Welcome, ESL Parents!

We are so pleased to have your students joining our community! What an excellent way to increase the diversity of our school community here at BC. In each school, we try to help your children feel welcome and valued as important members of our classes.

 

about esl classes in our schools

Your children receive instruction in the English language in small groups with other ESL students. They might be grouped with a few students who are in the same or different grades, and with students who usually are at similar levels in their progress with learning English. The students in ESL classes really enjoy the opportunity to be with other children who are also learning English. These small ESL classes meet daily with the ESL teacher for about 40 to 70 minutes, depending on your child's level of ability in English. The goal of the ESL program is to support students and help them develop their English skills so that they can make good academic progress.

 

opportunities to get involved

Please come and meet us! Each school hosts an open house evening for parents in late September or early October. We look forward to meeting you and answering any questions you might have. The ESL department also hosts an annual evening event for all of the district's ESL students and their families, the annual Greet & Gather event. In past years, this event has been held at the Bethlehem Town Library. Our teachers are always willing to speak with you at any point of the year. Please feel free to call us or email our teachers at any time. We encourage you to also stay in contact with your children's content area teachers and to periodically check the school's homepage to learn about upcoming events at each school. Some other ideas can be found here.

 

how to support your child's progress in learning english

There are a number of ways that you can encourage your child to continue to learn English. If you look under our "Student Pages" link, you will find several places for students to go and practice English by playing games and completing activities. Other ideas are to set aside a specific time and place for homework, ask questions about children's school day, and help them to keep their school materials organized. Above all, remain positive about your child's learning of English! They will notice that it is important to you and then it will become more important to them. [Read more.]

 

keep using your home language!

It is so important for your child to continue to speak your home language with you. The richness of their home language will always be valuable and important for them. Additionally, they will continue to learn new concepts and to develop higher level language skills in their first language, which actually helps them make better in progress in English. If possible, encourage your child to continue to speak, read, and write their first language at home. For more information on continuing to speak your native language at home, the following articles might be helpful:

• Teaching English Language Learners: What the Research Does - And Does Not - Say (American Educator, Summer 2008)

• Tips for parents to help children learn their home language and English (This webpage has many practical suggestions to keep your children speaking their native language, as well as a wonderful question-and-answer section.)

• Bilingual Children's Mother Tongue: Why Is It Important for Education? (This essay is directed towards educators and argues that schools should pro-actively encourage students' retention of their native language. The author supports this philosophy with a structured argued and several research studies.)

 

useful links

• Bilingual Glossaries: This website provides links to glossaries for many languages. They are organized by language, and sometimes by content. What a great resource for you!

• Colorin Colorado: A site for parents of ESL students (of all languages) and for native Spanish speakers. This site provides many ideas and resources to support reading in English. 

• English Club: This site has A LOT of different areas to explore. The best area for students is the game area. Hangman, matching and crosswords are just some of the games that will help students practice English. As you'll see, the entry page to these games is very busy, in the visual sense. Younger students might need some help getting started. 

• Vocabulary Games: This site has many different games that will help students gain English vocabulary. There are variations of hangman, crossword puzzles, quizzes, matching games and word scrambles.

• Online Practice Reading Tests: For grades 1 through 8, published by Pearson Longman. Students read a short passage and answer comprehension passages. These are great practice for students who need to get ready for the format of the ELA and NYSESLAT assessments. 

 

other resources for parents

• Adult ESL Classes:  To enroll in an adult English classes in the evening, contact this organization. This service is a part of the Adult Learning Center and is a part of the Albany School District. They can be reached at (518) 462-7292. Another organization that also provides similar classes is through the Capital Region BOCES. 

• Literacy Volunteers of America: If you are interested in learning more English, this organization will help you to connect with adult tutors who will be happy to help you...free of charge! This website gives you an overview of the services of the organization and explains how to register for services. You can also call them at (518) 452-3382.

• Forms for Free and Reduced Lunch: This site provides links to lunch forms in many, many languages. Please contact us if you need help with the forms. They can be returned to any teacher, who will forward them to the correct person. 

• New York State English as a Second Language Test (NYSESLAT): This website provides an overview of the annual test for our ESL students. There are links a short review of the test in various languages: English, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish. 

 

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