Reply to Half of K class is ESOL

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "Half of K class is ESOL"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote]My son was in a K class with a very high ESOL percentage, so the entire class had 2 hours of ESOL each day. Everything outside of ESOL and reading was put to the side for most of the year. The school was open about this. [/quote]

I am an ESOL teacher in MCPS and find this very surprising--two hours of actual ESOL instruction, or 2 hours of instruction by an ESOL teacher?  With the start of Curriculum 2.0, there is no more ESOL curriculum.  ESOL teachers work to scaffold content material for ESOL students.  I find it extremely hard to believe that "everything outside of ESOL and reading" was put to the side.  No math?  Really?

OP, I really don't know what to tell you because it's going to depend on the school and the model.  Most schools with high ESOL populations like you describe are moving to a co-teach model, which means the ESOL teacher works with the classroom teacher teaching content, not specific language.  Curriculum 2.0 means there is essentially no more ESOL curriculum, so ESOL teachers work with the same content that classroom teachers do.  In the early grades especially, an environment rich in oral language benefits ALL students.  At my school, every K class has an assigned ESOL teacher, and 10 out of my 14 K students are in ESOL.  Most are higher may only be in for 1-2 years, but there are a few beginners.  I'm in the classroom for 40 minutes every day, and the classroom teacher and I work together during a whole group lesson, small group oral language and independent work at tables.  The content is scaffolded, not dumbed down, for ESOL students.  For example, today we did a lesson with the book "We're Going on a Bear Hunt."  We previewed vocabulary, read the book, discussed the descriptive words, acted it out, sang a song, and then focused on verbs.  Typical K stuff, ESOL or not.  As an ESOL teacher, I really try to emphasize vocabulary and oral language, which is developmentally appropriate for all children in this age group.

In upper grades, our model is similar, and most of the kids don't even know whether or not they are in ESOL.  A school that uses a pull-out model is going to be different, but it generally means that for part of the day, your child will be in a class with fewer students.  Really, most kids are out of ESOL by 3rd grade, and those that are still in either came to this country as children (versus being born here and speaking another language at home) or have other learning issues that interfere with their ability to acquire new language.  In K, we might have 8-12 ESOL students per class (of 14-18 total).  By 2nd grade, it's more like 6-8 per class, and in 5th grade this year, we have I think 6 in the whole grade.

If you're really being sincere about your concerns (which it sounds like you are), go ahead and ask the teacher about the model and how it works in your school.  I have a four-year-old, and if we get our way, she will be attending my 60% ESOL elementary school next year.  A K class with a high ESOL population DOES have a different dynamic than one that's primarily English-only speakers, but it's not necessarily a bad thing.  Your child may very well be one that benefits from strategies aimed at reaching diverse learners.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics