Language matters
A whole school working towards effective instruction and assessment for EAL students Kerrilyn Thacker says collaboration between departments is key One wonderful thing about international schools is their diversity. Students and teachers with varied cultures, languages, beliefs and backgrounds work together with the objective of academic success for all. While this provides many opportunities for learning, two major challenges occur. Firstly, content teachers are not usually suitably trained to provide instruction that supports students learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) (Ottow, 2019) and, secondly, professional development has typically been ineffective at changing classroom practice (Wiliam, 2007). Winter
Summer |
| 2020
Antwerp International School (AIS), inspired by a four-day WIDA Institute (WIDA, 2019a) and armed with the knowledge of the features of quality professional development (Yaron, 2017), took action to plan a year-long focus on effective instruction and assessment for EAL students. AIS was founded in 1967 in the suburbs of Antwerp, Belgium. We currently offer the International Baccalaureate through the Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme and Diploma Programme to approximately 370 students from 40 nationalities. In August 2018, AIS moved towards
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