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Program Philosophy

All students are entitled to equity and excellence in their educational program. The program, based on national TESOL standards, provides a balance between basic interpersonal communicative skills and cognitive academic language proficiency. In order to achieve academic competency in English, English Language Learners’ (ELL) needs are best met in a well-articulated, content-based program of instruction. This approach provides a learning environment which emphasizes skills and strategies that support and supplement mainstream instruction. Combining language and content instruction is essential if ELLs are to close the educational gap and meet or exceed rigorous performance standards.

The ESOL curriculum for elementary and middle school is based on four major goals. Students will demonstrate the ability to:

• Develop listening, speaking, and language skills when communicating for interpersonal and academic purposes.
• Acquire literacy skills through the development of strategic reading and listening behaviors, comprehension, and writing.
• Acquire and apply language learning strategies when communicating for both interpersonal and academic purposes.
• Develop concepts and vocabulary that connect to the mainstream classroom.

In elementary and middle schools, the ESOL program offers services to students in two ways. In schools with limited numbers of ELLs, students receive services from ESOL teachers in small groups through a pullout program. Teachers meet with students regularly throughout the week and ESOL service is based on the student’s grade, proficiency level, and instructional needs. In schools with large numbers of ELLs, school-based ESOL teachers provide intensive English classes for students as a part of their daily schedule.

In the elementary school ESOL program, reading development is of primary importance. In schools served by pullout programs, the ESOL teacher supplements a student’s daily reading program. The ESOL teacher consults regularly with the student’s teacher in order to coordinate reading instruction. In schools where the ESOL program provides intensive daily instruction, the ESOL teacher is responsible for the student’s reading program.

The ESOL teacher must also refer to elementary curriculum documents when planning reading instruction. These documents include:

• The Elementary Language Arts Essential Curriculum
• The Primary Reading Instruction and Assessment Guide
• Primary and Intermediate Language Arts Resource Guides

In the middle school program, a third program option complements these two program options. Students new to English-speaking schools attend a newcomers’ class in combination with the intensive English classes. This third option is available in middle schools that have large numbers of ELLs and provides services to nonspeakers of English as well as those with emergent and low-limited proficiency in English.

This first phase of the curriculum development includes objectives for students in Grades 1-8 who are at the emergent and low-limited proficiency levels. The objectives identify the required core of instruction and provide direction for unit and lesson planning. Students are expected to master these objectives before moving to the next level of the program. Because students enter the program at a wide range of proficiency levels, the length of time at a proficiency level is determined by student progress rather than by the academic year.

Contact: Laura M. Hook, ESOL Coordinator