C21 and those learning English
Sheila Curtis, Head of Science at Haggerston School in Hackney writes
“As with any course, there are pros and cons to Twenty First Century Science. The discussion element in the GCSE Science course is helpful, especially to early stage English learners who do a lot of listening anyway. It is good for these students to be immersed in classrooms where students are discussing things about science in English. Also we have the opportunity for students to discuss/role play about the issues in their own language.
Students with English as an additional language find lessons with more writing and more teacher talk much harder.
The text books are like any other - they have a high reading age. However, I feel our job as teachers is to help the students access the text at whatever level they can. The use of illustrations is good and there are foundation level books which are slightly easier with larger text etc.
The assessed Case Study relies on a high level of literacy to get the top marks, but students can present their ideas in different ways. At Haggerston we allow poster work and supporting video which, for EAL students, is less challenging than writing an essay. Again, our job is to teach essay planning techniques and help student to structure their ideas.
See Baroness Walmsley's visit to Haggerson School and her comments on what she saw there
