Advice for teachers -
Bridging English as an Additional Language (EAL)

​Unit 1: English for learning

Area of Study 1: English for everyday purposes

Outcome 1

Engage with and understand everyday texts, and produce their own everyday texts making appropriate decisions in response to purpose, audience and context.

Examples of learning activities

• Conduct role-plays of relevant real-world situations, such as negotiating the purchase of a car or returning a faulty item to a shop. Keep a list of culturally-appropriate politeness strategies and ways language can be used to reduce conflict in these instances.
• Interview others about experiences such as: joining a team/club or gaining part-time employment in Australia. This information can be organised and transformed into another form to make it suitable for a specific audience. Examples of other forms include a community newsletter article, blog post or class oral presentation.
• Present information about a topic relevant to the group, such as an upcoming event. Focus on the strategies required to check for audience understanding and use peer feedback to develop further strategies for effective presentation of information.
  
• Provide instructions for others to follow; for example, directions on how to use a new printer or prepare a meal. Include the use of visuals and ask participants to give feedback about the clarity of the instructions.
• Take note-form summaries of spoken or print texts to demonstrate your understanding of them, to determine their structure and to outline their main points. Discuss and evaluate the effectiveness of the note-taking strategies, considering how different approaches could be suitable for various subjects, learning environments and contexts.
• Annotate a range of print texts on the same topic (for example, moving to a new country or starting a small business) to show how form, conventions, vocabulary choice and other aspects contribute to meaning. These texts can be collected into a folio, with explanations of possible reasons for the choices.
• Update signs or instructions displayed around the school (for example, where to seek medical assistance or how to get to the library) to increase their clarity and accessibility for users from a range of cultural backgrounds.
• Transform print texts into spoken texts, explaining the choices made to improve comprehension. This could include transforming a subject selection handbook into a short, spoken presentation for new students and their parents.
• Produce authentic everyday texts including: emails, resumes, job application letters, greeting and e-cards, messages of thanks and complaints.
• Analyse the language and techniques used in advertising and use similar strategies to promote an upcoming event or fundraiser.
• Reflect on a personal experience, such as adapting to a new cultural context or learning a new skill. Record details of the experience and reflect on personal growth and change, as well as challenges that have been overcome.
• Select a media issue and collect a range of print or digital texts, including visual, multimodal and interactive. Summarise each text for a small group and discuss the different perspectives presented, using appropriate strategies to keep the discussion focused.
• 
  Explore various aspects of the Australian workforce by interviewing people about their workforce experiences.
  

Detailed example

Employment in Australia

1. In small groups or as individuals, arrange to interview an adult about their work-related experiences in Australia. Before conducting the interview, access information about the relevant industry from the Australian Government Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business website.
   
2. Prior to the interview, work in small groups to develop appropriate questions. Ensure there are a mixture of open and closed questions as well as rehearsed follow-up questions that should capture more information from the interviewee. Examples of follow-up questions are: ‘What makes you say that?’ or ‘Can you tell me more about what it is like to work night-shift?’
3. Discuss and model etiquette strategies and culturally appropriate courtesy to be used in an interview. This may also involve identifying strategies to use when either speaker wants to request clarification.
4. Observe or listen to successful radio, television or online interviewers to identify the language conventions they use to encourage their interviewees to answer in detail (such as gesture, facial expression, pause and tone). Examples of interviewers include Leigh Sales, Andrew Denton, Virginia Trioli, Fran Kelly, Julia Zemiro or Annabel Crabb.
5. Use your prepared questions and strategies to encourage conversation when conducting the interview and, if required, follow up discussions with the individual.
6. Use notes and observations to prepare a report or presentation on the interview. Include information about the relevant industry, trends and potential future development as well as presenting a case study of the interviewee. Seek feedback from peers on the clarity of the report/presentation before planning and drafting an effective way to formally communicate the content.