This September is a ‘Back to School’ like no other. As we head into the new academic year, staff and students may be feeling wary. After adapting to the culture shock of sudden remote learning, pupils will now have to adjust to a previous situation that is not quite the same as they left it. For learners with English as an additional language, this experience may be like a reverse culture shock – feeling like you don’t fit in, being extra-critical, exhaustion and self-doubt.
FlashAcademy® have designed a Back to School pack to help pupils with EAL feel settled as they return to the classroom. There is a strong well-being focus to support everyone’s mental and physical health and to help ensure pupils can voice their worries and concerns and understand the procedures in place.
There are twelve worksheets in total. Here is a summary of what you can expect to find in this special ‘Back to School’ resource, which can be downloaded for FREE here.
Welcome Back Posters
Visuals are key to getting the message across for social distancing and promoting healthy behaviour, as pupils with EAL may struggle to understand the language demands. These Welcome Back posters include bright and child-friendly visuals for COVID-19, as well as intercultural understanding and communicating with gestures to encourage non-contact greetings.
Healthy Behaviour
Promoting mental wellbeing is paramount to physical wellbeing, as pupils are likely to have felt cut-off during the last few months of home learning. In this Back to School pack, you will find resources that promote physical health (‘Healthy Body, ‘Importance of Sleep’) but also mental health – ‘How do you feel?’ and ‘Wheel of Emotions’, useful for EAL learners when expressing their emotions in different situations.
Positivity Worksheets
It has been an extremely tough year, so it is natural for pupils to feel concerned, distressed and deflated. However, we can help pupils find the positives in uncertainty. Activities such as Positive Pauses, found in this pack, requires spending a short amount of time to focus on something that will make pupils smile. The more practice we have accessing positive thoughts, the easier it becomes to turn a negative into a positive.
Thinking About Mindfulness
Generally, children in KS2 have a better understanding of time and awareness of illness but are still working on verbalising distress and other emotions. Practising mindfulness in the classroom is a great way for children to express their feelings. This pack includes a mindfulness resource; its comprehension text and multiple activity ideas will help pupils with EAL to learn the vocabulary when talking about how they feel.
New Pupils Challenge
Starting at a new school can be quite daunting for any child, especially in a country where English isn’t your first language. By completing the challenges found in this worksheet, this will help pupils with EAL to get to know their school and surroundings better.