EAL

Welcome to our E.A.L. classroom!

At Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh, we are fortunate to have the privilege of supporting students with English as an Additional Language.

This academic year, the diversity of our school community’s language palette incorporates 25 languages. As well as embracing every child’s uniqueness within a multi-cultural spectrum, we also find immense joy in celebrating the language that connects and unifies us all – English! The development of the core English Language Skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) affords children an enhanced participation in our inclusive school community.

Our E.A.L. programme facilitates both pupils whose second language is English as well as newcomers.

• Second Language: “the language which becomes critical for a child for significant day-to-day purposes such as education. In effect it replaces the mother tongue, or first language, for these purposes. It does not suggest that the speaker knows only two languages.”
• Newcomer: “parents and children whose mother tongue is not English. It is acknowledged that, increasingly, non-English speaking children entering primary school may be Irish nationals. Nonetheless, the term newcomer reflects the challenge facing parents and children from different language and cultural backgrounds in accessing and entering formal education in a new country.”

(Up and Away, IILT, 2006)

At Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh, we have a colourful E.A.L. classroom with an enthusiastic learning environment and a myriad of teaching materials and child-friendly resources. Our primary aim is to deliver a programme of English language tuition which is based exclusively on the primary curriculum and which prepares and supports the child in:

• accessing mainstream classroom learning
• socialising with peers

E.A.L. classes are tailored to children’s specific language needs, progress is constantly monitored and efforts are always commended. Our E.A.L. teachers’ this year, Ms De Rís and Ms Stafford work closely with class teachers and support teachers to ensure all E.A.L. students enjoy the best English educational experience possible!

Let’s learn English together and discover limitless potential!

Be all you can be!

• BSRAC’s Easter Newsletter! - We are delighted to launch our Easter Newsletter for 2023 here at Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh! This term, we once again placed a focus on student ownership over our newsletter as the children wrote about some of their favourite moments from the past couple of weeks! We would like to thank all of our pupils,… Continue Reading
• Christmas Newsletter! - Fresh off the press, you can now view our school newsletter here: It has been an exceptionally busy term and we are delighted to share all of the amazing teaching and learning that has happened in our school so far this year! On behalf of us all at Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh, we would like… Continue Reading
• European Day of Languages - https://youtu.be/9PAKfKGIiBo Thanks to Ms Stafford and Ms De Rís for this wonderful video showcasing many of the languages we speak in our school! Well done to all the boys and girls from across our school who took part. Beatha teanga í a labhairt! The life of a language is to speak it! Speak our languages,… Continue Reading
• EAL ~ World Book Day 2020 - "You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book.” Dr. Seuss Magic was certainly found by the children in Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh yesterday! Replicas of famous book characters filled the corridors for World Book Day!!! The children had great fun with stylish costumes,  flamboyant accessories and… Continue Reading
• EAL ~ Magical Maths Moments! - Before the Midterm break, Ms. O'Donnell's students celebrated Maths Week in a Halloween-themed classroom! After identifying a myriad of Halloween characters, describing creative Halloween costumes and reciting a spooky play rhyme called "The Haunted House", the children were ready for magical maths challenges! Junior Infants enjoyed participating in multiple active games including ... MATCHING  pairs of… Continue Reading
• EAL ~ Positional Language ⭐️ - This year in Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh, the children had great fun learning how to use prepositions in conversational language. Positional language refers to the place where something or someone is, often in relation to other things, such as over, under, beside or beneath. Using a practical approach and concrete resources the children had great… Continue Reading
• EAL ~ Colourful 2D Shapes! - Junior Infants had great fun learning about shape names! The children identified lots of different 2D shapes in our EAL classroom including a pink triangle, a green heart, a blue square, a yellow star, an orange rectangle and a purple oval. The children matched shape names to shape examples in a sorting activity. They used… Continue Reading