Year by year the majority of the students in the upper school are non-native speakers of English. Of this 50-60% approximately 20-30% have sufficiently limited English to need to attend ESL (English as a second language) lessons.  Only those students who are in ESL class are designated as ESL students at FIS.

ESL students are in the following ESL classes according to their grade and English proficiency. The table also shows the subjects that ESL students do not take.

ESL students in the ESL1 and Intermediate classes typically have very little or even no English at the start of the school year. Of course, these students need and are entitled to extra help from their teachers. Obviously the ESL teacher is the most important source of support, but other subject teachers have an essential role to play too.

In order to help new teachers in their everyday interactions with the ESL students in their classes, a series of workshop sessions will be offered during the first trimester. These sessions will give new teachers the chance to acquire some of the theoretical and practical information that will help them get the best out of their ESL students.

The workshop sessions will start around the middle of September when teachers have begun to settle into the routine of the new school. If you have any general questions in the meantime, please send me an email. If you have specific questions or concerns about an ESL student you teach, please contact that child’s ESL teacher.

In preparation for the workshops, it would be helpful if you could record some of your experiences with the ESL students you teach, both positive and negative. For example: a technique that worked well or a breakdown of communication and its consequences.

New teachers with time on their hands who would like to learn more about ESL in the upper school are recommended to visit the ESL website at:            http://esl.fis.edu .

A final thought: ESL students are special but in most ways they are kids just like all the others!