English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)

This program shows the many ways that subject area and ESL teachers help language learners work toward language acquisition and academic achievement simultaneously. It explains the value of pre-teaching English language learners in small groups to keep them from falling behind, getting language learners engaged in conversations using the academic language of the classroom, grouping students from a lower English proficiency level with students on a higher proficiency level, and teaching the academic vocabulary from content standards by using scaffolds such as flashcards, repetition, movement, gestures, and songs. It also examines how to set up networks between the school, students, and parents.

This program visits classrooms where teachers demonstrate examples of evidence-based assessments that allow students to show what they know. It discusses rich and complex tasks, which are problem-based, integrated, open-ended, and authentic; hands-on activities that require demonstration of learning and understanding; formative and summative tasks that require spoken, written, and visual communication; and task-based rubrics that use qualitative language rather than letter grades or scores to clarify student performance.

This program explains why the inclusion or “push-in” model with coteaching has become the preferred approach in classrooms. It shows how schools use this model to provide ELL students the opportunity to build their vocabulary through academic content, set high quality curriculum expectations while focusing on the capacities students bring to the classroom, and encourage students to embrace their differences and create an atmosphere of shared experience and culture. It also teaches how to integrate your program for ELLs with your RTI effort.

By viewing Integrating ESL Students, classroom teachers of any subject will come away with concrete information and advice that they can use to teach—and reach—their English-language learners (ELLs) better. Practicality and relevance guide the program as it reviews basic ESL standards and strategies, gives examples of how to incorporate these techniques into teaching various subject areas, suggests ways to assist ELLs in mastering English in social and community settings, and addresses the use of technology in helping ELLs improve their understanding and expand their knowledge. Multiply the power of this program! Workshop it with the viewable/printable facilitator’s workbook available online. It contains suggested topics for discussion, exercises for participants to practice skills or explore ideas on their own, and more.