Education and Children's ServicesEnglish as an Additional Language
This information is for Teachers and parents
Please click on the following links to find:
EAL Guidelines and Forms |
Aberdeenshire EAL advice, resources and information |
EAL Training |
| Covid-19 Resources Translations of letters to parents from the director click here Parents click here Nursery/Primary staff click here Secondary staff click here Resources for all Sectors click here |
Parents click here for more information about living and working in North East Scotland (translated into other languages) |
What is the EAL Service?
Aberdeenshire is home to a number of families for whom English is not their first language. Aberdeenshire’s English as an Additional Language Service (EAL) has a consultation, advisory, training and teaching role. The EAL Service office is based in New Deer School. The EAL Team consists of a Coordinator and peripatetic teaching staff. Most staff have undertaken specialist training in Bilingual Learning.
The EAL Service works with
- children
- parents and carers
- staff in schools and nurseries
- libraries
- staff in Community Learning Development
- other agencies e.g. Health Visitors, Social Services
- voluntary organisations
- other education providers e.g. FE colleges
How does the Service Work
The EAL Service becomes involved when a referral is made to the service. This is followed by an initial assessment where the level of English and appropriate level of support is determined.
Aberdeenshire Education and Children’s Services has developed an enrolment pack which includes guidelines for supporting bilingual learners. These have been advised by legislation and the Aberdeenshire Education and Children’s Services framework for supporting learners. The need for wider multi-agency support for pupils and their families is reflected in these guidelines.
COVID-19 – Resources to Support Learning at Home
Translated Letters
Free School Meal Funding – 3 February 2021
| Arabic | English | Latvian | Lithuanian |
| Polish | Romanian | Russian |
Free School Meal Funding – 20 January 2021
| Arabic (pdf) Arabic |
English | Latvian |
| Lithuanian | Polish | Russian |
Letter from Laurence Findlay – 6 January 2021
| Arabic | English | Latvian |
| Lithuanian | Polish | Russian |
Letter from Laurence Findlay – 24 November 2020
| Arabic | English | Latvian |
| Lithuanian | Polish | Russian |
Teachers
Supporting Learning at Home is further resources and translated videos to support families with online learning.
More advice for teachers
Aberdeenshire EAL – Resources to support learning while at home – Primary Nursery
My Hero is You
Storybook for Children on COVID-19 from the World Health Organisation.
Children’s stories (Stay Home Superheroes)
These stories are translated into various languages, plus there’s a video in BSL for deaf children.
eBooks
Mantra Lingua are offering free access to ebooks in 37 languages. These are great for reading at home and developing question and answer skills with your children. You can ask questions about the story in your first language and this will give them a great foundation to build their English reading comprehension skills. Please note that the confirmation code email seems to go to your spam/junk email folder.
General Information on Free School Meals – Letter from Buchanhaven
These letters were produced by Buchanhaven primary school. They are to communicate information regarding free school meals. Translations available in Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian. Please enter information relevant to your school in the highlighted sections.
- Free School Meals Parent Support – Whole School
| Russian | English | Latvian | Polish |
| Czech | Estonian | Hungarian | Mandarin |
- Free School Meals Parent Support – Target Families 2
| English | Lithuanian | Russian |
| Latvian | Polish | Czec |
| Estonian | Hungarian | Mandarin |
1140hrs Letter
This letter was produced by Kellands School nursery to detail arrangements for offers of early years places. The translation is in Arabic with highlighted sections to allow you to edit any information that may differ. Highlights are colour coded to help you find the correct place.
| English | Arabic |
Secondary
Aberdeenshire EAL – Resources to support learning while at home – Secondary
See Mantra Lingua above for some books appropriate for early Secondary
Immersive Reader
Please see a fantastic video (open in Chrome) one of our colleagues in Moray did about the use of immersive reader. It can be sent to students, teachers and parents.
Resources for all Sectors
Top Tips for Learners
These resources came from Moray EAL Service – these are translated advice for pupils who are returning to school – most useful for pupils who are literate in their first language. Find more languages and other resources on Moray EAL Service’s Glow Blog page under Covid-19 updates. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/my/MorayEALServiceBlog/
| Arabic | English | Polish |
Translated COVID-19 infographics in a wide range of languages
Translated comments re. COVID-19
Please check out https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/as/ealaberdeenshire/learning-at-home/ for a table of comments you can copy and paste to support communication with parents.
Translated signage re. COVID-19
Signage with translations in Arabic, English, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian
Parents
FAQs About Changes to Schools and Schooling in 2020 Because of the Coronavirus Epidemic
| Arabic | English | Latvian |
| Lithuanian | Polish | Russian |
A resource to support and reassure children regarding Covid 19
Translated information from the NHS
The NHS have translated information about Covid-19.
Translated info on self-isolation
The NHS have translated information about Covid-19 Self Isolation
Early Years Activities
Below you will find translated letter ( 10 languages) to early years parents with good activities to do with children during lockdown. This resource was produced by Moray EAL Service.
| Arabic | Bangla | Bulgarian |
| Chinese – simplified | English with Polish websites | English without Polish sites |
| Hungarian | Lithuanian | Polish |
| Portuguese | Romanian | Spanish |
Domestic Abuse Advice for Parents
| English | Arabic |
Internet Safety
Google have resources on internet safety in some languages. You can find some more languages by scrolling to the bottom of the page when you visit the site. The following are some of the most common languages in Aberdeenshire:
Arabic
English
Polish
Romanian
Educational Psychology
The Educational Psychology Service have developed leaflets for parents in different languages. The Children and Young People and The Parent and Carer leaflets are available in Arabic, Russian, Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian by clicking on the following links:
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/as/aberdeenshireeps/children-and-young-people/
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/as/aberdeenshireeps/parent-and-carers/
Help NALDIC in a Collaborative Research Project
Are you a #multilingual family in the UK or Ireland? How is the #lockdown affecting your children’s use of English and their other language(s)? Take part in this collaborative research project to help NALDIC learn about supporting bilingual families.
Education and Working Together – Your Rights
Theses are translated information on parents rights and how to work with schools.
| Arabic | English | Lithuanian |
| Polish | Romanian | Russian |
EAL Enrolment Pack: Guidelines and Forms
Guidelines on supporting bilingual learners, including helpful hints, forms and advice.
| Guidelines | ||
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An introduction and overview of supporting bilingual learners. Role of the school Role of the EAL Service Referral to the EAL Service |
Guidelines on accessing support from the EAL Service |
Helpful Hints For Settling A Bilingual Learner Advice on supporting a bilingual learner in settling into school Creating an inclusive and welcoming environment. Parental involvement Learning and teaching – Practical advice for teachers. Additional information for pupils in secondary schools Useful websites |
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EAL Guidelines – Accessing Interpreting and Translation Services Advice for schools on using Interpreting and translation services Here is a help guide on how to use a telephone interpreter in an emergency, or if you would like to book a telephone interpreter for a planned call Using a telephone interpreter in school This visual guide takes you through every click of how to set up a Skype meeting on your calendar and copy a link for the meeting onto the telephone interpreter booking email Booking a telephone interpreter – A visual guide
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Guidelines on the process of enrolling a bilingual learner
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Bilingual Learners who leave school Guidelines on children who leave and children missing in education (CME) |
Visual outline of good practice for enrolment |
Visual outline of good practice for when bilingual learners leave |
Accompanying Forms/Checklists That You May Need
Forms |
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Pre-Enrolment Form English / Latvian / Lithuanian / Mandarin / Polish / Portuguese / Russian / Spanish |
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Parental Letter Regarding Pupil Enrolment Meeting English / Latvian / Lithuanian / Mandarin / Polish / Portuguese / Russian / Spanish |
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Request for Previous Reports English / Latvian / Lithuanian / Mandarin / Polish / Portuguese / Russian / Spanish |
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Information Card (to encourage new school to confirm a child has enrolled) |
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| EAL Privacy Notice | |||||||||
| EAL Referral Form | |||||||||
| EAL Pupil Leaving Form | |||||||||
| EAL Transfer from Another Aberdeenshire School Form | |||||||||
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To make the telephone interpreting process easier we have created a letter, below, that can be sent home to check parent availability for a call. You school would enter the relevant dates and then the parent should highlight the date/time that they can manage and return the letter to the school.
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Enrolment Checklists (Checklists to support schools with the enrolment of bilingual pupils) |
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| EAL Primary Enrolment Checklist | |||||||||
| EAL Secondary Enrolment Checklist | |||||||||
A leaflet about being bilingual is available to download in several languages:
- Arabic
- Bulgarian
- Chinese (simplified)
- Czech
- English
- Hungarian
- Latvian
- Lithuanian
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Punjabi
- Russian
- Slovak
- Spanish
- Urdu
Training
Staff development and awareness-raising underpin all work undertaken by the EAL service. Training is available to all schools through Aberdeenshire Council’s professional development programme on ALDO.
The EAL Service provides professional training and awareness raising sessions for
- probationer and newly qualified teachers
- staff in the pre-school sector
- staff in schools
- Community Learning Development staff
- staff in other agencies including the voluntary sector
- parents, carers and families
EAL Online training
Education Scotland has developed an online training module in partnership with Scotland’s National Centre for Languages and Glasgow City Council to support the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy. The module can be accessed here: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/supportingbilingualism/
Contact Us
For more information contact:
Aberdeenshire EAL Service, New Deer School, New Deer, Turriff, AB53 6TB
Telephone Number – 01467532100
Email – eal.service@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
