Supporting English Language Learners in Grades 1 to 8

Section 1 Understanding English language learners
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international, or visa, students who have paid fees to attend school in
Ontario and often plan to attend a Canadian university. Most visa students
are of secondary school age. These students typically arrive in Canada
without their families, and may live with extended family, a host family, or
alone. Because they often represent the aspirations of their families, and
because of the expense involved in sending them to study in Canada, these
students are often under great pressure to do well and progress through
school as quickly as possible. Some have had instruction in English but may
still have considerable difficulty learning English in Ontario classrooms.
Children of parents who do not meet Section 23 criteria can be admitted to Ontario’s
French language schools by an admissions committee. Though they may be from any
background, they are often the children of parents who have settled in Canada as
immigrants or refugees, and for whom French is their first, second, or even third language,
yet who feel a certain attachment to French. They often come from countries where the
language of public administration or schooling is French.
English Language Learners/ESL and ELD Programs and Services: Policies and Procedures for
Ontario Elementary and Secondary Schools, Kindergarten to Grade 12, 2007, 1.2.
Understanding what English language learners
bring to Ontario classrooms
English language learners are a richly heterogeneous group. The paths they take
to acquire a new language and to adjust to their new environment are also varied
and in keeping with their unique needs and experiences.
English language learners bring to Ontario schools a wide variety of life
situations and understandings and a range of educational experiences. Within
the safe and welcoming classroom environment, teachers are given a unique
opportunity to tap the rich resource of knowledge and understandings that ELLs
bring to school, and which, in turn, enrich the learning of all students in the
classroom. The role of the school and the teacher is critical in supporting their
identities and development as bilingual learners, and in helping ELLs shape a
vision of the future in which they will take their place as Canadian citizens in a
global economy.
This country is your country. It’s up to you to give it your imagination, your talent, your view
of the world. And you know what? I believe that nothing is impossible for children like you…
who have courage, heart and a head brimming with ideas.
Michaëlle Jean, Governor-General of Canada
Supporting English Language Learners in Grades 1 to 8
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