Special effort is made to challenge students who excel in reading and writing, as well as to scaffold support for students who need it. Techniques to support and boost ESOL students are integrated into all aspects of curriculum lessons.
An Intensive Academic English (IAE) class is offered to students that need ESOL support. IAE students learn speaking, listening, reading and writing skills so that they can meet the needs of their core academic classes. This support is provided through push-in and pull-out classes.
In push-in classes, the IAE teacher goes in mainly to the ELA class to support not only IAE students but also the other members of the class. To further support IAE students with their ELA class, the IAE class assists with reading comprehension and writing assignments.
In their pull-out classes, IAE students learn English skills through Fountas and Pinnell’s Leveled Literacy Intervention. This program covers vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, and writing skills. In addition, students read ReadWorks Article A Day to improve their reading comprehension, increase their reading stamina, and further develop their love of reading. Students also learn proper use of conventions (capitalization, punctuation, language usage), and speaking and listening skills through oral presentations and group discussions.
