The work of English as a New Language (ENL) teachers is to provide appropriate support for their students by working with content-area teachers to develop their English language skills and knowledge of content. Through communication about curriculum with classroom teachers, guidance counselors and administrators, students in our ENL Program are provided with carefully planned activities and assessments to help improve and develop English language skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
We provide integrated services/co-teaching so that we can meet the needs of our ELLs by pairing a content area teacher with an ENL teacher in order to make content comprehensible; this approach is beneficial to all students, ELLs and native speakers of English. ELLs also learn in a stand-alone setting for more targeted support. Integrated/Co-Teaching or stand-alone classes are determined at each building in order to best meet the needs of students. ALL teachers are provided with professional development in order to provide our ELLs with the support they need.
Select students take the New York State Identification Test for English Language Learners (NYSITELL) to determine if they are eligible for ENL services; this is a one-time entrance exam. The New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT) is administered yearly in order to determine a student's level of proficiency. The image below shows the different levels of language proficiency based on the NYSITELL and NYSESLAT. These exams are not pass / fail assessments; they measure a student's natural progression of language acquisition.
Language acquisition takes time and varies for each student. Once a student reaches the level of Commanding, he/she is then exited from ENL services, but the district is required to support ELLs for an additional two years. Our ultimate goal is to see ELLs exit our ENL program and to ensure academic success and social and emotional well-being.
Families of ELLs are informed twice a year on their child's progress in English language development. These are separate from their report cards. Samples PDFs are below by CLICKING on the grade level(s). Please contact your child's ENL teacher if you should have any questions or wish to schedule an appointment to discuss further.
