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THE ESL TRACK AT KCIS
For students with a limited proficiency in English, providing language support is essential for their academic success, but also for their integration in the school community, communication with teachers, relationship with peers and general wellbeing.
Therefore, this semester, we have introduced the English as a Second Language (ESL) track in KCIS, providing ESL lessons in small groups based on the student's areas of need, as a means of supporting students with a limited proficiency in English whilst simultaneously allowing us to push students working at English as a First Language (EFL) level.
As with many of our curriculum areas at KCIS we follow the Cambridge curriculum which has a detailed framework of skills students need to learn in each year group, and EFL and ESL are no different. When students reach G9, they will study Cambridge IGCSEs, and so following the Cambridge curriculum - either to support their learning in ESL or work towards native speaker standards in EFL - gives them the perfect preparation for the courses they will take.
In using the Cambridge Global English books, students follow a curriculum that gives the opportunity to practice and consolidate skills in reading, writing, speaking, listening and general use of English, including aspects such as vocabulary and grammar. The design of the Cambridge Global English curriculum presents students with particular topics through which they can learn skills. Whilst the content is not as important as the skills themselves, by learning skills through topics students are able to expand their vocabulary in given areas.
Additional resources have been created to give the ESL track a similar feel to the EFL track. By using guided reading workbooks, students have the opportunity to practice skills in reading comprehension in a much more focused way, in line with the ESL track's aim of building a strong foundation of fundamental skills.
Whilst helping students to build a consistent foundation of English skills, the purpose of the ESL track is also to help support students' learning in other curriculum areas as well. ESL teachers actively seek ways to preview and promote vocabulary that the students will be using in other subjects, such as Science and Humanities, thus enabling them to understand more of the content being taught in their other classes.
Although the ESL track was created to support all students, now that it is established, it provides a pathway for new students who join the school with limited English. By joining the ESL track, new students and existing students can build their confidence and maximise their potential of improving in the future.
