The Thief River Falls School District offers an educational program to meet the needs of students who are English Learners (EL) in grades K-12. This program, known as English as a Second Language (ESL), addresses two areas: Language acquisition and cultural adjustment.

The goal of the EL program is to assist English learners with the development of their communication skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing, thereby enabling them to be successful in the academic mainstream classroom as well as their social and extracurricular activities.

The EL program will assist English learners through their cultural adjustment by helping them develop an understanding of American culture.  At the same time, students will be encouraged to share their cultural backgrounds and realize the importance of their role in a multicultural society.