Chester Community Charter School’s mission is to equip English Language Learners with the language proficiency and independence necessary to meet or exceed state and district content standards while preserving the individual’s language and culture.
Educational Approach
CCCS has selected English as a Second Language (ESL) as its educational approach. ESL instruction is an academic discipline that is designed to teach ELLs social and academic skills as well as the cultural aspects of the English language necessary to succeed in an academic environment and contribute to society. The ESL program model that CCCS has chosen is a push in/pull out model.
What is ESL?
ESL stands for English as a Second Language. At registration, all families fill out a form called a Home Language Survey. This lets CCCS know if the student speaks a language other than English, or if a language other than English is spoken in the home. If so, the student is tested and depending on their score and language ability, placed into the ESL program for extra support in learning the English language. In ESL classes, students learn English and practice using it in four different areas: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students are seen, on average, four times a week for a minimum of 30-45 minutes a session. The purpose of ESL is to help students succeed in the regular education classroom and become independent learners and citizens.
Instructional Approach
At CCCS, the ESL program uses the push-in/pull-out method of instruction. Depending on students' individual needs, ESL instructors vary their time between pushing into the regular education classrooms and pulling out students into the ESL classroom for direct language instruction.