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Everything You Need to Know About the ESOL Program

The goal of the program is to ensure all students, entering Broward County Public Schools with varying levels of limited English proficiency, receive comparable and comprehensible instruction. This instruction helps these students to develop communicative and academic skills necessary for meeting national, state, and district educational standards.

All schools with students classified as English Language Learners (ELLs) must provide an appropriate ESOL program to meet the specific students' needs in language learning, academic achievement, and in cultural integration.

Students in the ESOL program are required to meet the same curriculum standards as any other student in English/Language Arts and content area instruction. The content of the curriculum is established by the Sunshine State Standards. ESOL strategies, supplementary materials, and native language assistance are used to ensure comprehensible instruction is being provided to every ELL student.

Who Are English Language Learners in Broward County Public Schools?

2024 District Strategic Plan Poster with Translations

ESOL Instructional Facilitators provide the following services to schools and centers:

Assist in implementing the ESOL Program in accordance with the Florida META Consent Decree;
Support student achievement through ELL student assessment and placement;
Visit assigned schools monthly and support student achievement through lesson modeling and instructional coaching.

They also provide literacy and language development presentations for teachers of ELL students through faculty meetings, area curriculum council meetings, area advisory meetings, and presentations at Innovation Zone meetings.

Instructional Facilitators assist administrators, teachers, guidance staff, registrars, and data processors for compliance with district, state, and federal program requirements.

The Bilingual/ESOL Department holds ESOL Curriculum/Contact Meetings to provide staff development to school designated ESOL Contacts on the ESOL Program. For more information, please contact the ESOL Department at (754) 321-2590.

ESOL Services

Interpretation/Translation Services
Assessment and Interpreter Services
(754) 321-2580
esolrequests@browardschools.com

From the time of students' registration, every effort must be made to inform and orient parents to the Broward County Public Schools System through the use of materials that are translated into the three predominant languages: Haitian Creole, Portuguese and Spanish.

District trained language interpreters and translators provide support services to District offices, schools, students and parents. Schools can also request the assistance of these interpreters and translators from the Bilingual/ESOL Department.

Interpreters assist at parent conferences, ESE staffing, ELL Committee meetings, and other pertinent meetings where heritage language assistance might be needed.

The Bilingual/ESOL Department offers training for interpreters and users of interpreter services to work together effectively in serving ELL students’ and families.

The Bilingual/ESOL Department employs full-time translators who translate district-wide forms and documents that are sent home in the three major languages: Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Spanish. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Code of Student Conduct Books and Parent Guides
• Registration Packets
• Elementary Report Cards and Inserts
• Elementary Interim Reports/Academic Improvement Plans (AIPs)
• Parent Conference Forms

 ESOL Leadership Team

Leyda Sotolongo, Curriculum Supervisor
Melinda Mayers, Educational Specialist
Stephanie Bustillo, Educational Specialist