Yew Chung International School of Beijing - English as an Additional Language Introduction www.ycis-bj.com enquiry@bj.ycef.com

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2. Basic Principles of English Language
Support
• The English Language is an essential tool for communication and success
at YCIS Beijing
• Significant language learning takes place within the mainstream classroom.
• Language acquisition is neither linear, nor does it occur at a constant rate.
• Four to seven years of language learning is required to become
academically peer comparable in English language skills.
• Effective instruction is an integrated, multifaceted experience within the
language-rich environment of the classroom.
• The E.A.L. programme has to be flexible due to diverse student
backgrounds.

3. Department Goals
• To identify students’ needs through both the admission procedure and initial
settling-in period.
• To use flexible, appropriate and up-to-date methodologies to best meet the
needs of students.
• To promote students’ English learning in order to enter the mainstream
curriculum.
• To assist mainstream teachers in meeting the diverse needs of students.
• To monitor students’ progress: linguistically, academically, socially and
emotionally.

4. YCIS Primary School Programme Outline
• Students in the Primary School are currently placed into different level class
groups, according to their English language skills. To some extent these
levels mirror the stages of second language acquisition.

5. Students in Level 1 E.A.L.
Students at this level are in the early stage, where they are becoming familiar
with the sounds of English and are learning to make sense of it. They are very
dependent upon visual and non-verbal clues and typically respond with single
word or short phrase answers. Their reading comprehension is usually less
strong in comparison to their decoding ability.

6. Students in Level 2 E.A.L.
Students in this Level have greater understanding and are beginning to express
themselves in English. Their basic conversational communication skills are
developing well, giving them some independence and confidence as they learn
to use personally relevant language. However, their reading comprehension
often lags a little behind their accuracy reading rate as their understanding of
vocabulary is still a little limited. Their written expression is marked by a
transitional grammar which aligns itself closely with the learner’s first language
structure.

7. Students in Level 3 E.A.L.
• Students in this level speak with little hesitation and produce longer
conversations. They are able to orally participate in discussions within the
classroom and can read simple classroom texts independently and with
understanding. However, their written language reflects their changing
knowledge of various grammar rules and structures. As a result, omissions
of words, incorrect word order and transitional constructions of tense forms
still occur. It is at this stage that a student’s grammar is likely to fossilize,
rather than to develop to that of a native speaker, unless small group
intervention is given.

8. Progression into the Mainstream
Curriculum
• Students will progress into the mainstream English literacy classes, when
they are able to access the mainstream curriculum with little assistance.
While there may still be differences in the E.A.L student’s ability compared
to a native speaker, they are still able to explore concepts and various
literary genres. These students’ primary need is to gain a greater vocabulary
and to further develop their grammatical skills.

9. Assessing Students
Students’ progress in learning English needs to be continually tracked for a
variety of reasons.
These include:
•recognising what students can do and reward their progress
•determining what students need to learn next
•providing information which can be passed on to classroom teachers and
parents.
It must be remembered that students may be at different levels of attainment in
each of the four skill areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing.

10. Assessment
• At YCIS Beijing, students are benchmarked periodically during the school year, using the three Language Assessment rubrics for E.A.L students. These
assessments are determined from evidence gained through a range of classroom activities.
• PM Benchmark Kits are also used throughout the year to monitor students’ reading progress and to guide future instruction.
• E.A.L students’ progress is reported formally to their parents twice yearly through formal reports and parent teacher interviews. Interviews are conducted in
October and January /February while written reports are distributed at the end of each semester in January and June.