I do the ESL testing at my school, but I’m the ESL coordinator. I can answer this from a different perspective. I also must test new students within 10 days of enrollment. I don’t have to have someone cover my class, but I have to pull students out of other teachers’ classes, and I can’t stand doing that, especially within the first couple of weeks of school when everybody is trying to get to know each other. What I try to do is pull the students out when they go to their elective classes, like PE or art. Also, I talk to the students just a little before testing them, like in the hallway, to do a little informal assessment to see where they are at least from an oral speech standpoint. If I have several students that I can test together, and that portion of the assessment lends itself to that, then I do that as well. Say it’s the reading portion (and I cannot read it for them, right?), and I have found 3 students that have PE or another elective at the same time and seem to be able to at least read some English, I pull them out and test them. Then the next day, I would do the listening portion with all three. Then the next day I might pull them each individually for their speaking portion. Get my drift?

Another thing, my assessment is set up that if a student is at the emergent or beginning level and can only complete the first few questions (after that it becomes too frustrating for the student, and there’s no way they can answer the questions anyway), then I stop the assessment. I’ve done assessments that lasted about 20 minutes total because they knew NOTHING in English other than “hello,” “my name is . . .,” and maybe some colors or numbers. You know, about as much as much as Spanish as an English-speaking kids knows, like from watching Dora.

I would just do it its ok you just sort of when you come back and introduce yourself and stuff. I had a teacher in 4th grade that was only there for a week and she had a bunch of pregnancy problems and this permanent sub became our teacher for the rest of the year it will be fine.