AIBU to ask this question of any teachers on here?

[itswhereitsat]

Posting this on here for traffic really.

We currently live in an Arabic speaking country. My two children (DS 12 and DS 7) attend local language schools most subjects are in Arabic and English is taught as a second language. They are fluent in both languages and they speak English with a Southern Accent. In Arabic my eldest would be able to sit the GCSE Arabic exam. They visit the UK every year and I feel that they have a very good understanding of the life. I try to keep abreast of trends for children in the UK and when they return I don't feel their differences are very noticeable.
We are planning to return to the UK in Summer 2020 and live in the South Derbyshire area. My eldest would then be in Year 9 and the youngest, Year 4. I am most concerned about my eldest son as his written English is a little weak due to learning English as a second language abroad. I supplement what they both do at school with UK curriculum books and online resources like Literacy Planet, Spelling Zone and Reading Express. They also have a library of typical books that children would read in the UK eg Roald Dahl, David Walliams, Harry Potter etc. However, I don't think anything can match total immersion in English and spending all the school time learning only English.
I have a year to prepare him for the change and intend to ramp up the English supplementation. If there are any Teachers on here I would like to pose this question/scenario. My son appears in your classroom in a years time. What would you have liked me to have done to prepare him for life in a UK school and to improve his English writing further? Also, any advice on the move much appreciated.

Most schools will have an EAL (English as an Additional Language) department so if they feel your son is lacking in an area they would take them for 1:1 or small group work to work on any weakness that have been noticed. I work with SEN / EAL and we find that the biggest issue is sentence structure as in making them make sense in English. Lots of EAL kids miss out words. If you know the school your son would be attending I’d get a list of English books he will be reading for the GCSEs so he can pre read them and have a basic understanding of them. He will or should be able to sit a GCSE in Arabic too we do it all the time for our children. Sounds like your doing a great job in preparing them for schooling in uk wish all parents were like you!

could you get an old school pen pal? some one from the area you're moving to perhaps. not sure how you'd go about it, maybe home school groups, or Arabic in UK groups?

Can I recommend you investing in Twinkl op?

It’s an online teaching resource, I pay around £79 a year for it.

It has a range of assessment tools, activities and sheets that can help them with their English skills, you would also use the assessments to find their weak points and aim to rectify them from that.

@Apileofballyhoo I'll have a look for Carol Vorderman's books. When he was younger he used to do her Maths Factor for times tables.

@Porky54 I was wondering whether there were any provisions for children with EAL as I suspect he may need this type of support. He is a bright boy and is used to having to put in extra work after school ends and is well behaved so hoping this will help him to start off with the right attitude. Thanks for your advice, much appreciated.

I moved my dc from Australia Derbyshire when they were in years four and seven. Although they didn't have the language differences they aren't white and they hadn't ever done half the subjects that are taught here. History, RE, science, UK geography, French.

I was absolutely petrified when my dd started secondary school but it was completely fine. I was imagining her being beaten up in the toilets but she loved it and stayed late on the first day to join the netball team. On reflection, I think it actually went in her favour not starting at the right time. She was more looked after.

I had a really big problem getting a school place at all for my younger dd. Derbyshire is a huge county but they couldn't give me a year four place anywhere at any school in the entire county. She had no school place at all for over three months until I appealed for a place at our catchment school. The school were absolutely lovely and welcoming to her but some of the parents were pissed off at me for increasing the class size. So the on,y school bullying I encountered towards me!

Whattodoforthebest has made a good suggestion we use the twinkle site to print off work sheets for our sessions and adapt them as needed. Not all will be appropriate but it might be helpful. It also covers some work in the curriculum too at different abilities so it will give both children a massive head start.
Every school is different so I can’t say for sure they will have an EAL department but you’d like to think so! We also do 1:1 class support if need with children just to give them a boost but when your closer to moving definitely ask if they have EAL support and the kind things they do to support the children.

Really helpful MarieG10. Obviously making someone feel bad has brightened your day

Do you know the schools you want them to join?

You could ask them for the curriculum and book lists or reading schemes that they will be doing 2019/2020 so your DS are familiar with the topics and books that the others have been reading

How is his present school with things like physics chemistry and biology? Cos I agree the language in science is different iyswim

You could also look at the clubs and society pages on the school websites - is it a sports specialist school (which sports) or drama or xyz

Then see if your children could start to watch on TV whichever sport it is - if it is football/soccer which teams are popular to the area

Where I live in North London it is arsenal or Tottenham

The problem with Year 9 is that that is now the start of some GCSE syllabus particularly in sciences and if he needs to adjust to everything in English you may find they hang him back a year to assist with getting a grip with English language. Literature will also pose an issue if he is not reading enough which many boys don't. I would seriously consider coming back earlier to give the eldest a year before GCSEs so adjust.

I know its ireland but my nephew was living in Germany at International school so taught in English and German and when they moved he was held back a year on English transition. Needlessly in my view as he is a top setter straight through all subjects so bored where he is at the moement

• CGP books
• their, there, they’re
• find books in English on subjects they like

@Lilylay well..Marie has a point

What I mean is how is his science in Arabic?

If he is confident in Arabic science then he just needs to learn the terms and language in English

However, if he doesn't do science very much at school it may be harder

Also, find out which history and geography they have done in years 7 & 8 so he can read about it as that will obviously be completely new to him and maybe find out which parts are in 9 so he has a head start and basic understanding of things like 1066 or Victorians or Henry VIII or industrial revolution or whatever topics they are doing

teacher she does, but she was being a knob about it.

@SubisYodrethwhenLarping
They start Science at age 8 and all in English. Last year they did differents types of Levers, energy, the respiratory system and all about different types of Solar and Lunar eclipses.

What language do they think in?

@TiredOldTable They said they think in both languages depending on who they are with and where they are. When they're with me, they think in English, when with their friends, Arabic, when in the UK with their English cousins, English. They said that they dream in both languages too.

@itswhereitsat You sound like a really excellent Mum, it's great that you're thinking ahead and trying to get your DC prepared for such a big change. You seem to have received loads of relevant advice on this thread already, so I'll just wish you luck with the move!

I have taught in the area you are moving to and there are a lot of EAL students in the area, varying from those who have spent their entire lives in the UK education system but are classed as EAL because their home language isn’t English to those who have literally just arrived and can’t speak a word of English. I guess your children will fall somewhere in between. I’m not sure of the criteria but there is a EAL hub where students who need English language support can spend a several weeks before going into a mainstream classroom, this might depend on exactly where you’ll be living.

Thinking in both languages is fabulous.

I’m sure they’ll settle in just fine, mist schools here are now so diverse I’d be very surprised if anyone really notices they’re from Egypt!

How soon will you know which school you’d like them to attend?
The more you can find out about what they offer and what the specific school would like them to have covered/read, the better.

I’d definitely try to get as much information as possible about topics covered in years 7&8.

A friend hired an online tutor for English writing & comprehension it helped her DD to learn to write essays and stories - both the technical requirements but also just doing it alongside the tutor made her do it. So she got a lot of practice!

I agree with homophones and near homophones e.g. there, their and they're. Too, to, two. Accept, except.

I would be wary about relying on there being specific provision for EAL students when you move. Most schools do not have any specialist staff these days.

That said, it sounds like your children are way ahead of what you might expect for children moving from another country. And the teachers will do their absolute best to get them good results.

Good luck.

@Lilylal
Thanks for saying that, appreciate it. I've had an awful day and deciding to come back to live here to be near-elderly and ill parents. A difficult and very upsetting couple of days deciding that we need to come back....and then someone decides to pick you on your grammar etc.

I wouldn't worry so much about bullying (but do look for a school with a robust attitude to bullying, one that clamps down hard rather than says "there is no bullying"). I would be more concerned about the massive culture shock. It would be worth reading about the the seven stages to prepare yourself - and you will go through them even if you are coming "home".

English teacher based in South Derbyshire here (so your son could end up in my actual classroom!) In Y9 we begin the GCSE syllabus and essentially have a dry run of both English Language and Literature GCSE over the course of the year. For the GCSE English Language he would be expected to be able to write creatively for one paper and to write a strong argument for the second paper.

To that end, I would be exploring figurative language devices with him (you can look at this through the medium of the fiction texts you read) so similes, metaphors, personification, sound imagery etc. Maybe get him to write short extracts describing the sea, the weather, someone’s face etc. in a creative (as apposed to factually descriptive) way.

Also explore with him how to successfully argue a point. In a nutshell, students are given a statement in the exam and asked to argue for or against it in a specific format (letter, newspaper article, essay, leaflet or speech) e.g. Homework should be banned. Ask your son his opinions and explore how to successfully get them across with maximum impact. Essentially explore persuasive devices with him (direct address, repetition, rhetorical questions, facts etc).

Finally, where students lose marks is a) lack of sentence variety and b) lack of variation/accuracy in punctuation. Practice different sentence types with him (beginning sentences with an adverb, short ‘punchy’ sentences, complex sentences with embedded clauses etc) and make sure he can use the higher level punctuation marks accurately and effectively (colon, semi-colon, brackets and dashes)

This will set him up well for the demands of GCSE which he is likely to begin exploring in Y9.

As his science knowledge is in English it is excellent news and so will make the transition so much easier for him

You really seem to have been doing an excellent job thinking everything through

Hope the move works out OK for you all