ESL

Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Mission for the Education of English Language Learners

Provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of education which includes the provision of quality, culturally-responsive and equitable educational programs for English language learners and assurance of their appropriate participation in all aspects of the educational system. The Department ensures that its programs will address the needs and rights of English language learners in all its initiatives throughout the entire process of planning and implementation.

Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Vision for the Education of English Language Learners

The Department promotes the recognition of these students and their parents as cultural and linguistic assets to the Commonwealth’s global initiatives. The Department is committed to using its Standards Aligned System to ensure that English language learners receive core curriculum instruction and achieve high levels of academic success.

The Pocono Mountain School District provides an ESL instructional program that promotes the natural abilities of bilingual children to acquire language. It is characterized by creative teaching strategies, which both inspire and challenge students.

The district values the knowledge, culture and language each student brings to school. The variety of cultural backgrounds provide experiences that relate the student’s foundation of prior learning to the acquisition of English, making the transition into the new culture a comfortable one.

Second language instruction incorporates the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. All modalities of cognitive and learning styles are included to make instruction relevant and comprehensible.

Language instruction strives to accommodate individual proficiencies by presenting learning activities at the appropriate level of difficulty. ESL instruction varies in scope and incorporates content areas in lessons when appropriate.