There is a separate teacher for ESOL who pulls grade two, three, and four students with extremely limited English out of my FLES classes for the first few weeks. But after initial period when they are able to understand simple conversational English, they remain in their classrooms for my classes and do very well. ESOL students are always the shining stars of my FLES classes because Spanish is usually the third language they are learning. It's the second language that is the most difficult, according to second language acquisition theory.
After they become well adjusted to Spanish class, I try to find opportunities to allow the students to make individual contributions to my classes. Sometimes, I ask them how to say a certain phrase or word in their first language. When I know that the student is really skilled in his/her first language, they will write what they wish to say on the board so children can see for themselves what another language (other than Spanish) looks like in print. The children are fascinated with the script of Asian languages or Hebrew which is written from right to left! These experiences with exposure to other world languages are an important part of their overall development as FLES students.
