ESL (English as a Second Language)

ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL)

    

         We house a small ESL-Bilingual Program (K-6) based upon the requirements of the ASPIRA Consent Decree, per Chancellor’s Regulations and the New York State Commissioner of the Education’s standards and laws. There are mandated Spanish Bilingual and ESL programs to ensure appropriate services for students. We provide a Transitional Bilingual Education Program and a Freestanding ESL Program. The Bilingual Education model that we are implementing is conducted in the student’s native language, Spanish, along with intensive English (ESL) instruction. ESL is a structured language acquisition program to teach English language skills to students whose native language is not English.

        There will be three Bilingual Education classes serving lower grades. Each class will have a population of approximately 15 – 20 children. The ESL program will service approximately 79 ELL students in monolingual classes. The ESL Push-in services (K-2) and Pull-out services (3-6) will be implemented. Beginning and intermediate ELL students receive 2 units or 360 minutes of ESL instruction weekly. The advanced level ELL students receive 180 minutes of ESL instruction weekly. Both programs implement English language skills development and content area instruction through the use of ESL methodologies to ensure that ELL students meet the standards and pass the required State assessments, LAB-R and/or NYSESLAT. Some of the ESL strategies are:

    • Guided reading, shared reading, silent reading, reading aloud
    • Writing process
    • Hands on projects
    • Cooperative learning
    • Charts
    • Graphic organizers
    • Visual aids
    • Technology – Computers provide students the opportunity to practice listening, writing, reading, and language development

    The ESL teacher will host several orientation sessions in the Fall and in the Spring for the parents of bilingual students and ELL students. Parents will have the opportunity to ask questions regarding placement and ESL services. Parents who cannot make the sessions can set up an appointment to meet and discuss the program. The parents will be informed on the State standards, assessments, school expectations, general requirements that govern the Bilingual and ESL programs, and the importance of parental involvement in the education of their children.

    We will have five 45-minute professional development sessions in which the focus will be bilingual education and ESL services:

    • Assessment, Evaluation, and Placement of ELL students (September 2006)
    • ESL Methodologies and ESL instruction in the classroom (October 2006)
    • ESL Learning Standards (November 2006)
    • How to Plan Differentiated Instruction for the 4 Levels of English Literacy (December 2006)
    • Informational Session on NYSESLAT (January 2007)

    Additionally, we have a special education population of about 22 students including resource room.