English as a Second Language
Ms. Colon & Ms Steffes
Greetings from the ESL Teachers!
As we start the school year, we wanted to send out a brief note introducing ourselves to you, and letting you know a little bit more about our ELL Program.
Greenfield School’s ELL Program is designed to give support to students in our district whose first language is not English. The goal of this program is to help these students by developing and then further strengthening their English skills in order to be successful in the classroom. Ultimately, these students will be able to effectively listen, speak, read, and write fluently in English.
In order to adequately address the diverse needs of these English Language Learners, we will be working with them outside of their classrooms, or inside their classrooms at a set time during the school day. We will provide these students with a combination of direct English language instruction, and content-based instruction designed to boost their vocabulary and comprehension skills in the various academic content areas.
Along with establishing a strong conversational level of English, we will also be working to expand our ELL students’ knowledge of content-specific vocabulary. Appearances can be deceiving with these kids because often they have developed conversational English skills in order to “survive” in the classroom. At first, it may seem that these students are doing “just fine” when it comes to learning English. However, the level of English skill necessary to comprehend and apply new information from a math or science text is far greater than the knowledge necessary for basic communication. That is why we are taking a two-pronged approach to helping these students gain increased English proficiency.
We will be sending out a reminder to the secretaries to check the Home Language Survey whenever a new student registers with our district. This survey is a key piece in identifying potential ELL students and must not be overlooked.
If you have any questions for us, do not hesitate to ask.
Sincerely,
Holly Steffes steffehx@milwaukee.k12.wi.us
Elizabeth Colon colonex@milwaukee.k12.wi.us
ELL Instructors
As we start the school year, we wanted to send out a brief note introducing ourselves to you, and letting you know a little bit more about our ELL Program.
Greenfield School’s ELL Program is designed to give support to students in our district whose first language is not English. The goal of this program is to help these students by developing and then further strengthening their English skills in order to be successful in the classroom. Ultimately, these students will be able to effectively listen, speak, read, and write fluently in English.
In order to adequately address the diverse needs of these English Language Learners, we will be working with them outside of their classrooms, or inside their classrooms at a set time during the school day. We will provide these students with a combination of direct English language instruction, and content-based instruction designed to boost their vocabulary and comprehension skills in the various academic content areas.
Along with establishing a strong conversational level of English, we will also be working to expand our ELL students’ knowledge of content-specific vocabulary. Appearances can be deceiving with these kids because often they have developed conversational English skills in order to “survive” in the classroom. At first, it may seem that these students are doing “just fine” when it comes to learning English. However, the level of English skill necessary to comprehend and apply new information from a math or science text is far greater than the knowledge necessary for basic communication. That is why we are taking a two-pronged approach to helping these students gain increased English proficiency.
We will be sending out a reminder to the secretaries to check the Home Language Survey whenever a new student registers with our district. This survey is a key piece in identifying potential ELL students and must not be overlooked.
If you have any questions for us, do not hesitate to ask.
Sincerely,
Holly Steffes steffehx@milwaukee.k12.wi.us
Elizabeth Colon colonex@milwaukee.k12.wi.us
ELL Instructors