NYSESLAT Performance Level Descriptions
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Entering (formerly Beginning)
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Emerging (formerly Low Intermediate)
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Transitioning (formerly Intermediate)
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Expanding (formerly Advanced)
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Commanding (formerly Proficient)
English as a New Language
❝You can never understand one language until you understand at least two.❞
‒Geoffrey Willans
With 6% English Language Learners (ELLs), P.S.201 advocates for our ENL (English as a New Language) students and families. We embrace the culture and diversity of our students by selecting books, resources, and topics of interest our students can relate to. Our ENL teacher provides ELLs with language support, hands-on, and differentiated, small-group instruction with a speaking pace appropriate to their comprehension level. This instruction helps ELLs achieve academic success and be competitive amongst their native-English speaking peers.
Speaking more than one language is incredibly advantageous for all students. It is beneficial when applying to college, future careers, and maintaining a connection to their cultural identity and family. Language learning takes time and is a process.
We do not insist upon only speaking English, and in fact encourage parents to speak with their children in their home language.Research has shown that the more proficient a student is in speaking their native language, the better they will perform learning a second language. As a school, we are empathetic and supportive of the second language learning process. We assess student progress by looking at improvements across reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills, as well as our ELA Curriculum data.
ENL at P.S.201 follows the pull-out model. Our ENL teacher works collaboratively with your student’s classroom teacher to deliver the most effective language support.