Christina School District ESL program

The English Language Institute continues to offer an elementary ESL program for Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students in the Christina School District. The program is currently in its 17th year.

In Newark, the program is housed at Brookside Elementary School and serves children in grades one through four. Sarah Petersen teaches approximately 18 students in the first and second grades. Lisa Grimsley works with 12 students in the third and fourth grades.

In Wilmington, 40 students attend the fourth through sixth grade program taught by Jo Gielow at Pulaski Elementary School. This program was moved from its previous location at the Elbert-Palmer Intermediate School. A classroom at Pulaski became available when the sixth grade Hispanic bilingual class was discontinued and students were moved into Gielow’s ESL class.

Countries and U.S. territories represented in the two locations include Brazil, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Eritrea, France, Guinea, India, Japan, Korea, Liberia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Russia, Turkey, Vietnam and Yemen.

Teachers Gielow, Grimsley and Petersen are thrilled to have Charlene Mondell and Jack Chen (former coordinator of the ELI Self- Access Learning Center) assisting them. Both assistants are students in the UD M.A.TESL program.