This ethnographic study reports four teenage Chinese EAL students' learning journey in a UK independent school. Due to linguistic barriers, they encountered significant challenges in their social lives and academic studies. The school arranged EAL lessons to improve students' English proficiency. However, participants were concerned that the EAL classes did not meet international students' linguistic needs. The study suggests that intercultural communication and bilingual pedagogies should be adopted to better understand students' cultural differences and learning styles and support their academic transition.