ESL instruction at Byars Dowdy consists of gathering together groups
of ESL students from their regular home room classes (called "mainstream
classes"), and conducting ESL sessions for them in Mr. Hollaway's (or other
ESL teachers') ESL room. Students study listening, speaking, reading, and writing English based on their
ability level.
2009-2010 3rd and 4th Grade ESL enrollment records indicate 21 3rd Grade and 15 4th grade
students will participate in ESL classes as of the first of the school year. In addition to these students,
four others are in the transition status, no longer attending ESL classes, but being monitored for their
success in the mainstream class
During the 2007 - 2008 school year, Mr. Hollaway was responsible for 18
Second Grade students in the ESL program. 14 of these, with heritage
languages of Spanish, Mixteco, Chinese and Vietnamese, met for ESL
instruction one or two periods each school day. The other four ESL students
remained with their mainstream classmates throughout the day, but were
monitored regularly to verify their progress in the Second Grade curriculum.
For the 2008 - 2009 school year, Mr. Hollaway was responsible for 28 English
Language Learners in the 3rd and 4th grades who received direct instruction
in ESL classes, and two other ELL's who were not in ESL classes but whose
progress was monitored to verify their progress in the mainstream classes.
ESL students last year had heritage languages of Spanish, Mixteco, Chinese,
Vietnamese, Gujarati, and Tagalog, with country heritages including Mexico,
Colombia, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, China, Vietnam, India and the
Philippines.
In keeping with the Tennessee ESL Curriculum Standards, our aim is for all
the ESL students to "develop the necessary listening, speaking and reading
skills for communication, word recognition, comprehension, interpretation,
analysis, evaluation and appreciation of print in order to be successful in
the mainstream classroom."