ESL - English-as-a-Second Language

Wisconsin Avenue School offers a comprehensive English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) curriculum for students, whose first language is other than English. These first languages include: Hmong, Lao, Spanish, Mandingo, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Croatian and Russian. Wisconsin Avenue School has one of the largest elementary school ESL programs in MPS and the city of Milwaukee. Instructional assistance with English is offered daily, in order to speed transition from their first language (often the only one spoken at home) to English, while preserving and celebrating each child's first language. It should be obvious to any casual critic or observer ... in most cases, to reach a self-supporting and rewarding life style in our society, fluency in English is mandatory. Some use the word "melting pot" to describe our American multicultural and multilingual population. In fact, America is better viewed as a rich tapestry of many cultures and languages, with a basic core of similar values of opportunity freedom and justice.