Christina School District English language learners

The Christina School District English Language Learner (ELL) Program has undergone major changes in 2005, particularly at its Newark site. The combined ESL and bilingual programs received a new and much awaited supervisor, Virginia Navarro. Since Navarro’s arrival, students receiving ESL support are no longer bused from other elementary schools in the district to the Brookside Elementary School in Newark for a partial day of ESL instruction. Instead, when registering, all of the lower grade ESL students are assigned to Brookside, where they attend ESL classes and regular classes with American students all day. This has allowed for better communication among ELL teachers, regular program teachers and parents, as well as more ESL support for regular classroom teachers.

In the current school year, ELI has three faculty members working with the Christina School District in its ELL Program. Jo Gielow is teaching 35 beginning and intermediate 4th to 6th grade ESL students at Bancroft Intermediate School in Wilmington. Forty international students attend Brookside Elementary School in Newark, where Jan Lefebvre teaches kindergarten, as well as 1st through 4th grade intermediate and advanced ESL students, and Lisa Grimsley teaches 1st to 4th grade beginners.

ELI teachers Jan Lefebvre (left) and Lisa Grimsley (right) teach 40 eager students at Brookside Elementary School in Newark.