Teachers are having to use Google Translate to plan lessons as they struggle to cater for migrant children . A union conference heard today that schools are struggling to cope with an influx of children arriving in classes unable to speak English . Teachers have warned that schools are now having to deal with pupils across the UK speaking up to 300 languages . A union conference heard today that schools are struggling to cope with an influx of children arriving unable to speak English - forcing some teachers to use Google translate to make lesson plans in other languages . They also said English-speaking children are not getting their ‘ fair share ’ of attention from teachers because of the additional needs of those from abroad . In a speech to delegates from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers , Oxfordshire teacher Joy Wilson said many staff had little or no training in how to deal with pupils with English as an additional language ( EAL ) . She said : ‘ UK schools are educating a rising number of EAL pupils . This continues day by day . ‘ There are now 300 different languages and this is a challenge as we are experiencing growing numbers , and areas of previously no [ bilingual ] students now have them for the first time. ’ She pointed out that it takes some pupils up to seven years to gain adequate language proficiency for academic work - which means their lack of English holds them back . Teachers have warned that schools are now having to deal with pupils across the UK speaking up to 300 different languages - but hardly any English . She said that it was even harder to deal with those who had ‘ complex needs ’ such as communication disorders , autism and moderate learning difficulties if they also had poor English skills . Around one in six primary school pupils do not have English as their first language , while in secondary schools the figure is one in seven . Official statistics released in 2014 showed the proportion of non-native speakers in primary schools increased from 18.1 per cent to 18.7 per cent in a year . In secondary schools , the proportion increased from 13.6 to 14.3 per cent . Some schools in multicultural areas have pupils with more than 20 different native languages . Earlier this year , it was revealed that only 10 per cent of pupils at Gascoigne Primary School in Barking , East London , were native English speakers . Diane Wilson , who also teaches in Oxfordshire , told the conference in Liverpool she had Hungarian , Russian and Portuguese children in her class . She said : ‘ I was up until midnight writing individual lesson plans for the three EAL students and two other differentiated ones for the rest of the class . All the materials handled were self made and individual instructions using Google Translate were put into Hungarian and Portuguese . ‘ Without the appropriate funding , the EAL students do not get the specialist support staff they need . ‘ The non-EAL students do not get a fair share of the teacher ’ s time . The stress levels of the teacher go through the roof. ’ Heather Emerson , a teacher from Salford , told the delegates : ‘ It ’ s hard , not just for the teachers but for the children as well , and we need to be able to support them . ' I ’ ve learnt how to speak a little bit of Urdu , a little bit of Persian , a little bit of Spanish , and I ’ m currently learning Arabic. ’ Malcolm St John-Smith , from Wakefield , said pupils were arriving in schools with English which was ‘ rudimentary to say the least ’ and not developing their skills at home . Statistics show non-native speakers in primary schools increased from 18.1 per cent to 18.7 per cent in 2014 . He added : ‘ Unless we do something to actively encourage parents to be a part and recognise that they are a part of this problem , it is still going to go on . ‘ I know of schools where there are over 30 different languages being spoken . How do we expect to be able to cope with that unless we have support from everywhere ? ’ The teachers ’ concerns come amid a growing crisis over places in primary and secondary schools , fuelled partly by migration and a baby boom . In parts of London , almost half of families did not get their first choice of secondary school this year . Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw warned last year that schools needed more help to deal with growing numbers of children who can not speak English . He said : ‘ When they ’ re faced with an influx of children from other countries , they need the resources and capacity to deal with it . ’
Schools are struggling to cope with children who can not speak English . The government has been criticised for its handling of the crisis and a report by the National Audit Office Union conference heard other children are n't getting fair share of attention .