ESOL Overview

During the past decade, Clayton County Public Schools has become increasingly diverse and multicultural.  Many students who enter the school system from other countries or speak another language at home may need additional English language assistance to succeed in school.  The state-funded ESOL program is designed to meet the needs of English learners (ELs).  Students are screened for English language assistance and if they qualify for services receive additional instruction provided by ESOL teachers.  These teachers are qualified to work with the diverse student population of English learners.  ESOL teachers provide instruction, participate in conferences, and assist school officials with various issues related to English learners.  ESOL teachers also provide faculty members with strategies for assisting ELs in mainstream classrooms.

ESOL Teachers:

• Emphasize the receptive skills: listening and reading  
• Teach the expressive skills: speaking and writing  
• Use whole class, small group, and individual multi-level instructional approaches 
• Assist classroom teachers by providing materials and suggesting strategies
• Include immigrant and English learner parents in the instructional program 
• Facilitate improvement in the delivery of instruction through ongoing staff development
• Collaborate with other school programs and community agencies
• Ensure program compliance

Language Groups in Clayton County Public Schools

English Learners ( ELs ) are primarily from several Spanish-speaking Latin American countries and Vietnam. Although the languages most often encountered are Spanish and Vietnamese, there are over 72 language groups other than English in the school system.  Some languages, other than English, spoken by students in the district include:

 

 

Afrikaans	Ghambien	Kono	Sarakuk
Akan	Ghanian	Korean	Samoan
Arabic	Ghio	Kru	Serbo-Croatian
Ashanti	Greek	Kurdish	Sindhi
Belarussian	Gujarati	Lao	Soninke
Bisayan	Haitian Creole	Mandarin	Spanish
Bosnian	Harari	Marathi	Tagalog
Bengali	Hindi	Mandigo	Telugu
Chinese Cantonese	Hokkien	Pakistani	Thai
Chinese Mandarin	Igbo	Patois	Tigrigna
Creole	Indonesian	Persian	Twi
Farsi	Italian	Philipino	Urdu
French	Japanese	Portuguese	Vietnamese
Fula	Kannada	Punjabi	Wolof
Ga	Kenyang	Pushto	Yoruba
Georgian	Khmer/Cambodian	Romanian
German	Kiswahili	Russian