ABSTRACT
In the mid 1990s, I was involved in adapting some Year 10 (age 14–15) geography materials that explored the development of the Norfolk Broads and issues surrounding their sustainability. The materials took the form of a booklet with pictures, text and a wide variety of activities. The text and activities were intended to be easily accessible, making minimal assumptions about both prior geographic and linguistic knowledge. The activities reinforced both academic and language development and encouraged students to explore issues in many different ways. Students could work their way through the booklet at their own speed, though there were plenty of opportunities for them to work together or to bring in personal experience and previous knowledge. The booklet was primarily produced for students who had English as an additional language, but was also used by a wide variety of students in the class alongside a more linguistically complex booklet. These two booklets represented a six-week course of work. There was always an overlap in the conceptual content of the booklets and often an overlap in activities, particularly those which were open-ended. Students with all sorts of differing characteristics successfully worked through these topic booklets, carrying out the activities with enthusiasm. This form of working was one which the students had experienced before, and reflected the close team-teaching approach that the class teacher used with myself and others. We felt that it was a successful working relationship. We were also pleased that students who had only recently arrived in the UK often managed to achieve E, D or C at GCSE.
