Multilingual Learners (Formerly known as English Learners or ELs) are students who speak a language other than English and who require academic support to develop their English language skills socially and/or academically. MLs are among the most diverse student groups in Massachusetts!

Multilingual Learners are identified through a language screening test. Parents/guardians fill out the Home Language Survey in the kindergarten registration packet and are then contacted by a bilingual language evaluator for an interview and to determine if testing, which consists of short listening and speaking activities, is necessary. 

There are two options! At every school in Salem, there is General Education Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) and at the Bentley Academy, there is a two-way dual language (DL) Spanish-English program.

MLs in kindergarten in General Education SEI spend their day learning with a kindergarten teacher alongside bilingual and native English speaking peers.  An ML teacher who specializes in language development will teach your child for a block of time daily, between 45-90 minutes, to support his/her oral language and reading.

MLs in the dual language program at Bentley become bilingual and biliterate in both English and Spanish!  Students in the DL Program in kindergarten spend the majority of their day learning to speak, read, write, and understand Spanish with peers who are native English speakers, native Spanish speakers, or who speak a third language.  Students learn to read and write in Spanish first, and then add on English literacy over their elementary years leaving elementary school being fully bilingual and biliterate in both Spanish and English.  Learning to read in Spanish first provides an important base of literacy to learn English.

Keep speaking and reading to your child in your home language!  Bilingual brains use both languages to help make meaning–it isn’t confusing; it helps your child build on his/her skills.