Christina School District English language learners

Lisa Grimsley teaches young English language learners at Brookside Elementary School.

As Brookside Elementary School in Newark, Del., welcomed its new principal, Todd Harvey, it began its third year as the ESL site school for all of Christina School District’s K-4 elementary ESL students.

Two ELI faculty members, Jan Lefebvre and Lisa Grimsley, teach the ESL classes at Brookside during the school year. Lefebvre teaches 17 kindergarteners through second graders, and Grimsley, 29 third, fourth and fifth graders. In addition, two UD MA TESL students serve as aides at Brookside.

Kristina Curtis, from Poughkeepsie, NY, helps out Lefebvre and is enjoying her first experience with very young children. In Curtis’ words, “Every day is different and exciting!” Madhav Kafle, from Pokhara, Nepal, is Grimsley’s aide. While at Brookside, he has gained experience that will be useful to his future career as an English teacher in Nepal. “Everything is new and I’m learning a lot from the students,” he remarked with a smile. Countries represented at Brookside include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Burma, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Korea, Lebanon, Liberia, Pakistan, Peru, Togo, Turkey, Vietnam and Yemen.

Assistant Professor Jo Gielow reports an equally exciting year at Bancroft Intermediate School in Wilmington, where she teaches the 5th and 6th grade ESL students for the Christina School District. The 47 students, drawn from 15 different mainstream classrooms, are divided into four groups, from beginning to advanced levels, with the lower groups receiving daily instruction and the higher level students receiving instruction and assistance as needed. Gielow also provides ongoing support to 18 mainstream teachers, helping them to better serve the ESL students in their classrooms. Gielow and her assistant, Jaimy Gillow, work with a wonderfully diverse group of children from at least 12 countries, including Cameroon, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, India, Jamaica, Lebanon, Liberia, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Yemen and the U.S.

The greatest change in this year’s program, says Gielow, is an increased level of support from the Christina School District, with new language arts materials for every level, from kindergarten through fifth grade.