Growing a Quality Int'l Program in a Christian School

​We are inviting students to join our Christian/Private high schools, but are we prepared to address the needs specific to international students and English language learners?
​
I have been a part of forming an international student program at Keswick Christian School in St. Petersburg, FL and I have learned a lot from my own experiences as well as the experiences of other schools who have been kind enough to share their program details. ​

The needs of international learners must be addressed.

​This is a big topic and will need more than one blog post to address the issues surrounding an international student program in a private high school setting, but let me get started!

Our international students have academic, social, physical and emotional needs that should be addressed by the organization assisting their time in the U.S.A.  That may be an international-study company and the school working together or it may be the school alone. 

Some schools partner with organizations that work with the student, family and host family to meet the physical and emotional needs of the student.  The school then has the responsibility to address the academic and social life of the student.  I’m going to address that scenario briefly in this blog and more extensively in the next two.

One of the main reasons a student comes to the U.S.A. to study in high school is, of course, to improve their English.  That being the case, an EFL class is a necessity.  English as a Foreign Language will provide the required foreign-language credit required of a student. (I would not recommend placing a Chinese student in a Spanish, French, German, etc. class unless their English is at an advanced level.)  This class will provide the support an English language learner needs not only through content instruction, but also through creating an environment in which the student is surrounded by other ELLs.  The need for direct instruction, scaffolded lessons, and socially-safe conversational practice is addressed in an EFL class.
​
I would love to know what kind of curriculum your school uses for your EFL classes and your experiences.  Please comment below!