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What Types of Services does ESOL offer?
Are there Levels of ESOL?
How can I help?
What if my child needs more than ESOL support?
Where can I look for more help?
Welcome to the world of English for Speakers of Other Languages
The ESOL Program in Fairfax County supports over 20,000 students from more than 100 different language backgrounds in elementary, middle, high, transitional and alternative schools.
Our goal in ESOL instruction is help your student be able to demonstrate understanding, speaking, reading, and writing in English so they can function smoothly in American society. Through our instruction and support, students will develop proficiency in English for social and academic use. Students will also be aware of and learn about the history and culture of Fairfax County, Virginia, the United States and the world.
ESOL services are available for all eligible students in 1st through 12th grade in Fairfax County. ESOL teachers use a variety of specialized, age appropriate, high interest materials to facilitate student learning. The combination of specialized language instruction and interactions with students and staff in the classrooms are how language is best learned and supported by the results of years of extensive research.
ESOL at Poplar Tree
* Hi! I am Ms. Trish Bellman, Poplar Tree’s ESOL specialist, and have been teaching in Fairfax County for over 14 years. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from George Washington University and a Master’s Degree in Multilingual/Multicultural Education from George Mason University. At Poplar Tree Elementary, I teach 1-6th graders and love working with all my students. If you have any questions or concerns, please call me at 703.633.7477 or through e-mail at patricia.bellman@fcps.edu.
Types of Services
Elementary Services
ESOL students spend the majority of their day in classrooms with English speaking peers. They receive ESOL assistance for a portion of the day in one of these two ways:
In this model, students are pulled out of the regular classroom into an ESOL classroom for intensive instruction in English and to receive language support in content area subjects. The grade level and ESOL teachers accommodate and modify work and assessments for the ESOL students.
In many cases, the ESOL teacher works with ESOL students directly in the classroom. They provide support, modifications and accommodations for activities, assignments, and projects during the lessons being taught to the entire class.
Moving Through the FCPS ESOL Levels
ESOL students are evaluated each school year to see how they are improving in their acquisition of English. We use a national assessment called the WIDA Access to check their progression in oral language, listening, reading and writing. Students move through 4 ESOL levels - entering (1), beginning (2), developing (3), and expanding (4) - mastering skills with specific criteria at each level before moving to the next level. Students are placed in the different ESOL levels according to their acquisition of English, not based solely on their reading and writing ability. Kindergarten students are evaluated in the spring to determine if they are eligible for ESOL services in 1st grade. We generally expect a child to take from 3 to 7 years to acquire English well.
When they have finished Level 4, we submit an Exiting Packet to our department for approval. After approval is given, the student is put on “monitor” status for 2 years. They will not receive services from the ESOL teachers any more, but the teachers will watch the students and check-in with the classroom teachers regularly during the year to make sure everything is going well. Each spring, these students will be given the WIDA Access assessment to see how they are doing. Monitor students are still eligible to receive accommodations on all testing (including the SOL tests) during this time.
If everything goes well, after 2 years the monitor student is released completely from ESOL services.
How Parents Can Help
- Parents can volunteer at the school and in their child’s classroom.
- Parents can encourage their children to do well academically.
- Parents can continue to use their home language with their child to keep them proficient in that language.
- Research has shown that skills from the first language are easily transferred English. This helps and supports, not hurts, their child’s academic and social growth.
- Parents can become involved in school events, activities and programs.
- Parents can establish a partnership with their child's teacher
- Parents can encourage their child to participate in school activities, and increase their interaction with English speaking peers.
Is Your Child Having Learning Difficulties?
If a student is not making the kind of progress you and the teachers think is appropriate and stays at the same ESOL level for several years, we consider this “protracted enrollment” and begin to look for “other issues” that may be impacting their learning. For example, a student may speak and understand English fairly well, but be low in their reading comprehension. In that case, we would have conferences with the classroom teachers over the difficulties they have noticed.
If we are in agreement, we request a Dual Language Assessment. This assessment looks at the student’s acquisition of English compared to other students nationally, determines the language they need to be tested in, and compares and contrasts how well they speak, read and write in their native language with English. If there is a discrepancy between what is considered resonable and what seems to be delayed, then screening for a learning problem may be recommended.
If their difficulties are NOT due to a language acquisition problem, then the student might have some sort of learning disability. If the assessments done during the screening process discover discrepancies between their ability and their performance, then an IEP (Individual Ed ucation Plan) may be developed to assist that child in learning. Generally, you can expect that if a child is in the ESOL program, then they are NOT performing on grade level but are working to catch up academically to their classmates. When they are close to grade level in knowledge and ability, then the student would be exited from the ESOL program.
USEFUL WEBSITES
Standards of Learning (SOL) resources-Virginia Department of Education
Colorin Colorado!–
a great bilingual site with information to help your child become a good reader and successful student.
National Geographic- an online magazine for K-2 students
Great Educational Games:
- www.pbskids.org
- www.starfall.com
- http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/games/copycat/copycat.html
Stories in English - read by famous celebrities
ESL Kids
ESOL activities for kids, including flashcards, worksheets, classroom games and children’s song lyrics.
A to Z Kids Stuff–free reading and language arts materials
Dave’s ESL Café –
An internet meeting place for ESOL and EFL teachers and students; filled with games and information
Learn English
A web site from England – very good!
Games for practicing English at many ability levels: a fun site
Activities for ESL students
A good bilingual site with games, quizzes and puzzles for learning English
Excellent bilingual site with many games, activities and information for learning English. Even has TOEFL preparation.
Spanish-English Dictionary
Learn Spanish with pictures, has hundreds of words to learn.
- www.my-spanish-dictionary.com
Spanish–English games
Learn English words and phrases by playing games. Each category of words and phrases has 3-5 different games – jig word, speed word, word web, jig sound and listen-and-spell. The more you practice, the more you learn English!