English as a Second Language (ESL/ELL) students are students who first learned to speak, read and/or write a language other than English and whose level of English language proficiency precludes them from full participation in learning experiences provided in Golden Hills schools. ESL/ELL students may have recently immigrated to Canada or may have been born in Canada and live in homes in which the primary spoken language is not English.
Golden Hills School Division serves a student population from a rich array of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Throughout the division, many students in our schools are English Language learners (ELLs) - students who are learning the language of instruction at the same time as they are learning the curriculum and developing a full range of literacy skills. Our teachers are responding to the specific kinds of needs that these students bring with them to the classroom and are also learning that the results can be inspiring, exciting, and rewarding for everyone.
Effective language and literacy instruction begins with the needs of the learner in mind, and all teachers, across all content areas, are teachers of both language and literacy.
IMC has a number of ESL/ELL resources to support the needs of our ELL students.
The Calgary Regional Consortium (CRC) offers a number of webinars and face-to-face in-services to support ESL/ELL teachers. Please refer to the link below. http://www.crcpd.ab.ca/