Sarah Aye is the ESOL teacher/coordinator at Howick Primary School. She leads the Howick primary ESOL PLC (professional learning community).
Sarah has started using the walls of her classroom in a more strategic way.
Walls are designated as Foundation, Stage One, Two and Three, and ELLP descriptors related to the relevant stage are displayed on each wall.
Activities are grouped accordingly, and bags of activities are pinned to the wall in the appropriate location.
Books and games are also strategically grouped around the room according to the stage at which learners are working. If she is working with a group of students, Sarah will sometimes have individual students working independently with activities from "their" wall.
Sarah say:
"I had so many resources tucked away. Making them visible helps with using the right activity for a group of students at the time that is just right for them."
The explicit focus on academic language in her teaching programme is reflected on the walls, and Sarah includes first language resources in her wall displays where possible.
Updated on: 01 Aug 2019
