ESLI Overview

Overview Topics

Orientation/Placement test by level
Instruction/Monitoring
Certificate

Orientation/Placement test by level

The ESLI offers five 8-week courses per year. Each session starts with the orientation on the first day of the school session coupled with a written placement test and an oral interview for all ESLI students. The written part of the placement test includes three sections: Listening, Reading, and Language Use. The oral interview functions as a tool of diagnostic assessment: in essence a check up for incoming ESL students. The results from this placement test then determine which level each student will enroll in on the first day. Part of the Orientation is to introduce the students to the State of Mississippi, City of Jackson and Jackson State University. At the orientation, students receive an ESLI Student Handbook and a package with brochures on museums, galleries, and cultural events in our capitol city.

The ESLI offers a variety of personal services to aid students in adjusting to life in the United States. These range from meeting students upon arrival at the airport to providing information on specific services required by students to individualized counseling.

Instruction/Monitoring

The ESLI offers five levels: Beginning, High Beginning, Low Intermediate, High Intermediate, and Advanced. The average instructor-student ratio is 1:4. All classes meet daily from Monday through Friday, for a total of 20 classroom hours per week. Each day four classes are running from 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. Each class lasts 1 hour and 10 minutes and there are10 minute-breaks between classes.

After class, the students are required to go to the multi-media language lab in the afternoon, where they have audio/video equipment as well as computers with Internet access at their disposal. Weekly instruction is supplemented by an on-going monitoring of the student’s English skills. Student attendance and grades are recorded in instructors’ notebooks. Instructors meet weekly to assess their students’ progress. Thereby, progress reports on each student are generated based on the instructors’ weekly observations and quizzes. Four periodic review tests are given to the students to evaluate their competence in the four skills: speaking, writing, reading, and listening.

Aside from regular school days, various cultural events also take place every weekend. For instance, students are taken to scenic and/or historical sites in Jackson, New Orleans or Memphis. Some of the cultural events are as follows:

Outreach Community Services

• Mustard Seed
• Peach Tree Village (Nursing Home)
• Stewpot Community Kitchen
• Operation Shoebox
• Habitat for Humanity

International Advancement

• 100 Black Men
• Jackson Public Schools – International Education Week
• International Week at JSU

Field Trips

• Mississippi: Vicksburg; Natchez; Utica; Canton;
• Outside MS: Memphis, TN; New Orleans, LA; Birmingham
• and Mobile, AL;

Performing Arts

• Ballet Magnificat; New Stage Theatre; Kessler’s Broadway Plays;

Festivals

• St. Patty’s Parade; Festival Latino; Celtic Fest; Highland Games; Gluckstadt German Festival;

Museums and other attractions

• Natural Science; Civil Rights; Old & New Capitol; Governor’s Mansion; Manship House; Islamic Cultural Museum; Art Museum; Agricultural & Forestry Museum; etc.

At the end of each session a final comprehensive test is administered to all students in reading, listening, and grammar sections. An oral interview completes the final stage of monitoring the students.

Certificate

At the end of each eight-week session, students receive ESLI certificates of completion along with their report cards. The certificate serves as evidence that the student is ready to be promoted from one level to another.