ESOL

What are ESOL services?

English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) is the state-funded language instruction educational program for eligible English learners (ELs) in grades K-12 in Georgia public schools (Georgia School Law Code 1981, §20-2-156, enacted in 1985). ESOL language instruction is focused on developing EL students’ academic English proficiency in each content area of the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE). The WIDA Consortium English Language Development (ELD) Standards aligned with the GSE guide the work of ESOL teachers. (www.gadoe.org).

Providing Services & English Support to ELs

For many students at YHALE, the half-day of instruction in English in the regular classroom is a vital time to receive English exposure, practice, and instruction, as well as time with English-speaking peers. EL students may only require some accommodations, such as instructional activities and assessments. As ELs attain fluency in English; however, fewer accommodations will be necessary. Only ELs at lower levels of proficiency may require additional support and/or smaller-group services. Therefore, YHALE uses a service model of both Push-In/Collaboration and, for qualifying students, Pull-Out/Small Group services.

Our EL Service Model

Push-In/Collaboration

At YHALE, all EL students receiving direct services receive support in English language skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) from a teacher trained and certified in ESOL education. We do this through the “Push-In/Collaboration” model. This means that your child remains in their regular classes with their regular teachers, but a certified ESOL teacher comes into the classroom to provide extra support to your student on a daily/weekly schedule, to help support the EL student towards the improvement of their English language proficiency as well as to provide any supports or accommodations that might be necessary to support their success in the English/mainstream classroom.

Pull-Out

In some cases, if a student is determined to need extra support, they may be pulled from their class for 1-on-1 or small group English instruction for limited portions of the day. The parent(s)/caregiver(s) of the EL student will be notified if their child is to receive Pull-Out services. The ESOL teacher will continually work with the classroom teachers to evaluate and determine whether these Pull-Out services are continuing to meet the needs of the EL student.

The following are criteria considered by the ESOL & classroom teacher when determining whether an EL student should receive Pull-Out services:

  1. The student received an overall score of 2 or lower on their most recent ACCESS test or WIDA Screener.
  2. The student has been in the USA for 3 years or fewer.
  3. The student generally struggles to participate in regular classroom activities because of a lack of English language proficiency.
  4. The teachers consider that, for the short period of pull-out services, the small-group/one-on-one English instruction time would be more beneficial than remaining in the regular classroom for that time.

WIDA Screening and Testing

Eligibility for ESOL services is determined by the WIDA screener which is given to students based on the responses of parents/caregivers on the Home Language Survey which is given upon enrollment at any GA public school. 

Students who are eligible for ESOL services must take a WIDA test annually to determine their English language growth until they are exited from the program based on achieving a score of 5 or higher on the WIDA test. You can learn more about the WIDA assessments by clicking on the links below.

WIDA ELP Screeners and Assessments

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ESOL Presentations You May Have Missed

Supporting English Language Development at Home

Contact

For any questions, you may contact YHALE’s ESOL Coordinator, Cara Gallardo [email protected]