Bilingual/ESL Program

Mesquite Independent School District is committed to providing a bilingual program for the purpose of teaching English to Emergent Bilingual students and to assisting them in learning to function effectively in an all-English school environment.

Bilingual education is a full-time program of dual language instruction that provides for learning basic skills in the students’ primary language and provides a carefully structured and sequenced mastery of English language skills.

Benefits of Being Bilingual

Intellectual
People who are bilingual have more mental flexibility. This is significant in that as learning abilities increase, students can use these abilities to improve comprehension and solve problems in math or linguistics.

Educational
Research has also shown that students who continue to develop their native language do learn English and score higher academically than those who sacrifice their native language.

Personal
Developing a student’s native language helps them find their personal identity. The student then values their culture and heritage, and this contributes to having a positive self-image and high self-esteem.

Social
The doors of communication with family and community are open when the native language is maintained. By promoting a student’s native language, we prepare them to take their role in the community and the rest of the world.

Economy
Today’s world demands a bilingual workforce. By receiving an education in more than one language, students are given an advantage while competing in the world’s work market.

English as a Second Language (ESL) Program

Texas Education Code 29.055 defines the program of instruction “English as a Second Language” as “a program of intensive instruction in English from teachers trained in recognizing and dealing with language differences.” The program goal is to enable Emergent Bilingual students to become competent in the comprehension, speaking, reading, and composition of the English language through the integrated use of second language methods.

Instructional Components and Benefits

The English as a second language (ESL) program addresses the affective, linguistic, and cognitive needs of Emergent Bilingual students.

Elementary ESL Pull Out Program
The elementary ESL Pull Out program follows an intensive language instructional model, which utilizes collaboration between the ESL certified teacher and the regular education classroom teacher. The setting at each campus might vary depending on the staff available at each building and their corresponding certifications.

Secondary ESL Pull Out Program
The secondary ESL program is also a pullout model in which grade-level objectives are delivered through modified instruction making information comprehensible to students. In grades 6-12, English and reading courses are taught by ESL certified teachers, while other content courses are taught through sheltered instruction strategies by teachers trained in second language acquisition methods.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Dual Language One Way Program?

The Dual Language One Way Program is a bilingual academic program where students learn in both English and Spanish. It utilizes the students’ native language for academic instruction 50 percent of the time, and English instruction for the other 50 percent. Students in this program are native Spanish speakers and receive the same curriculum as the general education program, through enrichment methods and strategies.

What are the Dual Language One Way Program’s goals?

How is it possible that my child speaks more English at home but has been identified as Emergent Bilingual?

The student’s daily oral face-to-face communication for personal and social purposes is known as Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills, or BICS. It takes two years of exposure to English in order to develop a relatively high degree of English communicative skills. The level of English proficiency needed for academic learning (reading and writing) is referred to as Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency, or CALP. CALP takes from five to seven years to develop.

Although your child is orally fluent in English, they may still not be academically prepared to compete in an all English classroom. Our Dual Language One Way Program carefully structures the development of both oral and academic language in a stress-free environment while considering the student’s cultural background.

Who participates in the MISD Dual Language One Way Program?

How are Emergent Bilingual students identified in Texas public schools?

The identification process starts from the analysis of the information collected through the Home Language Survey that is filled out when the student is enrolled in Texas Public Schools for the first time. If the Home Language Survey indicates a language other than English, students are assessed with an oral language proficiency test and an English norm-referenced test. The results of the assessment then determine the student’s program placement based on criteria set by the state.

Who participates in the ESL Pull Out Program?

Contact Us

Bilingual and ESL Enrollment Services (BEES Center)
405 E. Davis Street
Mesquite, TX 75149
972-882-7210

Carolina Portillo
Director ESL/Bilingual
972-882-8726