English Language Development

In order to qualify for English Language Development (ELD) services at Teller, a student must be officially identified as a Multilingual Learner (MLL). When a family registers in DPS they fill out a Home Language Questionnaire. If they indicate that a language other than English is spoken at home the identification process begins. Our ISA Team (Instructional Services Advisory Team) talks to the family, looks at student work and a language screener is given to the student. If a student is designated as a Multilingual Learner, ELD services are provided via small group pull-out services every day. We play games, engage in cooperative learning and talk a lot! Because our mantra is, “If you can say it, you can write it”, we focus on developing the quality and quantity of oral language students use: sentence structure, specific academic language and extended responses. The ELD teacher and the classroom teachers also collaborate to develop any necessary supports MLLs may need in order to engage in classroom work and further develop their English language skills. Although our MLL population is relatively small (21 MLLs), our diversity is rich. Many languages are spoken at Teller, including Mongolian, Russian, Chinese, German, French, Spanish, Lingala (Democratic Republic of Congo), Amharic, Portuguese, Burmese and Arabic.