ESOL program provides students with learning opportunities

Friday, June 18, 2010

More than 150 Charles County public school students enrolled in the English for Speakers of Other Languages program recently spent an afternoon at Education Day at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf and attended a Southern Maryland Blue Crabs baseball game.

As part of the ESOL program, the school system plans events to provide opportunities for students, as well as their families, to meet and communicate with other children and families involved with the program.

The ESOL program currently serves more than 190 students, and enrollment continues to increase each school year, according to a school system press release.

"Each year the total rises by about 10 students. When the program began in the late 1970s, about 12 students participated.

"Enrollment grew slowly, and began to increase at a steady pace during the past five years," Charlotte Weirich, content specialist in the world languages/ESOL program, said in the release.

The Maryland State Department of Education's ESOL program office administers to ESOL students — also referred to as English Language Learners or ELLs— an English proficiency assessment to determine the level of services needed.

ESOL services are available to students at the elementary-, middle- and high-school levels, and range from an elective ESOL course for high school students to a weekly "pull-out" program in which elementary and middle school students work with an ESOL specialist one on one.

Students enrolled in the ESOL program work with specialists on skills including reading, writing, listening and speaking.

Students are assessed at the beginning and end of each school year to determine their level of proficiency in each skill area.

Specialists also work with families to provide interpreting and translating services, and update parents and guardians regularly on the progress of their children.

Weirich said ELL students enrolled in the county's public schools represent more than 30 countries and know at least two different languages.

Additionally, 50 percent of ESOL students are born in the United States and speak primary languages other than English in their homes with their families.

A large number of ESOL students enrolled in the program are from areas in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa or Latin American countries.