English Language Acquisition

The Bishop State Adult Education program is committed to serving students with limited English proficiency by developing their effective oral and reading skills through Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education (IELCE) classes. Students in IELCE classes will also learn the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and civic participation and workforce training. English Language Acquisition (formerly referred to as ESL) is the instruction that assists individuals of limited English proficiency to achieve competence in the English language. Instruction is geared to adults who want to become more fluent in English, pass the U.S. citizenship test and/or GED Test, and work on job-seeking skills. To meet the specific needs of these students, a wide variety of materials will be used. Many of these are authentic materials from the community or from the students themselves. In the Bishop State IELCE classes, global topics such as human rights and environmental issues will be addressed along with such topics as the Bill of Rights and the three branches of government.