The Montgomery County Public Schools ELD program is designed to empower Emergent Multilingual students to master academic English to thrive in school, college, careers, and as global citizens. The education of students learning English as a new language is a collaborative responsibility shared by the ELD teacher, the classroom teacher, all other appropriate MCPS staff, as well as the Emergent Multilingual Learner.
Students who receive a SLIFE designation in grades three through five enroll at the home school, accessing grade-level instruction with same-age peers. Students are assigned a SLIFE Coach who will provide professional learning and coaching to build the capacity of general education and English Language Development (ELD) staff to support the language and academic needs of SLIFE. SLIFE Coaches may model and co-teach lessons, attend planning meetings, advocate for and model equitable, culturally responsive practices, and collaborate with case-management teams to care for the academic, social, and emotional well-being of SLIFE and their caregivers.
There are various instructional models that can be effectively implemented in an elementary school’s English Language Development program. Services can be implemented across all content areas. Students develop their interpretive (reading and listening) and expressive (writing and speaking) skills through the integration of language and content.
In a co-teaching model, the English Language Development teacher works alongside the general education teacher to provide academic language scaffolds within instruction that builds and supports core content. Collaborative instructional models provide opportunities for emergent multilingual learners to engage in academic discourse around rigorous academic content furthering their language development while increasing student achievement, motivation, and engagement.
In a plug-in model, the English Language Development teacher instructs students in the general education classroom. This may include co-teaching the whole class with the certified classroom teacher or instructing small groups of emergent multilingual students during independent work/center time.
In a pull-out model, the English Language Development teacher instructs emergent multilingual students outside of the general education classroom, to provide targeted language instruction to students entering or emerging in their English language proficiency.
At any level of English language proficiency, a combination of instructional models may be implemented to take advantage of the benefits of the various models to provide access to grade level content.
MCPS currently offers Two-Way Immersion programs (Spanish/English) at five schools:
While individual schools’ models vary in scheduling, all programs follow a 50/50 model. In a 50/50 model, students spend 50% of their day learning in Spanish and 50% of their day learning in English. Two-way Immersion in MCPS is a K-5 whole-school model program, open to students enrolled at these schools, and are not included in the lottery for MCPS’s other World Language Immersion programs.
The Montgomery County Public Schools K-5 Two-Way Immersion program commits to academic excellence as we develop our emergent multilingual learners’ (EML) bilingual & biliteracy skills through bilingual and multicultural education provided in both English and Spanish. We follow a standards-based instructional model grounded in the 4 +1 (reading, writing, listening, speaking, and making metalinguistic connections) language domains with intentional cross linguistic transfers between Spanish and English. This approach provides rigorous student- centered instruction that intentionally scaffolds and differentiates to meet all students’ needs.
We believe that emerging bilingual students learn best when provided daily language development and daily reading instruction that focuses on oracy, writing, and metalanguage development in each language. We believe that English Language Arts (ELA) /ELD and Spanish Language Arts (SLA)/Spanish Language Development (SLD) are explicitly connected and mutually reinforcing. Therefore, scope, sequence & skills need to be designed in conjunction with & connected across languages.
All professionals work collaboratively to develop instruction that has a standards-based focus on content literacy using appropriate language acquisition approaches in both English and Spanish. Explicit connections must be made between Spanish and English languages on an ongoing basis with structured opportunities for cross-linguistic comparisons. Instructional planning includes targeted development of metalanguage and metalinguistic awareness through the incorporation of translanguaging spaces.
Students interact with each other academically and socially to develop proficiency in both Spanish and English. Students serve as language models to their peers, and all students in the program are learning content through a second or new language. Students are engaged in methods to actively and consistently use and produce the partner language daily through words, actions, and work products. Certified teachers deliver instruction in Spanish and English with support of other staff. The classroom teacher serves as the language model and as such, maintains fidelity in using the target language, while using effective comprehensible input strategies to support the comprehension of their students.
English | Spanish | Chinese | Vietnamese | Korean | Amharic | French
The Two-Way Immersion (TWI) model will be implemented at Brown Station Elementary School beginning in 2017-18 for all kindergarten classes, and will move upward throughout the grades each year. By the 2022-2023 school year all grades and all classrooms will follow the TWI Model.
Language Arts and Math instruction are delivered in both English and Spanish for all students in the TWI program. Science instruction occurs in Spanish, and Social Studies instruction is delivered in English. All students will receive instruction in Spanish for half of their school day, and instruction in English for the other half of the day. This means students have two classrooms, each with a different teacher; one for Spanish and one for English. Content instruction is never repeated; rather teachers collaborate to ensure that students have opportunities to make connections between the learning experiences in each classroom. All specials are taught in English.
As this program continues to grow, Brown Station teachers and staff will receive ongoing, intensive support, resources, and recommendations from experts. This includes a partnership with the Center for Applied Linguistics, which provides continuous professional development, conducts site visits, and shares feedback on strengths and growth areas for instructional delivery.
The Two-Way Immersion (TWI) model will be implemented at Gaithersburg Elementary School beginning in 2022-2023 for all kindergarten and first grade classes, and will move upward throughout the grades each year. By the 2026-2027 school year all grades and all classrooms will follow the TWI Model.
Language Arts instruction will be delivered in both English and Spanish for all students in the TWI program. For all other contents, the language of instruction is determined by the content-allocation model, where students receive instruction of a content in the determined target language throughout the school year, with carefully planned, frequent opportunities to make metalinguistic connections to the other language. Students in the TWI program will receive instruction in math, science, and language arts in Spanish during their kindergarten, second grade, and fourth grade years. During those same years, they will receive instruction in science and language arts in English. In first grade, third grade, and fifth grade, students will receive math, science, and language arts instruction in English and science and language arts instruction in Spanish. In TWI programs, all students receive instruction in Spanish for half of their school day, and instruction in English for the other half of the day. This means students have two classrooms, each with a different teacher; one for Spanish and one for English. Content instruction is never repeated; rather teachers collaborate to ensure that students have opportunities to make connections between the learning experiences in each classroom.
As this program continues to grow, Gaithersburg teachers and staff will receive ongoing, intensive support, resources, and recommendations from experts. This includes a partnership with the Center for Teaching for Biliteracy, which provides continuous professional development, conducts site visits, and shares feedback on strengths and growth areas for instructional delivery.
The Two Way Immersion (TWI) model is implemented in grades K-5 at Kemp Mill Elementary School. All students enrolled in kindergarten and first grade in 2017-2018 receive instruction in both English and Spanish. In grades two through five, most students participate in Two Way Immersion although some classes offer monolingual English instruction. The TWI model will be implemented across all Kindergarten, first, and second grade classrooms in 2018-19, and will continue to roll up through the grades so that by the 2021-2022 school year, all classrooms in all grade levels will follow the TWI model.
Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies content are delivered in both English and Spanish for students in the TWI program. The language of instruction alternates every week. For example, during Week A, a student will receive instruction all day, all week in one language (for example English). The following week, Week B, the same student will receive instruction, all day, all week in the other language (Spanish). All specials classes (Art, STEM, Music, PE) are instructed in English.
As this program continues to evolve, Kemp Mill teachers and staff continuously receive ongoing, intensive support, resources, and recommendations from TWI experts. This includes a partnership with the Center for Applied Linguistics and professional development to implement research-based best practices. This support also includes site visits to provide feedback on strength and growth areas for instructional delivery.
Current Kemp Mill dual language students articulate to Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School and have the option of participating in the Middle School immersion program at this school without having to assess into the program.
The Two-Way Immersion (TWI) model will be implemented at Oakland Terrace Elementary School beginning in 2018-19 for all kindergarten classes, and will move upward throughout the grades each year. By the 2023-2024 school year all grades and all classrooms will follow the TWI Model.
Language Arts instruction will be delivered in both English and Spanish for all students in the TWI program. The language of instruction for other content areas (math, science, social studies, and specials) will be decided by the school’s Steering Committee. All students will receive instruction in Spanish for half of their school day, and instruction in English for the other half of the day. This means students have two classrooms, each with a different teacher; one for Spanish and one for English. Content instruction is never repeated; rather teachers collaborate to ensure that students have opportunities to make connections between the learning experiences in each classroom.
As this program continues to grow, Oakland Terrace teachers and staff will receive ongoing, intensive support, resources, and recommendations from experts. This includes a partnership with the Center for Applied Linguistics, which provides continuous professional development, conducts site visits, and shares feedback on strengths and growth areas for instructional delivery.
The Two-Way Immersion (TWI) model will be implemented at Rolling Terrace Elementary School beginning in 2018-19 for all kindergarten and first grade classes, and will move upward throughout the grades each year. By the 2022-2023 school year all grades and all classrooms will follow the TWI Model.
Language Arts instruction will be delivered in both English and Spanish for all students in the TWI program. The language of instruction for other content areas (math, science, social studies, and specials) will be decided by the school’s Steering Committee. All students will receive instruction in Spanish for half of their school day, and instruction in English for the other half of the day. This means students have two classrooms, each with a different teacher; one for Spanish and one for English. Content instruction is never repeated; rather teachers collaborate to ensure that students have opportunities to make connections between the learning experiences in each classroom.
As this program continues to grow, Rolling Terrace teachers and staff will receive ongoing, intensive support, resources, and recommendations from experts. This includes a partnership with the Center for Applied Linguistics, which provides continuous professional development, conducts site visits, and shares feedback on strengths and growth areas for instructional delivery.
Two-Way Immersion (TWI) began in Summer 2017 for incoming kindergarteners attending Washington Grove Elementary School. The model will be implemented for all kindergarten classes during the 2017-18 school year, and will move upward throughout the grades each year. By the 2022-2023 school year all grades and all classrooms will follow the TWI Model.
All content (Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies) instruction will alternate between the two languages, and students will receive instruction in Spanish for half of their school day and English for the other half of the day. This means students have two classrooms, each with a different teacher; one for Spanish and one for English. Content instruction is never repeated; rather teachers collaborate to ensure that students have opportunities to make connections between the learning experiences in each classroom. In addition, students in Two Way immersion will receive Spanish instruction in Art, Media and STEM classes.
As this program continues to grow, Washington Grove teachers and staff will receive ongoing, intensive support, resources, and recommendations from experts. This includes a partnership with the Center for Applied Linguistics, which provides continuous professional development, conducts site visits, and shares feedback on strengths and growth areas for instructional delivery.