scaffolding

Everyday

1. Scaffolding is a frame of metal poles and wooden boards put up against a building so workers can stand on it while they build, paint or repair. tree →
2. In school, scaffolding means the extra help a teacher gives you at the start of learning something, which is taken away step by step as you get better. tree →
3. Scaffolding is any support that holds something up while it is being made. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life you see scaffolding on houses and big buildings being built or mended; safety rules say children must never climb it. In teaching, «scaffolding» describes help such as sentence starters, word banks or worked examples. In stories, a building «covered in scaffolding» tells the reader it is being repaired or built.

Examples

• The church tower is covered in scaffolding. tree →
• Builders put up scaffolding to paint the house. tree →
• Never climb on scaffolding — it is not a playground. tree →
• A pole fell off the scaffolding, so the street was closed. tree →
• The teacher gave us scaffolding: the first line of each answer. tree →
• Writing frames are a kind of scaffolding for your story. tree →
• They took the scaffolding down when the roof was finished. tree →
• Workers on the scaffolding wear hard hats and harnesses. tree →

Note

Usually uncountable: «some scaffolding», «a lot of scaffolding», not «a scaffolding»; for one part say «a scaffolding pole». «A scaffold» can also mean an old platform for hanging criminals.