc.) will help
the language support teacher to identify an
individual child’s particular learning needs.