Mrs Cassell, English Teacher (EAL Co-ordinator)

Tuesday lunchtime saw the launch of a new initiative as part of the wider school English as an Additional Language (EAL) policy at BGS. Year 10 student, Lucy Liu met with Lara Spajic from Year 5 for an informal lunchtime chat in Mandarin. The girls participated in a new EAL Buddy system designed to support girls throughout the school who either speak English as an additional language or who speak a language other than English at home. Lucy originally joined the Junior School in Year 5 and as Lara is new to the school, both girls have much in common. We hope they will continue to develop their friendship to strengthen their knowledge of Mandarin, using their language skills to enrich their wider learning experiences throughout the school.

Research into EAL teaching has established that it is enriching for pupils to have a Buddy to converse with in a mother tongue or in a language other than English and that, additional languages should be encouraged and nurtured. As a school community, we speak many languages and we would like to build up our reading resources for native speakers of languages other than English, so that all girls have equal opportunities to embrace a range of reading and writing materials. 

“Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.”