English as a Second Language
The focus of the English as a Second Language (ESL) Department is to support our diverse group of English language learners with the transition to using English as their primary language of instruction in a college preparatory program. All courses are designed to help students gain confidence in both social and academic settings as they build their language skills across all four language domains, i.e. listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing, with the goal of integrating into mainstream academic classes. In addition, the ESL Department assists our international students in better understanding the culture and expectations of the American classroom and encourages students to strengthen their language skills outside of the classroom by establishing a variety of friendships, seeking new interests, and becoming active members of the Perkiomen School community.
Perkiomen School is a member of the Multilingual Learning Research Center whose mission is to advance educational outcomes for multilingual learners through innovative and socially just research and research–practice partnerships.
The MLRC School Network grew out of the WIDA International School Consortium. In 2013, WIDA established the International School Consortium to create a community of independent and international schools using WIDA resources to serve multilingual learners. For 10 years, the WIDA international team contributed to the growth of this global network of schools.
The creation of the MLRC presented the opportunity to reimagine support for international schools, shifting from a global assessment network to a global research network. This shift — inspired by the innovative work that began during the pandemic — leverages the excitement and synergy that was developed in the 2020 WIDA Global Community of Practice to help international schools learn with and from each other.
MLRC School Network members, like Perkiomen School, have opportunities to engage in dialogue and collaborative research to explore common realities in teaching multilingual learners. The MLRC School Network promotes inquiry both within schools and across schools.
Multi-faceted Programming
Our program recognizes that social language and academic language develop differently. Student language proficiency can be split into two categories: BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills) and CALPS (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency). BICS equips students with everyday conversational skills, while CALPS helps students master the academic language needed for success in school.
Student participation in extracurricular activities and programming like Advisory, Life Arts, and weekend field trips is highly encouraged to develop social language skills.
