Unit: work backwards from the outcome
Identify the final subject task, its command terms, required text type and success criteria. Map where learners meet the vocabulary, language functions and assessment format before the final task.
EAL co-teaching · Practice guide 02
Unit, weekly and emergency planning
Connect the curriculum sequence, the next lesson and a workable absence plan.
Weekly: select the language function
Ask: What must learners do with language? Compare, sequence, explain, justify or evaluate? Choose a useful sentence pattern, current learner evidence and a model for each lesson phase.
Make resources shared
Adapt the main class task first. A separate worksheet is useful only when it improves access to the same goal. Record who prepares each resource, where it lives and when it is ready.
Emergency: leave a usable plan
Keep the goal, task, model answer, scaffold, grouping and exit check in the shared folder. Agree cover through school procedures; do not assume an absent colleague’s role can always be transferred without preparation.
Worked classroom example
Unit goal: Explain causes of migration using evidence. Language: because, therefore, contributed to; distinguish cause from consequence.
Weekly plan: Analyse two sources together, rehearse an explanation in parallel groups, then write an individual paragraph using the same evidence criteria.
Emergency plan: Shared source pack, vocabulary support, one annotated model and an individual exit explanation. A cover teacher can locate all four without private messages.
Share the work
Subject teacher identifies the essential concepts and final evidence. EAL teacher maps language functions and scaffold sequence. Both decide how supports fade and what learners can do independently.
Evidence to look for: The language used in teaching, practice and assessment is consistent. The next lesson is understandable from the shared plan.
Your working template
Draft here, then download an editable HTML copy. Drafts are saved locally in this browser when available. Use anonymised observations.
Developed from Duncan Rose’s supplied co-teaching training and programme materials (2022–2025), with newly written classroom examples. School-specific procedures and individual staff responses are excluded.