About Us

About EMASUK

We were founded in 2009 when many of the Local Authority EAL teams were disbanding in England and Wales. Since then we have listened to the needs of schools and teachers and have grown to be the most extensive practical support network for teachers of EAL students in the UK.

Created by former teachers and local authority advisors we are transforming the teaching and learning of pupils who have English as an Additional Language (EAL). We don’t do anything else which is why we can put everything into getting it right for you.

At EMAS UK we know that people and pedagogy are essential, that’s why we don’t tell people what to do or how to teach. We share best practice and create high-quality resources and digital tools that scaffold teaching and support learning. Our unique methodology has reduced the time it takes an EAL child to reach a standard literacy level for mainstream classrooms by up to 70%.

We are about making a difference in real time. Recently a Lithuanian learner was observed in bottom set maths, year 9, when his maths worksheet was translated into Lithuanian, he completed the work and showed that he was capable of working two levels above his expected grade and he has since moved maths set to a group with an expected a – c outcome.

Using our tools and resources can help you get better OFSTED judgments. They will make your school EAL friendly and give you best practice tools and techniques for supporting your EAL pupils regardless of language.

We look forward to welcoming you to EMAS UK and supporting you as we all move forward.

The EMAS UK Team.

Please Note:- Ofsted now judge schools on their ability to support EAL students as they arrive, regardless of current intake.

Our Methodology

Our methodology hasn’t changed it has always been to support EAL learners to continue developing their learning through accessing their own language. This process involves dipping into their home language to access their prior learning then blend this with their current language development and their new learning.

We developed this methodology as one of the directors came from wales and spoke about how seeing bilingual signage every day supported their knowledge of place names and directions. Using this concept a resource library of dual language materials was created. Starting with common words, it quickly developed into curriculum words that could be used to create specific subject sheets. For example, a Polish-speaking student who was at the early stages of being EAL that had prior knowledge of shapes could be introduced to the shapes in their home language and then reintroduced in English. This ‘bridging’ concept makes bridging the gap from past learning to prior development simple to achieve yet promotes learning at a much quicker rate.

Schools that use EMAS UK for their EAL support have shown an increasingly higher level of continued achievement above that of other schools in the UK. This has shown itself in school results with a school that has large numbers of EAL pupils’ achieving 100% level 4 at KS2 SATs. This then leads to a direct correlation from OFSTED by reporting that the school ‘used a versatile program that helped pupils achieve greater results than their peers in other schools throughout the UK, a glowing recommendation for EMASUK.

In line with their existing offering, EMAS UK designed two award-winning talking translators, one that allows instructions to be given and the other that allows conversation being held in real time. One of their award winning programs allows the teacher to translate documents such as letters, newsletters lesson plans and documents into the pupils’ home languages.

Assessment is one of the hardest tasks that we have to undertake. Each EAL pupil’s ability needs to be assessed in line with their prior learning and their language levels of both their home language and English. Two-Can-Talk acts as the communicator and works with any learning package whether computer aided or not as it can be inputted manually or by cut and paste.

Communication with non-English speaking learners has never been simpler. EAL learners have never been better catered for. The range of resources offers learning for all with teachers using them as starting points. A single sheet can be differentiated into a number of separate scaffolded sheets that are suitable for the whole class. We often talk about the same but different, that is, the same work for every student but differentiated to meet their learning ability.

EAL Learners in the UK

There are over a million learners of EAL (English as an additional language) in the UK maintained schools. Over 18% of primary schools and over 14% for secondary have EAL students and the numbers and growing.

We believe the figures for Scotland are 29,000, 42,000 in Wales and 10,000 in Northern Ireland.

Recent figures 2015, show that immigration has grown by 500,000 people in the last three years, a large percentage of these are families and with all families will continue to have more children.

Acronyms

EAL (English as an Additional Language)

English as an Additional Language: English taught to people who have moved to an English-speaking country and whose first language is not English, especially schoolchildren. EAL can also refer to English taught to all people whose first language is not English.

ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) or ESL (English as a Second Language)

English taught to people whose first language is not English, but who live in an English-speaking country and need English to communicate in daily life.

OFSTED

The Office for Standards in Education: a government department that checks educational standards in schools and colleges in England and Wales