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Cobb County School District |
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ESOL |
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ESOL (Updated August 2006) - Addendums |
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Letter from Superintendent
Superintendent's Letter
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Mission Statement
Our ESOL Program is designed to help students attain their full social and academic potential within the American school culture. We are committed to developing our students' communicative confidence and skill in the four main areas of language usage: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. Of equal importance is our commitment to assisting the mainstream teacher in providing an optimal learning environment for our students as they enter and become integral members of the mainstream classroom.
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Introduction
English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) is a program for students from other language backgrounds who have limited English proficiency (LEP).
Written by ESOL teachers and administrators for all Cobb County School District educators, the curriculum standards for ESOL are intended to serve as a guide for the instruction of ESOL students and to promote uniformity and consistency within the district.
Mastering a new language is a dynamic process which takes students through various phases of language acquisition. In order to define benchmarks of student progress toward full English competence, the standards are organized into four incremental strands of language proficiency: They are:
1.Emergent Literacy/Limited Formal Schooling
2.Beginning
3.Intermediate
4.Advanced
Emergent Literacy/Limited Formal Schooling (LFS) --characteristic of recent arrivals in the U.S. who have little or no formal schooling and are at least three grade levels behind. They exhibit pre- or semi-literacy, perform significantly below grade level, and lack awareness of the organization and culture of school.
Beginning Proficiency - typical of students having little or no understanding of English. They respond non-verbally at first. As their listening and speaking skills increase they are able to verbalize using single words and simple phrases.
Intermediate Proficiency - seen with students who understand more complex speech and use English to communicate. They speak in simple sentences that are comprehensible, but may have grammatical mistakes. They may or may not be able to read or comprehend what is read.
Advanced Proficiency - displayed by students who communicate with relative fluency. They can read with varying levels of independence, but may have difficulty with comprehension of content material and writing skills.
The standards are grouped according to what students should be expected to learn within the following Units:
Listening/Speaking (K- 12)
Reading/Writing (K-12)
American Culture (K-12)
Beyond the Classroom (6- 12)
Links with Content Areas (6-12)
The instructional hours assigned to each objective/competency are estimates both from teachers and the program. Some of the objectives/competencies have no instructional hours assigned to them because they are ongoing processes taught in the context of other specific skills and objectives.
ESOL standards:
-address second language acquisition
-present growth in English development by proficiency levels and grade spans
-provide teachers broad guidelines and benchmarks of what LEP students should know and be able to perform
ESOL standards do not:
-replace standards for LEP students in other content areas, including language arts
-focus only on the beginning levels of second language proficiency
Language is a fluid, as opposed to linear, process. Continually improving on the strands and standards implies the cyclical nature of learning. Students may hear a concept and grasp part of it immediately, understand more of it on the second exposure, and exercise some control of it at the third exposure. This kind of curriculum planning acknowledges the actual nature of language acquisition and is essential to the success of the student relative to the content standards.
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© 2003 Cobb County School
District. All Rights Reserved
514 Glover Street | Marietta, Ga. 30060 | (770) 426-3300
Send your comments to Sue Brown
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