ESLCO – Level 3 English as a Second Language
Level 3 English as a Second Language (ESLCO) extends students’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in English for everyday and academic purposes. Students will participate in conversations in structured situations on a variety of familiar and new topics; read a variety of texts designed or adapted for English language learners; expand their knowledge of English grammatical structures and sentence patterns; and link English sentences to compose paragraphs. The course also supports students’ continuing adaptation to the Ontario school system by expanding their knowledge of diversity in their new province and country.
The content in each of the ESL and ELD courses is organized into four interrelated strands, or broad areas of learning: Listening and Speaking, Reading, Writing, and Socio-cultural Competence and Media Literacy. Effective instructional activities blend expectations from the four strands in order to provide English language learners with the kinds of experiences that promote meaningful learning and that help students recognize how language and literacy skills in the four strands overlap and strengthen one another. The program at all levels is designed to develop a range of essential skills in the four interrelated strands, built on a solid foundation of knowledge of the language conventions of standard English and incorporating the use of analytical, critical, and metacognitive thinking skills. Students learn best when they are provided with opportunities to monitor and reflect on their learning, and each strand includes expectations that call for such reflection.