This article summarizes the realization of an ESOL Endorsement in Florida in the early 1990s that required teacher education programs to integrate ESOL knowledge and competencies into existing programs. It describes how two officials from the Florida Department of Education helped establish this requirement. Pre-service teachers who completed courses and field experiences with an integrated methodology learned to consider ESOL needs and incorporate strategies naturally into their planning and instruction. The program aimed to help teachers cultivate diverse strategies to effectively instruct English learners in all classrooms.

1. Legal Foundations
Chapter One: Understanding the Implications of the Florida Consent Decree
A Literacy Root Begins with a Seed: Planting an Elementary Education/English for
Speakers of Other Languages Teacher Preparation Program
Valerie J. Bristor, Jane Brady Matanzo
(1990s)
http://www.americanreadingforum.org/yearbook/yearbooks/98_yearbook/html/09_bristor_98.htm
This article provides background knowledge of the realization of an ESOL Endorsement in
Florida in the early 1990s, and includes two prominent figures from the Florida Department of
Education, R.E. LeMon and L. Clayton-Kandor. The authors present an overview of how
reading and language arts instruction can meet a state ESOL Endorsement requirement by
integrating the requisite knowledge and competencies into existing Teacher Education Programs.
Pre-service teachers completing the integrated methodology courses and field experience
considered ESOL needs and incorporated strategies as a natural part of their planning and
instructional processes. Thus, the ESOL seed was planted; it took root; it sprouted and flowered.
The inclusion of various checkpoints in programs should assure continuous blooming and
opportunities for teachers to choose from an abundant garden of practical strategies which will
ultimately guide them in delivering appropriate instruction to English learners in all classrooms.