EALD stands for English as an Additional Language or Dialect.
EALD children are those children who are from families of a non English speaking background.
Specialist EALD teachers support these children by focusing on language learning and also learning about the structure of language. They provide support to develop the language skills required to achieve curriculum outcomes. The children are assessed using the Language and Literacy Levels, which help the teachers identify the aspects of English which need to be explicitly taught.
The EALD teachers work either in classrooms team teaching with classroom teachers to model explicit language teaching strategies, or they may withdraw children to work in a small group. Withdrawal allows for a focus on the specific language needs of the children.
The EALD team also work closely with Bilingual School Assistants who support some of the EALD children in their home language.