English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)

Many EL students are mainstreamed into regular classrooms and receive a combination of co-teaching and pull-out services from an ESOL certified teacher. This teacher may work with students individually, in small groups, or in concert with the mainstream teacher (co-teaching) to provide English language instruction to the ELL students. This program focuses on building academic English language so students are able to access the core curriculum. Co-teaching at the secondary level takes place at the advanced proficiency level and will include intermediates at NEMS starting SY20-21.  ELLs this level are included in mainstream ELA (and core content at NEMS) and receive the support of an ESOL teacher. 

Co-Teaching and pull-out services for grades K-6 are available at the following schools:

• Wendell Phillips
• Garfield
• Carver Dual Language
• J.A. Rogers
• Gladstone
• Trailwoods
• Faxon
• John T. Hartman
• Hale Cook
• James
• Melcher
• Phillis Wheatley
• Primitivo Garcia
• Pitcher
• Troost
• Whittier
• Benjamin Banneker
• Foreign Language Academy

Co-teaching services for secondary ELLs are available at the following schools: 

• Northeast Middle School 
• Northeast High School 
• East High School 
• Paseo Academy of Arts Middle and High School 

At the middle and high school level, students are placed in English I, II, or III (beginning, intermediate, or advanced) depending on their level of language proficiency. Students in these classes receive communication arts (reading, writing, language) instruction that follows the district core curriculum. The ESOL certified teachers in these classrooms provide adaptations to instruction, materials, and assessment to match the students’ language level.

Sheltered English is currently available at the following locations:

• East High School (English I, II, & III )
• Northeast High School (English III)
• Northeast Middle School (English I, II, & III)

Beginning and intermediate ELL students are placed in sheltered content area classes. Advanced students proceed to mainstream content classes at this point. Teachers in the sheltered classes use the district core curriculum; however, the ESOL certified teachers in these classrooms are responsible for modifying the instruction, materials, and assessment to make the content comprehensible and accessible to their English language learners. The goal of the sheltered content classroom is to teach the students the academic language needed to process the content along with the content itself.

Sheltered classes are offered in Algebra I, I A/B, Fast Math 1, Fast Math 2, Geometry, Physical Science, Biology, American History, World History, Economics, and American Government.

Sheltered content classes are available at Northeast Middle School and East High School

The Bridge Program serves students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE). This one year program focuses intensely on literacy and English development. Typically students in this specialized program:

• have little or no formal education in their home country;
• are pre-literate in their native language;
• have little or no experience with the English language; and
• missed two or more years of formal education.

The goal of the Bridge program is to help newcomers adapt to the new school environment, start the process of becoming literate in English, and learn enough English to be able to move on to the next level of classroom instruction.

In elementary school, the newcomer will move up into a mainstream classroom and receive support from another ESOL teacher using pull-out and/or co-teaching methods.

In high school, the newcomer will move up to ESL I (Sheltered English) and be introduced to the basics of math, science, and social studies through sheltered classroom instruction.

The Bridge program is available at the following locations:

• Gladstone Elementary (K-6)
• Garfield Elementary (3-6)
• Whittier Elementary (3-6)
• Northeast Middle School (7-8)
• East High School (9-12)