ESL Activities: Reading Writing Speaking Listening

ESL Activities
Consolidated by: Shelby Yelden
Reading Writing Speaking Listening
1 |Activity
Listening Activity: Listening and Sprint! Purpose: Students will understand the major ideas of a written text by listening to the text being read aloud. Student Age: Junior High 6th to 8th grade Student Level: Intermediate Advanced Materials needed: 1 or 2 Fly Swatters, 1 Chalk Board, 1 Fun Loving Teacher, and 1 Class of ELL students What to do: 1. Select a written text based on class objectives and student interest (ex. Snowboarding and Skiing). 2. Read selected text to the class; prepare them ahead of time by encouraging them to pay attention to key words and main ideas. 3. To increase student participation have a student read the text to the class again (if capable). 4. Write a T and F on the chalk board and split class into two teams, pass out one fly swatter to each team. 5. Explain to the class that the T means true and the F means false. 6. Now read a question about the text and have one student from each group run to the board and select the true or false with the fly swatter based on the correct answer. 7. Whoever selects the correct answer first is the winner. 8. Repeat steps 4-7. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' listening, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in listening, and listening strategies ESL students need to learn: One thing that all students enjoy doing is moving around the classroom and having fun while at school. A productive game is a great way to encourage student participation and overall learning. This activity helps students with listening comprehension by having them respond to questions about an oral text in a fun energetic way. They not only have to understand and remember what they heard but they also have to think about it and respond.
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Listening Activity: Classroom Clue Purpose: To give students practice with directions (left, right, between) and for the more advanced student, practice with physical appearance descriptors. Student Age: K-Adult Student Level: Advanced Beginner-Advanced (based on how detailed your questions are) Materials Needed: A copy of the class seating chart for each student in class. What to do: Distribute the seating charts to the students. Tell the students that you have randomly selected 1 "special" student. But you are not going to tell them who it is. You are going to tell them who it is not. The students must put an X over that person's name in the seating chart until all but one name is Xed out. Some example's you might say: The special person is not sitting between Ted and Sarah, The special person is not to the left of Katy, The special person is not in the row to the right of Johnny's row, It is not someone sitting in the 1st desk of any row. For more advanced students you can also add characteristics to the statements such as hair color, clothing, boy, girl, glasses, etc. Whoever guesses who the "special" student is first wins the classroom game of clue. You can also have the students pair up and each student draw a "special" student, then ask each other questions to try and determine which student each other has. This variation would allow students to practice both listening and speaking skills. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' listening, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in listening, and listening strategies ESL students need to learn: This activity will help students practice their listening skills and how to distinguish between direction words. This activity emphasizes the word "not" which is an important word for ESL students to understand. This activity will help the students learn things that are applicable to their everyday lives and will help them have fun while doing so.
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Activity: Picture This... Purpose: To test the ability to students to listen for accuracy of descriptions Student Age: Any, depending on level of difficulty of what is being spoken Student Level: adjustable Materials Needed: For teacher, pictures large enough to be seen by the entire class (perhaps through powerpoint) For students, paper and pencil What to Do: Show a given picture to the class. Begin describing it in anywhere from 3 - 10 sentences, depending on the level of difficulty. However, at parts during each description (it is up to you how many times), describe something incorrectly or inaccurately. The job of the students is to then put a mark on a sheet of paper, raise their hands, etc. (Anything will work) when they hear something that is incorrect. Either go over each picture when you get done with it, or stop every time someone catches a mistake to go over what it was. Relation to what we know about ESL listening: Listening comprehension can be a difficult thing for students to master, depending on where their strengths lie. This activity provides a controlled setting in which they are able to practice. Because they are given a picture, it gives them clues about what to listen for and narrows down the topic a bit, so it might not feel quite so overwhelming. It is also helpful in assessing which students might be struggling with it a bit more when one notices who is writing down the mistakes, raising their hands, etc. and who is not.
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Listening Activity: Wildlife Safari! Purpose: Animals are simple vocabulary words that students may have trouble learning because they are not often a part of daily conversation. Student age: elementary-adult Student level: Beginner Time: 1 regular class period (may be modified based on time allotted) Materials needed: Laminated (and preferably colored) pictures of 10-15 common animals Tape to hold the animals to a stake Sticks, pencils, stakes (something to stick into the ground to hold up the animal) Simple and interesting facts about each animal 1 fun teacher in a Safari shirt and hat Procedure: -Before class, go outside onto the school lawn and stick the animals into the ground. Place the animals a fairly good distance apart. -When class starts, explain to the students that they will be going on a safari to find animals around the school yard. - Lead the students outside and tell that they are looking for a zebra (or other animal). - Allow the students to locate the zebra and once they are all there, tell a few interesting facts about the particular animal. - Repeat the previous two steps in a random fashion until all the animals have been found during the Safari Why a Safari? Listening is a taxing exercise that many beginner ESL students will struggle with. Matching the English animal name to familiar pictures of the animal will help reinforce learning because a visual aid is used. It is important to keep the vocabulary at the students readiness level, otherwise they will be able to listen, but not understand. It is also important to allow the students to move around during these activities to eliminate possible boredom and daydreaming. Fun activities will help engage them in the language and hopefully eliminate anxiety in the classroom. The classroom needs to be a comfortable learning space in which students are not worried about making mistakes. A Safari is a fun activity that may incorporate animals that are familiar to students from their previous home. Being able to listen to the names of animals and their basic facts will help the students build common conversational vocabulary to shape them into future English speakers.
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Listening Activity: Chex-Mix Instructions Purpose: Students will have to listen to steps of a recipe and complete the tasks in order to enjoy the final product. In real life we receive directions every day. In the classroom it is very important to listen closely to the teacher and follow directions. Age: 3-6th grades Level: Intermediate Materials: For one batch: 6 cups wheat chex 6 cups rice chex 1 cup pretzel 2 T. Worcestershire sauce 3/4 t. garlic powder 2 Large bowls Mixing spoons Measuring spoons and cups
6 cups corn chex 1 cup mixed nuts 6 T. Butter 1 1/2 t. seasoning salt 1/2 t. onion powder Microwave Paper Towels
Directions: In large microwavable bowl, mix cereals, nuts, pretzels and bagel chips; set aside. In small microwavable bowl, microwave butter uncovered on High about 40 seconds or until melted. Stir in seasonings. Pour over cereal mixture; stir until evenly coated. Microwave uncovered on High 5 to 6 minutes, thoroughly stirring every 2 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool. Store in airtight container. Procedure: Have the materials needed for the chex-mix on a desk in the room. As part of the listening assignment ask the students to get into groups of 3 or 4. After that have the students get the materials needed. This will include all of the food and bowls and spoons. After each group has gotten all of the needed materials the teacher slowly announces the steps to making the chez-mix, making sure to repeat or clarify when needed. The instructor will microwave the butter for students if working with a younger grade. Why? This activity will help students listen to step-by-step instructions. It is important for students to follow the instructors directions every day. It will help them interact and listen to their peers at the same time, while working in the group. If they missed what the instructor said they can communicate with their peers to figure out what the instructor said. It also helps introduce American measuring things, such as Tablespoon and Teaspoon which might be different from student's original culture or home country. This is also a great hands-on activity to get students involved from the get-go!
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Listening Activity: Scavenger hunt Purpose: To give students practice in listening to specific details, or clues, in order to allow them to build ideas to find the conclusion. Age Level: Secondary/high school Proficiency level: Advanced Materials needed: students may need a paper and pencil, as the teacher reads from a list. Stickers will be given to each student after completing a clue station. Beforehand: the teacher will need to set up the scenarios. Each spot has a clue leading to the next spot. The teacher will need help; volunteers or parents will act as chaperones and clue givers. What to do: The scavenger hunt would ideally be played in a large area, such as a park, but a classroom setting is possible. The teacher will introduce the assignment as a fun, interactive game that challenges the students. The teacher has a list of clues that the students need to find in order to continue to the next clue. Once the student has finished all the clues, he or she has completed the activity. The student may use a piece of scratch paper if needed. There will be clue givers in different areas. Each clue giver will speak a sentence, or ask a question that requires a response from the student. When the student gives a thorough response, he or she will receive a sticker, indicating that they have completed the necessary clue. The class will be instructed to work alone at the beginning of class. This allows the teacher to asses each, if not, most students listening comprehension ability as it is applied to a situation, and it makes each student liable for their own success. After a decent amount of time, the students make work in groups of 2-3, in order to help each other with ideas or questions. The students are allowed to ask the teacher questions throughout the activity. Objectives: This scavenger hunt gives the students an opportunity to apply their listening skills in an authentic situation. Although it requires some speaking, the student will not be able to succeed if he or she cannot listen. The activity is meant to give the students practice in listening comprehension, a difficult and often over-looked area, in a fun and exciting manner.
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Listening Activity: Listening Comprehension The Great Clothing Chase! Purpose: To give students a chance to practice listening comprehension of words for articles of clothing Student Age: K Adult Student Level: Beginner Materials Needed: 2 sets of each article of clothing Coat/Jacket Hat Gloves Scarf Shorts Pants T-shirt Dress Any other kind of clothing that might be related to vocabulary words or unit Optional: Prizes for the winning team What to do: I would recommend doing this activity in the hallway or gymnasium (somewhere with plenty of space), so be sure to reserve that if needed. At one end of the room, set up two piles of clothing making sure that each pile has the same type of clothing in it. Several meters away from the piles of clothing, divide the students into two teams having them form two single file lines. Now the relay begins! You are to shout out an article of clothing and one student from each team is to run down to their teams pile of clothing and put on whichever article of clothing you shouted out. Whoever makes it back to their team first wearing the correct article of clothing wins a point for their team. Whichever team has the most points after all of the members of each team have participated wins the Great Clothing Chase! (Incentives, such as a prize, could be used, but bragging rights might be enough depending on the class and age of the students.) How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' listening, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in listening, and listening strategies ESL students need to learn: The terms used for articles of clothing are important for beginning ESL students to learn. They are words that will be used in their everyday life. It is important that students are able to listen to words and comprehend what exactly they are listening to. This activity allows the student to show what they have learned in a fun, yet applicable manner which is especially important for any type of student. The Great Clothing Chase gets them moving, but it also allows the teacher to assess the students on what they know in an informal manner. This can help ease testing anxiety that can come from a formal assessment.
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Listening Activity: Name the Scene Purpose: Have students listen to a description of a scene with specific words missing and lead the students to identify the missing things within it. Student Age: Middle Level -> Adults Student Proficiency: Early (Not the complete Beginner) -> Advanced Teacher Preparation: Create descriptions of a scene that involves the vocabulary words that are used during the lesson Basic supplies (pencils, papers, anything that you need to demonstrate an action or a color, etc.) Procedure: 1. The teacher prepares written scenarios of scenes involving the vocabulary words (chairs, pencils, windows, colors, weather, etc) 2. The teacher removes the vocabulary words so that the students must place the vocabulary words within the scenario 3. The teacher can either let the students write down the answers, or answer out loud in class (to hear them speak the word). *NOTE: if you have the students say the words out loud, you need a lot more material ready to read* 4. Reward students for good answers (choose your own rewards based on the age groups) 5. If you have time left over, allow students to devise their own scenarios to read to the class and allow the class to find the word This activity is effective in the classroom because not only do the students have to use context clues to find the meaning of the word, they can also hear the words used in authentic sentences. Allowing students to create their own scenarios allows them to use the words in a context they themselves will understand and relate with. If answered out loud, teachers will be able to hear how the students are feeling about their pronunciation of the vocabulary as well as check on overall knowledge of any other vocabulary gone over. This exercise shows a students knowledge not just of the word, but of the context around the word and the knowledge of all other vocabulary prior to this lesson that are chosen to be used.
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Listening Activity: Story Re-Telling Purpose: Practice listening comprehension by re-telling a story using pictures. Student Age: K-12 Student Level: Beginner to Advanced Materials Needed: Grade level and listening level appropriate short story in the target language. Choose a story that the students are interested in and is authentic. Appropriate pictures that depict the main events form the story. Consider the grade level and listening level of the students in determining how many pictures to have. What to do: Begin by sharing a short story with the students that is in the target language. The difficulty of the story will depend on the students' grade level and level of listening comprehension. Split the class into groups of 2-4 students. They will complete the activity with their group. Present a collection of pictures to the class that represent what happens in the story. The amount of picture you present will depend on the students' grade level and level of listening comprehension. Suggestions: For beginner ELL students, begin by showing 3-5 pictures. For intermediate ELL students, show 5-7 pictures. For advanced ELL students, show 7-10 or more pictures. In their groups, instruct the students to put the pictures in the correct order based on the story. Once each group is finished, have the group re-tell the story to you using their pictures. Read the story again. Instruct the students to check their work and make corrections as needed as you read through the story a second time. As a class, talk through the correct order of the pictures based on the story. Take time to discuss 1) what helped them put the pictures in the correct order (i.e. context clues, certain vocabulary, etc.) and 2) what was the most difficult thing to remember or understand from the story. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' listening, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in listening, and listening strategies ESL students need to learn: Research: ESL students have higher success in listening when there are visual prompts that match what they are listing to. The pictures will help the students recall the story they just listened to, and when the story is read a second time, the students will have the visual prompts in front of them. This activity is also low-stakes and they have the support of their peers. This will help them learn from one another and develop their language skills. Objectives: The students need to be able to know the vocabulary used in the story. The students need to recognize the order of events in a story. The students need to recall what they had just listened to. Strategies: The students will need to focus on what they know from the story, not what they didn't know. The students will need to be able to pick out the main events in the short story that is read to them and remember those.
10 | A c t i v i t y
Name of Game: Word Challenge Target Students: Elementary School, Middle School, High School Number of Students: Teams of 4-10 Objective: One team says a word and the other tries to spell it Instructions 1. Have students get into teams of 4-10 people 2. One person from each team does rocks, paper, scissors 3. Winner says a word and opponent tries to write the word correctly 4. If they get it right, their team gets a point 5. If they get it wrong, the person who said the word can write it out for a point for their team 6. Have another person from each team play 'Word Challenge' Notes: This game is good for all ages and it gives students a chance to work on not only there listening skills but also their writing and spelling. It encourages students to broaden there own vocabulary in order to stump the other team and also to be able to get there team points.
Listening Activity: Odd One Out Purpose: English words can be very different than cultures words. This game requires them to give the odd one out and explain why they said so. Student Age: K-2nd Student Level: Beginner Materials Needed: Prizes for the winners (if desired) List of items for you to read off; three belong, one does not What to do: Ask the students to stand up at their desks and choose someone to go first (or alternatively ask for a volunteer). They need to listen carefully to the words you say and decide which is the odd one out. If the student is correct then they can choose either their row or column to sit down with them, if the student is incorrect then nobody gets to sit down. Continue the game until everyone sits down. If your students have good English, are finding it too easy or you just want to challenge them then you can make them give the reason behind their choice as well as the answer. Here are a few examples of odd one out questions that you might like to use: John, Steve, Matthew, Kate - Answer: Kate (because it's a girl's name) Brother, Mother, Friend, Daughter - Answer: Friend (because they aren't family) Summer, Winter, Spring, March - Answer: March (because it's a month, not a season) Tokyo, Sydney, New York, Brazil - Answer: Brazil (because it's a country, not a city) At times there can be more than one answer that you might not have thought of so feel free to accept different answers if the student has a good explanation. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' listening, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in listening, and listening strategies ESL students need to learn: We know that listening is hard for ESL students. The pace of speech makes a huge difference in comprehension, but the more a student practices listening, the more they will be able to comprehend. This activity was designed with authenticity in mind. One thing very important is that the activities which shape their knowledge of listening are authentic real world experiences. This will help them develop into a more fluent speaker.
Listening Activity: Listening Comprehension Number Bingo Purpose: to give students a chance to practice listening comprehension of difficult number pairs like 13~30, 14~40, 15~50, 16~60, 17~70, etc.) Student Age: K - adult Student Level: Beginner Materials Needed: Bingo boards (printed with numbers from those difficult pairs, but also with other numbers from 1-99 thrown in, without letters on the top of the columns; see Websites with Bingo board generators, such as http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/bingo/) markers for Bingo boards (dried beans work well if plastic disk-type markers are not available) slips of paper with the possible numbers written on them, in a small baggie small prizes (like miniature candies, stickers, or pencils, depending on the age of the students), if desired What to do: Distribute Bingo boards and markers to students. If boards are marked with a "Free" space in the middle, remind students that they need to place a marker there before the game starts. Explain to students how one plays Bingo (necessary because this game is not well-known outside the Western world): "I will call out a number. If that number is on your board, put a marker in the box. When you have five markers in a row, call out 'Bingo!' We will go through all of the numbers you marked in that row and see if you are correct!" Pull a number at random from the baggie and call it out. Students mark any numbers you call out on their Bingo boards. When a student has 5 marked boxes in a row and yelled out "Bingo!", stop the game to check whether he/she is correct by having him/her read back the numbers in the complete marked row. If all the answers are correct, you have a winner! Start another game, if desired, or have students continue playing without clearing their boards until a second winner is found. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' listening, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in listening, and listening strategies ESL students need to learn: One area that beginner ELLs have trouble with in listening comprehension is hearing the differences between number pairs with -teen and -ty, as in 13~30, 14~40, etc. One strategy that they can use to discriminate between members of those pairs is to listen for which syllable in the number is stressed: The -teen numbers are stressed on the second syllable (the "teen"), whereas the -ty numbers are stressed on the first syllable (the name of the first digit). This Bingo game is designed to give them practice in a fast-paced setting in discriminating between those difficult number pairs. When finished with this game, students will be able to demonstrate that they are able to tell the difference between those numbers when they are heard and that they have learned the strategy of listening for which syllable of those numbers is stressed.
Reading Activity: Reading Comprehension A/B Stories Student Ages: upper elementary- High School Student Level: Higher beginning-Advanced
Skills being practiced: Reading, listening and speaking What you need: Two short readings from a reading textbook with pre-reading and comprehension questions Objective: Students will be able to summarize both the main idea and specific details from a passage Procedure: 1. Chose two short readings from the reading textbook if they relate they are better. 2. Photocopy the pre-reading discussion questions and vocabulary from both stories onto one page. 3. Write the titles of the two stories on the board and explain to the students that they will be reading one of these selections. 4. Have the class predict what they think the stories will be about. 5. Note the relevant vocabulary that comes up during the discussion that you know will be in the readings. 6. Put the students into pairs and give each set of pairs a copy of the pre-reading activities. 7. Have the students discuss the pre-reading questions. As the students are discussing circulate the classroom and monitor the discussions. 8. Assign each student in the pair a different story to read. Give them an index card where they can take notes. Explain to them that they will be responsible for explaining the story to their partner. Some of the notes they should take is on the main ideas and supporting details. 9. When the students are done reading have them give you the stories. This way they will retell the story to their partner using just their notes and not the story. 10. Give students comprehension questions for the story they were told and not the one they read. They may ask their partner for help if they need it though. 11. Then get back together with the whole class and discuss the answers to the questions and check the students understanding of both stories. What this accomplishes in regards to ESL students reading skills: - This helps students be able to learn to read for comprehension. They are responsible for the learning of their partner which means they have to comprehend them. - In addition, they are using the top-down approach when they are doing pre-reading questions and guessing the story based on their titles. - Also, they are learning new vocabulary before they read the story which will help them with their comprehension. - Finally, they are learning how to read something for comprehension.
Reading Activity: Pen Pals! Purpose: To give students a chance to practice their reading comprehension and content subjects. Student Age: Junior High Student Level: Intermediate to Advanced Materials Needed: Paper and pencils or Computers with Email, Prewritten letters based on content area and student interest (5 total) What to do: 1. Write a letter (5 total) for your students based on content area. In my case I would write letters from historical heroes to each of my students. 2. Have students read the letters focusing on the major details in the letters. It would be really great if the teacher dressed up as one of the historical heroes and delivered the letters to the students. 3. Have the students respond to the letters they read by writing back to their historical hero telling them about their own lives. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' listening, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in listening, and listening strategies ESL students need to learn: This simple yet effective activity pairs content specific information with reading comprehension. Students not only have to read the letters but they also have to respond to them. Students will enjoy reading letters from historical people like Napoleon or Abe Lincoln and students will enjoy writing back to them telling them about themselves.
Reading Activity: Story Treasure Hunt Purpose: Get the students thinking about the sequencing of events in stories and cause and effect relationships. Also allows students to work on their comprehension. Student Age: Any Student Level: Intermediate Materials: Note cards (two different colors), tape, school building, paper, markers, pens or pencils, copies of well known fables/fairytales What to do: Divide class into two sections. Each section selects a well-known fable or folktale. They simplify the plot into a sequence of events that can be transcribed onto cards with short sections of the tale on each. Students hide the cards out of sequence throughout the school or classroom. A treasure map showing the exact location where all the cards are hidden, is given to the other section (or, with clues, one card can lead to the next). The two sections must find the cards hidden by the other group and assemble them in correct order. The treasure is finding the WHOLE story. The treasure hunts happen simultaneously and, when each class has found the other's story, they confirm it by assembling it, learning the plot and sending representatives to retell it, or to act it out as a skit to the other section. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' reading, the objectives they need to accomplish in reading, and reading strategies ESL students need to learn: There are many reading strategies that are difficult to teach and to comprehend and put into practice. These strategies aren't easy for ESL students or native English speakers to grasp. This activity gets them working on some reading strategies (predicting, sequencing, cause and effect) in a fun, interactive way. It also involves group work which helps them practice their listening and speaking skills.
Reading Activity: Syllable Mirror Purpose: To introduce students to syllables in words. Student Age: K-2nd grade. Student Level: Beginner Readers Materials Needed: Colored Paper foil, a photo of each student in the class and persons throughout the school. What to do: 1. Out of the colored paper cut a large shaped mirror one for each student and other people in the school; music, PE teacher, etc. In the center of the mirror, attach foil, this will symbolize the glass of the mirror. Next glue a photo of the students, teachers and others from the school in the center. Each photo of the person will have it's own mirror. The idea is to have many different names with different number of syllable on each mirror. Example; Mrs. Zelt has 2+1 syllables. Punch a hole in the handle of the mirror and group them together with a ring so they stay together. 2. Create a cover for this little booklet in the same shape of the rest of the mirrors. On the cover add this little poem: Look in the mirror and Who do you see? Who do you see? Who do you see? Look in the mirror and Who do you see? Come along and clap with me! 3. Students clap each time they hear a syllable in a name. Ben = 1 clap, Jeremy=3 claps. 4. Facts about syllables for new readers: Syllables are a word part. All words have syllables. Chop the words into pieces.... ra-di-o, teach-er, Sun-day, bal-loon, el-e-phant, al-pha-bet etc. Each syllable has a vowel sound. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' reading, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in reading strategies ESL students need to learn: Understanding syllables is vital for new ELL readers. Learning to break down words into pieces will help with both reading and spelling. Using the name of people who are familiar to the ELL students will help them understand the concept of syllables easier, which will aid as they bridge over to harder words they find in their reading.
Fetch It! Student Age(s): upper elementary through adult Student Level(s): Advanced Beginner- Intermediate/Advanced Skill(s) being practiced: Reading skills and following directions, team building What you need: two boxes with identical items of odds and ends (such as spoons, feathers, stuffed animals, etc.), chalkboard or an overhead projector (something that allows you to write out directions for the students) What you do: 1. Divide the class in half and form two teams. These teams should be of mixed ability level. 2. Explain that you will give them written directions and that they must take turns reading the directions and completing the actions. 3. Give teams one direction at a time. An example would be "Go to the box. Pick up the spoon and give it to the teacher." For more advanced students you could say, "Dance to the white table, and find the spoon. Place the spoon on your nose, oink like a pig, and sprint back to your team." If a team member can't understand the reading directions, then other team members can help them out. 4. Give a "buzz" for any failed actions, sending that student back to his/her team, and a "ding-ding-ding" for correct accomplishment. The number of tasks involved determines the points awarded. The team with the most points is the winner. What this accomplishes in regards to what ESL students know about vocabulary, what objectives there are for learning vocabulary and the vocabulary skills and strategies students need to know: This activity encourages kids to learn and teach each other as a team. It helps them practice their reading skills and following directions. You can make the directions based on the vocabulary the students are learning which will help them practice the reading and applying the vocabulary words.
Activity: Puzzle Piece Reading Student Age: Elementary to Adult Student Level: Beginner to Intermediate What you need: multiple photocopies of a selected reading, scissors, corkboard or magnetized surface w/ magnets (optional) What you do: 1. Select a portion of a level-appropriate reading for the students. Make copies and cut those copies apart into segments of sentences. Generally, the number of segments will be dependent on the level of the students. 2. Before presenting the mixed segments to the students, depending on how easy or difficult you want to make it, you may choose to review with them what the subject or background of the reading is so that they aren't going into it completely blind. 3. Give them, either individually or in groups, the mixed sentences. Ask them to put the segments in the correct order, you may choose to time it or not, again, depending on how hard you want to make it. 4. If you choose, you may ask them to come tack their segments onto a corkboard/bulletin board and review them together that way (same principle with the magnetic surface and magnets) or you may simply ask them to do it at their desks or tables. 5. Go over it together and review what the right order is and why, highlighting context clues to look for to make it easier to figure out the order. ESL Value: This activity helps students to look for important context clues when it comes to identifying the structure or cohesion of a body of writing. It may help them identify supporting examples for a main point, or clues as to how tense or transition words/phrases help to indicate order and flow. If they are able to understand and notice these when they read, they can even use it to carry over into their writing assignments as well.
Reading Activity: Writing Journals Purpose: To give students a chance to practice their reading comprehension and content subjects. Student Age: Middle school Student Level: Intermediate Materials Needed: Notebook, pens or pencils, maybe a computer. What to do: The students will journal everyday about their day. They can write whatever they want- what they learned, what they're excited for, what their worries may be, etc. The students will proof read their writing, and turn it into the teacher at the end of the day. The teacher will give completion grades, and may help with grammar corrections or sentence fluency. To create some interest and fun activities, the teacher can implement themes or topics to write about, maybe short stories, "would you rather" questions, "if you were stuck on an island and you could only have three items" questions, etc. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' writing, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in writing, and writing strategies ESL students need to learn: The activity pairs content information with reading comprehension. Students must be able to write in complete thoughts and sentences, but the assignment has no strict guidelines. The students can go any direction they chose. The objective is for the students to gain experience and fluency in formal and informal writings, which can be controlled by the teacher's journal tasks.
Reading Activity: Think Aloud Student Level: Intermediate to Advanced Purpose: Practice reading by thinking aloud as you read a text. Student Age: 4 -12 Materials Needed: A text appropriate for the student. What to do: Choose a book or short story or another text that is appropriate to the grade level, subject, and reading level of the students you are teaching. For younger students it can be a picture book, for older students it can be a short story, or it can be a informational text. Explain to the class what a think aloud is. It is saying all your thoughts, questions, comments, etc out loud as you read a text. Model a think aloud for your students as you read a portion of the text. Allow your students to ask any questions to help them better understand what is expected from a think aloud. Break the students into pairs. It might be best to pair students with someone they are comfortable reading out loud with. In these pairs, the students will practice their think aloud over the next two portions of the text. So, the teacher reads the first portion to model the think aloud, one student in each pair will read the second portion "think aloud style" to their partner, and the second student will read the third portion of the text "think aloud style" to their partner. Be sure to explain what the portions of the text are, so when this part of the activity is done, everyone will have read the same amount of the text. Gather the whole class together to continue reading the text think aloud style". Allow students to volunteer to think aloud as they feel comfortable. But try to encourage everyone to read at least once. You, as the teacher, may want to read now and then to keep the pace going and offer more modeling for think aloud (especially if the class has never done it before). Once you are finished with the text, choose an activity that is appropriate to your learning goals. You may want to discuss what the students did or did not like about the think aloud. You may want to identify the key points of the text after the think aloud. You may want to complete a plot diagram. You may want the students to share the questions or thoughts they shared during the think aloud that were or were not answered by the text. Follow the think aloud with a short discussion based on the learning goals you have. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' listening, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in listening, and listening strategies ESL students need to learn: Research: Think alouds are a great comprehension tool to help students understand what they are reading at a deeper level. In think alouds, the students have a chance to state their opinions about the writing, ask questions, make predictions, and so much more. For ELLs, the chance to read outlook and think out loud about it will help them understand the text more and work interactively with a text in their sec on language. They may be able to point out more clearly what words or concepts they do not know or understand. Objectives: The students need to know more of the vocabulary from the text. The students need to know how to read in the language of the text. The students need to know our to pronounce most of the words from the text. The students need to have freedom in interacting with the text! Strategies: The students need to take advantage of the practice time with a partner in order to get a feel of a think aloud. The students also need to take advantage of the opportunity to really think out loud (literally say all their thoughts out loud) in order to gain the most from their interaction with the text.
Activity: Janken Slap Student Age: All ages with different flashcards Student Level: Beginner to Intermediate Skills being practiced: Students are learning vocabulary What you need: Flashcards with words written on them. Instructions: 1. Get into groups of two and give each group a set of flashcards 2. Place two flashcards on the table or floor and label them 1 and 2 3. Explain to students that they will shoot rock-paper-scissors (ie Janken in Japanese) 4. Have students shoot a fist or 1 finger instead of rock, paper, and scissors 5. Students add up the fingers and try to slap the flashcard with that number 1. Flashcard #1 for one finger, #2 for two fingers, and so on 2. Do it again if everyone shoots fists 6. Whoever slaps the correct card first gets a point if they say the word or sentence on the card out loud Variations: Use one flash card for each person in the group 2 for pairs, 3 for groups of three, and 4 for groups of four You can use alphabet letters for younger children and more advanced grammar structures, such as past tense, 10-word sentences, etc. for students of a higher level What this accomplishes in regards to what ESL students know about vocabulary, what objectives there are for learning vocabulary and the vocabulary skills and strategies students need to know: Students are learning the pronunciation of words and sentences and even having some practice on the way sentences flow and try to say them without being choppy. Hopefully this would be a review game and the students would already know the words but are just working on recognizing them and pronouncing them.
Sentence Jumble! Student Age: Upper elementary to adult Student Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Skills being practiced: Students are learning vocabulary, the meanings of them and how to use them in context. They are then going a step above and forming separate words into sentences. What you need: Sentences cut into pieces by their words and then placed in envelopes. Students will need their journals to write in. What you do: Preparation: 1. Make a series of sentences, three more than the number of teams in your class 2. Print the sentences in large text 3. Cut each sentence into separate words 4. Put each sentence into its separate envelopes 5. Number each envelope with a marker Instructions: 1. Diving the class into pairs or small groups 2. Give each team one envelope 3. Students arrange the words into a correct sentence, copy it into their notebooks, and put words back into envelope 4. When finished, students say the sentence, show their notebooks, and bring their envelope to the teacher 5. If sentence is not correct, they go back and fix the error 6. If sentence is correct, they can swap their envelope for a new one with a different sentence 7. The first team to unscramble all of the sentences is the winner Variations: Use easy sentences for less advanced students Use more complex sentences for more advanced students What this accomplishes in regards to what ESL students know about vocabulary, what objectives there are for learning vocabulary and the vocabulary skills and strategies students need to know: This requires ESL students to take the vocabulary that they know and recognize and go a step above to place the words into a sentence. As a teacher you need to be aware that there are major differences in cultural views of reading. So, they may draw on their own world knowledge to form sentences. They need to be able to identify words and know how to form them into a sentence whether it be simple or complex. They will need to follow the subject, verb, direct object form of making sentences. This activity will show you the extent of their knowledge of sentence structure and reading.
Very Simple Vocabulary Review Competition Student Age(s): upper elementary through adult Student Level(s): intermediate to advanced Skill(s) being practiced: vocabulary recall and understanding; connecting L2 vocabulary words to other L2 words in the students' mental "dictionaries" What you need: a list of the week's assigned vocabulary, a chalkboard or whiteboard, two pieces of chalk or dry erase markers. What you do: 1. Divide the board in half. On each side of the board, write the list of assigned vocabulary words in a list form, with some space in between for the students to write English definitions. Preferably write the words in a different order (this will be explained below). If you are preparing this activity while the students are busy doing something else, pull down the media screen (if you have one) in front of the board so that the students cannot see what is written there (and will not have been paying attention while they were busy working on something else). 2. Divide the class in half. You can designate one side as "Team A" and the other as "Team B," or you can have girls go against boys, or whatever division will promote the most friendly competition and makes the most sense given the demographics of your class. 3. Explain that you have written the assigned vocabulary words on the board and that the teams will each send someone forward to write the definitions (with verbal help from teammates). The team that has all the definitions filled in first wins! If a team has written a wrong definition, quietly point that out so that the team has the opportunity to correct their mistake before the race is over. 4. Have each team choose a representative to go forward, raise the screen, and ready-set-go! Teammates call out help to the people writing as they fill in the L2 definitions to the L2 words. (If the words are listed in a different order, it will keep teams from simply looking over to the other team's side of the board and copying what they see there, at least to some degree.) 5. After the excitement has died down over the fact that one team has won, and team representatives have gone to their seats, review what the teams have written out loud with the whole class, clarifying any vocabulary concepts that were particularly difficult. What this accomplishes in regards to what ESL students know about vocabulary, what objectives there are for learning vocabulary, and the vocabulary skills and strategies students need to know: When students reach an intermediate level of English, they need to begin acquiring vocabulary in different registers (formal vs. informal, social vs. academic, etc.). This short exercise encourages them to link words of different registers that have the same meanings (for example, "lucid" and "clear"). This strategy is a good one for them as they learn vocabulary words on their own, making mental connections between words in their English "mental dictionaries."
Activity- Simon Says Purpose- Give the students an opportunity to listen to different commands and follow the commands Student Age- Prek- Adult (just vary the commands for different ages) Student Level- Beginning- Advanced (vary the commands for student levels) Materials Needed- Prizes to award to the students - What is needed for your different commands such as backpacks/ chairs Procedure1. The teacher will be the leader which is who is saying the commands. 2. The students will start with saying one command at a time. (She will say Simon says) 3. The students will follow the commands of the teacher only if the teacher says Simon says. If the teacher doesn't say Simon says they do not follow the command. 4. Then the teacher is going to make the commands more difficult by giving more than one command. 5. The students will follow all of the commands that the teacher says if the teacher says Simon says 6. Finally the teacher will give the students small prizes for their jobs well done. 7. In addition the teacher could have a student be the leader. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' listening, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in listening, and listening strategies ESL students need to learn: This activity has the students following different commands that they will encounter in life which makes it authentic. In addition it requires the students to listen carefully because they have to make sure that the teacher says Simon says. Also, this activity can be as long as needs to be and can vary based on the students. I like that this activity allows to students observe others if they do not understand something. Finally the students are required to know what the teacher says, understand it and follow what is said.
Speaking Activity- Find someone who... (likes or dislikes) Purpose- Students get to know each other and practice speaking about likes and dislikes Student Age- K-Adult Student Level- High beginner Materials Needed- Piece of paper for each student - Pencil for each student Process1. We will start with having a class discussion about all the different ways you can dislike or like something such as loving it, hating it, just not liking it, disliking it, liking it and just liking it. In addition we will talk about ways to form these sentences. Also, we will talk about enjoying something and how you would form that type of sentence. 2. As a class we will brainstorm different types of questions the students can ask other students. 3. Students will pick their questions and write them on their piece of paper. 4. Then the students will go around the class ask different questions to different students. As they are learning the answers to the questions the students will be taking notes for the class discussion. 5. As the students are going around doing their thing, I will going around and interacting with them and taking notes on what difficulties we need to address. 6. Finally after all students have had time to ask at least five different students questions we will get back together as a class and discuss what we learned about each other. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' speaking, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in speaking, and speaking strategies ESL students need to learn: This activity helps getting the students comfortable with each other in the classroom hopefully make them feel good about being in the classroom. In addition the students are practicing authentically because these would be questions they would ask someone when they were getting to know them. Finally I am not correcting what my students are saying wrong but instead I will readdress what they are doing wrong to the whole class after the activity.
Game Show! Speaking Activity: Game Show Student Age: Junior High Student Level: Beginner to Intermediate Materials Needed: List of Question pertaining to content area, Mini basketball, and a Empty Trash Can What to do: 1. Split the class into two teams of equal size. 2. Each team will send one person to the front of the class, the students will stand on either side of a desk, and a small basketball will be sitting on the desk in the middle. 3. Once a question is read the first person to grab the ball off the desk must answer the question. 4. If the student is correct they get one point. 5. If the student would like to shoot the basketball into the trashcan they can. 6. If the basket is made the team will receive 4 extra points. But if the ball misses then they lose their one point. 7. Repeat steps until all students have participated and questions are over. How this activity is shaped by what we know of ESL students' speaking, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in speaking, and speaking strategies ESL students need to learners: This interactive game is very fun for students. It involves competition, listening, and most importantly speaking. Students are required to answer questions verbally and this will help in the development of their speaking skills and with their understanding of the content.
Speaking Activity: News Cast Purpose: To get the students talking and also to get the students to "role play" and talk as their character would talk Student Age: High School or College Student: Intermediate to Advanced Preparation: Each student is given a character to play along with some vocabulary that their character uses. Vocabulary words would be words that they already know the meaning of but may be difficult for them to pronounce correctly. Procedure: All the students were on a cruise when, tragically, the hostess was murdered. The murderer is on board the cruise ship. The students are given a list of clues and have to walk around and talk to other students trying to figure out who is the murderer. How this activity is shaped by what we know of ESL students' speaking, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in speaking, and speaking strategies ESL students need to learn: Learners of a second language learn best when they are in conversation. They can hear different accents and they can practice how to say certain trouble words or practice conversational styles. This activity allows them to practice words that they have difficulty pronouncing while in a safe environment. It also allows them to practice different conversational styles as they "role play".
Name of Activity: Mini-dramas Age Level: 4thgrade and up Language Ability Level: Intermediate (can be adjusted for Beginners or Advanced Students) Goals: Students will learn to use in-class vocabulary words in the setting of a dialogue and will interact with one another using those words. Objectives: The students will be able to use recently learned vocabulary words in the setting of a dialogue with 80% accuracy. Purpose: Students will practice using vocabulary words in the context of a dialogue. Research Connection: Having students use vocabulary words in a real-life scenario and context will increase their knowledge of that word and will reinforce the meaning of the word in their minds. Preparation: Come up with 6 different scenarios/contexts in which students can create a 5 minute drama. Arrange students into groups of 3-4 based on ability levels and personality traits. Process: Give students a list of about 20 vocabulary words learned recently in class. Explain that we will be putting together mini-dramas with dialogue that uses at least 10 of the 20 words on the list. Put students into predetermined groups of 3-4 and give each group a scenario/context in which to create their drama. Students have the class time to work on their dramas in their group. The teacher will mill around the class during this time and assist students as well as answer any questions. The students will be given some class time the next day to finish up their dramas, and in the last 30 minutes of class they will present them before the class.
Speaking Activity: Talking Puppets Purpose: To give the students the opportunity to speak their opinions, listen to others speak in their target language, and to respond, all done in an environment where there is no fear or performance pursuers. Student Age: K-12 Student Level: Beginner to Advanced Materials Needed: Very cute, heavy duty puppets, one for each student. What to do: 1. Divide the class into pairs. 2. Introduce each puppet to the class; create beforehand a personality for each puppet. Such as: one puppet loves Justin Bieber and fashion, another likes basket ball, and dreams playing on the jayhawks, etc. create stories that fit your students. 3. To help the students understand the concept of how to use puppets, discuss how they become the puppeteer controlling what the puppet says. You can have the puppets do a little talking with one another. Point out how you have to talk clearly, so others can hear them. 4. Together with your students, create a list of questions that the puppets could ask each other. This question can be light and fun or the questions can be opinions the student puppeteer has to share. Take the lead, if the students are unable to come up with any questions. 5. This activity is very flexibility, the children can take turns asking the puppeteers questions. Or each of the pairs can have their own puppet, so the puppets ask each other questions. Remind them they have to stay in right personality for their puppet. 6. As the teacher guild each pair along the way. 7. Afterwards discuss with the students what were some of the fun things they learned from the questions addressed to the puppet. As well as, just what they gained or liked about the activity. Overcoming the fear to speak thoughts and opinions is a vital skill in becoming a fluent speaker. Many times when learning something new or in a new environment student can get fearful of making mistakes, thus, limiting the times they speak up. Having a puppet to speak through gives the students the extra freedom to get past these fears. Plus giving the students a fun way to express oneself.
Speaking Activity: Restaurant Purpose: to practice ordering food at a restaurant, also practice with answering questions Student Age: K - adult Student Level: Beginner and Intermediate Materials Needed: Menus What to do: First have review vocabulary terms related to food and restaurants, also review unique terms such as a tip, the check, waiter/waitress, and such. Have the students group up into groups of 2-4 and have one student act as the waiter or waitress while the other group members are the customers placing their order. The waiter asks questions such as "What would you like to order?", "Cash or credit?", "Smoking or non-smoking?", "The specials for the day are...", and so on. The other students then respond with their order based on the menu you gave them. You can also have the groups perform their scene in front of the whole class if you would like. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' speaking, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in speaking, and speaking strategies ESL students need to learn: This activity provides realistic practice for ordering at restaurants, something that the ESL students will most likely do eventually. It also helps them practice reading because they must understand the menu in order to place an order. It helps the students practice asking and responding to questions as well.
Speaking activity: Phone a Friend! Purpose: To practice talking to a friend on the phone and to practice holding a brief conversation about interests while properly starting and ending the conversation. Also, talking and interpreting without the use of body language. Student Age: Elementary-adult Student Level: Intermediate/ late beginner Materials Needed: Two phones in two separate rooms What to do: Have one student in a room with the other student in a different room. Have one student call the other student and start a conversation over something they have in common. Have the conversation last about 2-3 minutes and have one student decide to politely end the conversation. Students should practice politeness such as starting off the conversation with "Hello!" and ending it with something along the lines of "I'm sorry, I need to go, but it was nice talking to you" and saying "good-bye." Students in the class will rotate through the two rooms and have the chance to listen to their classmates talk on the phone. This activity may cause some anxiety at first, but students will feel more comfortable after they watch their classmates and talk about common interests. This is also a chance for students to share a piece of their culture. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' speaking, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in speaking, and speaking strategies ESL students need to learn: Talking on the phone to talk to a friend or to ask a question is a common activity Americans do almost every day. Most ESL students are not familiar with the etiquette we use when talking on the phone or the words we use to advance a conversation or end it. Talking politely on the phone is skill that most of society needs to learn and possess. This activity will be a fun way for ESL students practice learned vocabulary, share their interests, and learn how to talk on the phone.
Speaking Activity: Classroom Pictionary Purpose: To guess vocabulary words based on the pictures that other students draw. Student Age: 2nd grade and up Student Level: Beginner and Intermediate Preparation: The teacher creates 4 sets of 5-10 cards in each (depending on how long the game is to go on) with different vocabulary words. The first set is easy vocabulary words like car, sun or basketball. The second set is medium with words like rain or running. The third is hard with words like open, scream, and conversation. The fourth is very difficult with words like surprise, clean and love. Procedure: Spilt the classroom into 4 or 5 groups depending on how big the class size is. A student from the first group comes up and picks a category with easy being 1 point and very difficult being worth 4 points. Once the student picks their category and sees their word, they have 1 minute to draw the picture and have their team guess. The other teams stay quiet. Normal Pictionary rules able like no verbal clues and no writing numbers or letters. Continue going around the room and have each team send up a student and guess the word. To make the game more interesting, you can have the other teams guess what the person was drawing and steal their points. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' speaking, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in speaking, and speaking strategies ESL students need to learn: This activity allows not only ESL students to participate in, but typical students too. ESL students are able to learn the vocabulary words through pictures drawn by their own classmates in a game instead of lecture or homework. This activity provides a fun atmosphere to learn is as well as giving them the opportunity to learn new words.
Speaking Activity: What Do I Sound Like? Purpose: To give students the opportunity to hear what they sound like when speaking their target language. Student Age: K-Adult Student Level: Beginner to Advanced Materials Needed: Computer with voice recording capabilities or voice recorder Speaking prompt/question to answer What to do: This activity is very flexible in terms of the way it can be used. One way in which I recommend this activity to be used is by giving the student a question related to the vocabulary and grammar presented in the unit they are studying. The question could be something like: If you had to describe yourself to someone you had never met, what would you say? Then, the student would record their answer to the question. Afterwards, they will listen to their recording and see where they can improve. Students could then reflect either through writing or verbally to you where they made mistakes. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' listening, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in listening, and listening strategies ESL students need to learn: Sometimes the best way for a student to learn is through their mistakes. By having the students record their answer and then play it back to themselves they can hear where they made their mistakes in speech and then hopefully learn from it.
Name of Activity: Create the Scene Age Level: 12-> Adult Language Ability Level: Beginner -> Advanced Goals: Students will learn to use set vocabulary taught in class and be able to use them appropriately within the context of the situation they exist in. Objectives: - Students will identify 80% of terms correctly - Students will use 70% of the terms within the correct context and sentence structure learned up to this point Purpose: Students will practice using dialogue within interesting and appropriate dialogue contexts as well as appropriately using the words being learned. Research Connection: Students creating real-world connections increase the likelihood that the student will retain the information. Practicing using the terminology with other classmates increases the pronunciation fluency and use of the words within real sentences. Preparation: Give each student either A) a disposable camera B) Magazines to browse through C) Paper to draw on as well as utensils to draw with. The tricky part about preparation is catering these drawings/pictures/magazines to reflect the vocabulary you want rather than completely random sets of vocab. Process: Each student receives a way to create/draw a scene using objects that appeared as vocabulary terms (for instance, they create their bedroom or a picture of their house to name the different rooms, etc.) Students are then allowed to create the room in whatever structure they want, but will have to prepare to explain their piece verbally using the dialogue they already know as well as at least 8/15 vocabulary terms given to them (different number of vocabulary can be applied). Students may present these dialogues to the whole class or within small groups depending on the students interests. Extra: This activity allows for students to reflect on the connection between what they have learned and the real life counterparts as well as develop a more natural use of the terminology outside the academic sphere.
Speaking Activity: Travel/Vacation Speaking Activity Purpose: To get the students talking and to learn about other country's culture. Student Age: Middle School students. Student: Intermediate to Advanced Preparation: Each student is asked where they have been in the United States or World. Whether they have lived there or have just visited on vacation. The students are asked to talk with their classmates about a country or culture that they have never experienced before. Procedure: After the student's have learned about a different country or culture other than their own, they present their learnings to the class. How this activity is shaped by what we know of ESL students' speaking, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in speaking, and speaking strategies ESL students need to learners: The students will be interested in this activity and will be able to apply it to their lives. This will be a helpful activity to learn words that are frequently used in other people's culture.
Speaking Activity: Fashion Show Commentary Purpose: Practice speaking by describing the physical appearance of someone. Student Age: K-12 Student Level: Intermediate to Advanced Materials Needed: Students dressed in a variety of clothing that represents many looks and styles. A classroom set up that will serve as a runway What to do: Before doing this activity, teach the students vocabulary that relates to physical appearance, clothing, personality, etc. The students should know how to use these words in spoken sentences and the correction pronunciation. The day before the fashion show, divide the students into pairs. Instruct them that they should prepare two different looks for the fashion show. While one student is wearing their specific look, their partner will be providing a short commentary for the class on what their partner is wearing, other features of their physical appearance, and the personality they are portraying. The commentary should flow smoothly and be long enough to cover the subject but short enough to keep it interesting! The day of the fashion show, allow the students a few minutes to prepare (i.e. put on their looks, practice their commentaries, etc.) Allow the students the opportunity to model for the class and describe their partners appearance through a short commentary. Have fun! Research: ESL students have higher success in speaking when they are provided with lowrisk opportunities to practice the vocabulary they have learned, practice using the vocabulary in speaking, and practice their pronunciation. This activity will be enjoyable for the students at they integrate their personalities into their looks. They will have the chance to practice using descriptors in their speaking, while working on sentence structure, appreciation, grammar, vocabulary, etc. They will also have to practice organizing their thoughts to make the commentary smooth and easy to listen to. Objectives: The students need to be able to know the vocabulary associated with the topic. The students need to know the correct usage of the vocabulary and correct pronunciation. The students need to know how to organize spoken sentences using descriptors. The students need to know how to speak smoothly/fluently without writing out exactly what they will say. Strategies: The students will need to take advantage of the prep time to prepare what they will say during the commentary without writing it word for word. The students will need to organize their commentary in a way they makes sense to them and to the class (head-to-toe for example). The students will need to understand how to alter their speaking depending on the audience and the context.
Speaking Activity: Toilet Paper Ice Breaker Age Level: Primary- Middle Proficiency: Any Level Materials Needed: Roll of toilet paper Objectives: Students will be able to use their developing speaking skills to tell about themselves. Speaking Strategies: Students will need to grammatically craft their sentences to make them understandable. Activity: Teacher takes the roll of toilet paper and takes several squares. He/ she then passes it to a student who is instructed to take more than three squares (you may need to set an upper limit, as well). That student then passes it throughout the class. When everyone has some paper, they count their pieces; this is the number of things they must say about themselves in English. For lower levels, the teacher may want to write some sentence prompts on the board.
Speaking Activity: One Word Story Purpose: It is encouraging students to select appropriate words according to the previous words already said. Student Age: K-12th (The content of the story will just vary in vocabulary.) Student Level: Beginner and Intermediate Preparation Students should be in a circle (if this isn't possible make it clear they know who they are going to follow on from). Procedure The teacher can begin by saying the first word and each student adds the next word, without repeating what has come beforehand. The stories can develop in any number of ways. Some groups may need the teacher to provide punctuation and decide that the sentence should end and a new one should begin. The great thing about this activity is that all students have to concentrate and listen carefully to their colleagues to be able to continue the story coherently. Good starting words are Suddenly or Yesterday to force the story into the past tense. Example: * Teacher Yesterday * Student 1 I * Student 2 saw * Student 3 a * Student 4 strange * Student 5 man * Student 6 who * Student 7 was * Student 8 wearing * Student 9 a * Student 10 hat * Etc. etc. It is great for highlighting word collocations and practicing word order. It also highlights problems students may have with tenses or prepositions for you to focus on in future classes. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' speaking, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in speaking, and speaking strategies ESL students need to learn: This speaking activity focuses more on BICS, Basic Interpersonal Communication skills, then CALP, Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency. This is more of a casual setting where the students can have the story go how they want it to go. This will also help students with word chose, word order, and pronunciation.
Speaking Activity: Picture Information Gap Purpose: to practice using imperatives, prepositions, direction works, adjectives Student Age: K - adult Student Level: Beginner and Intermediate Materials Needed: a set of pictures of scenes (from magazines or your own photo collection!) paper and pencil for each student What to do: Divide the students in the class into pairs. Have students get out paper and pencils. Hand each student a photo, but instruct them not to show it to their partner. Instruct students to tell their partners about the scenes in their photos. As they speak, their partner draws what the person with the photo is describing. The student who is speaking is allowed to "correct" the other student if the drawing is not shaping up to look like the photo. (For example: "The car is more to the right," "The tree is bigger," No, the cat is on the left side of the house.") How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' speaking, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in speaking, and speaking strategies ESL students need to learn: The ability to give (as well as understand) descriptions using adjectives, prepositions, direction words, etc. is an important skill to master, both in the classroom and real life. In this activity, students practice vocabulary, sentence structure, and pronunciation as their partners try to draw what is being described.
Activity: Chain Stories Student Age- Upper-Elementary through Adult Student Level- High beginner through advanced Skills being practiced- Story writing, grammar, hand writing, and vocabulary Materials Needed- Pencil, piece of paper, starting sentences for stories Procedure1. Put students into groups. Size depends on the class size. I would around three per a group. 2. Give each group a starting sentence of a story. 3. Ask the students in the group to write a certain number of sentences. 4. Then have them pass the story to the next group. 5. When the story has made it back to its original group have that group finish up the story. 6. Have each group share their stories with the rest of the class. How this helps ESL students with their writing skills- This activity gives the students the support in writing that they need. - The activity is something that will help make story writing fun. - ESL students will like this activity because they will not have to come up with the topic. Also, the story is already started for them. - With this activity ESL students are learning how to form stories. This means having a beginning, middle and end.
Activity: Tongue Twisters Student Age: all ages Student Level: low intermediate to advanced Skills being practiced: correct word usage, creative writing, and alliteration What to do: PART A 1. Write your full name, including any nicknames you may have: __________________________________________________ 2. Now choose one of the names to use for this activity (names that begin with b, d, l, m, p, s, or t are easiest). __________________________________________________ PART B Now students work in groups of three. Dictionaries are okay! Students: Pass your paper to the person on your right. Write one answer for number (3) for the paper you just received. Your answer must begin with the first sound in the person's name (e.g. Mary - made a mess, married a monkey). Then pass the paper again and write an answer for (4), again using the same sound that begins the name. Continue doing this until all the blanks on all the papers are full. You should have lots of different answers from all the people in your group when your paper comes back to you! 3. What did s/he do? _________________________________________________________ 4. Where? _________________________________________________________________ 5. When? _________________________________________________________________ 6. Why? because ___________________________________ because ___________________________________ because ___________________________________ PART C Now use your paper to make funny tongue twister combinations. How many can you create? Which one is the funniest? Another option: students put together the tongue twisters for each other. Example: Wanda the witch washed her wig on a windy Wednesday, so Wanda's wig blew away in the wind. Moral: Witches who wash wigs on windy Wednesdays are whacko!!! What this accomplishes in regards to what ELL students know about writing, what objectives there are for learning writing skills, and the writing skills and strategies students need to know: First off, this is just a fun activity to do which will motivate the students to participate and hopefully learn some new words. ELL students need to learn the correct structure of a sentence. This activity helps them learn this by giving the different answers they have to answer (#3,4,5,6). Also, this activity helps the student with thinking of words they may already know (activating prior knowledge) and encourages the use of dictionaries, which they would have to know how to use beforehand.
Reading Activity: Homophone Pairs Purpose: To introduce students to homophones Student Age: K-2nd grade. Student Level: Beginner Writers Materials Needed: 1. Homophone Pairs: sail-sale, hair-hare, mail-male, night-knight, flower-flour, sea-see, maidmade, pair-pears, great-grate, blew-blue, be-bee, sun-son, won-one, by-buy, new-knew, meet-meat..... 2. For each word, a pear shape outline, 2 pears for each homophone set. What to do: 1. Students cut out two pear shapes for each set of homophones. 2. Students write the homophone's name on the pear and write a sentence using the homophone to help they remember the word's meaning and spelling. Great - It was a great day for all. Grate - the grate help the wood securely. 3. Students can add a little picture to help remember the meaning as well. 4. Students do this for every word in the homophone set. 5. Create a cover in the shape of a pear; call it Pairs of Homophones. Or something like that. 6. Create a last page with, Who knew we could learn so many new words! 7. Punch a hole on the side of each pear and make sure the students pair up the homophones sets when they put their booklet together. 8. Creative writing time: On the back side of each pair of homophones have the students write a story using that set of homophones. One homophone set a day. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' writing, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in writing strategies ESL students need to learn: Creative writing time is a vital for the young writer. It is a place to express thoughts, remember events and begin processing ideas. Using homophones correctly is an important in the ELL student's writings as well. This little booklet can be added to throughout the year as the students learn more and more homophones set. The students can refer back to the little booklet as needed, creating a reference book of the students to use easily.
Bubbly Funky Wordy Stories Student Age: Any Student Level: Beginning to Low Intermediate Skills Being Practiced: Adjectives, Verbs, and Synonym recognition and practice What You Need: Paper, Pencil, Crayons, and Markers, a thesaurus or dictionary for more advanced students. What You Do: Pick a theme, such as animals or weather. The students then write simple sentences using verbs and adjectives. Whenever the student uses a verb or an adjective, the student draws out the word. For example if the word "scary" is used, the student could draw out the letters with jagged edges and dark colors, or if the word is "walk", the student could draw shoes underneath the word. For more advanced learners, have students come up with synonyms for their verbs and adjectives and draw pictures for those words as well. Using this technique, students can create a dialogue or story that is nicely decorated. What this accomplishes in regards to what ESL students know about writing, what objectives there are for learning writing skills, and the writing skills and strategies students need to know: This helps students learn adjectives and verbs, as well as synonyms for both. Drawing the word out will help students remember the meaning of the word much better than just simply writing it out. This also helps students practice writing sentences too.
Activity: Rhyming Student Age: Elementary to Adult Student Level: Beginner to Early Intermediate What you need: rhyming worksheets What you do: Present your students with a worksheet about rhyming. This worksheet should provide a word, a blank for a different word that would match and then a clue for that word. For example, look at these problems, taken from the following url: http://esl.fis.edu/learners/writing/colors/green04.htm 1. cat hat (you wear it on your head) 2. mad ????? (short name for father) 3. late ????? (the opposite of love) 4. yard ????? (not easy) 5. house ????? (a tiny animal) 6. book ????? (what you do with your eyes) 7. ball ????? (part of a house) 8. tree ????? (doesn't cost anything) 9. grows ????? (you smell with it) 10. meat ????? (on the end of your legs) 11. night ????? (you do this with a pen) 12. rule ????? (where you are now) Ask the students to fill in the missing words alone or with a partner and then go over them together in class. Then, provide a blank space on the bottom of the paper and ask the students to make up any number of their own rhyming words in the same format (maybe ask for 3 or 5 or however many they'd like to do) ESL Value: This activity is valuable for those who are still trying to develop their vocabulary, practice their handwriting, or gain some experience in describing things using phrases or sentences. Rhyming is fun, is sounds nice and provides them with an effective way to develop and remember vocabulary terms.
Do You See What I See? Student Age: Elementary-adult Student Level: Beginner - advanced Skills being practiced: 6+1 Traits of Good Writing, vocabulary, creativity What You Need: Picture books with the words covered up on each page so all students can see is the picture What to do: Pass out picture books with the words covered up to each student. Students will then work individually on creating their own story through the use of the pictures on the book. They will use the pictures to create a new story. They will write on their own separate sheet of notebook paper so that the books can be reused for other activities. After students are finished writing, which may be towards the end of the period or the next class session, the students can tell their own story to the rest of the class. What this accomplishes in regards to what ELL students know about writing, what objectives there are for learning writing skills, and the writing skills and strategies students need to know: This will be low-anxiety activity to allow students to make use of vocabulary while constructing fluent sentences that correspond with the pictures that they are using. Students can make as simple or complex sentences as their level of learning allows. Students will practice the 6+1 traits of good writing, which includes the use of ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentations. Students can also practice their reading and speaking skills as they read and present their story to the class.
Writing Activity: Describing My Favorite Room Purpose: Practice writing by describing your favorite room through descriptive writing. Student Age: 5 -12 Student Level: Intermediate to Advanced Materials Needed: Descriptive writing sample, Thesauruses, Paper and pencils, Computers if you would like to use the provided links What to do: After teaching the students about adjectives and the basic format of descriptive writing, read a sample of descriptive writing to the class. Explain how descriptive writing creates an image in the readers mind so they can picture exactly what was written about. The students will have the opportunity to pick their favorite room in their house/apartment to describe to the class through descriptive writing. The length of the writing will depend on the grade level and writing level of the students. Younger students will probably only be able to write a paragraph. Older students may be able to write a full essay. Begin the writing process by having each student create a mind map about their favorite room. The mind map should include things like the colors of the room, what is in the room, which is in the room, what the room is used for, etc. A great mind mapping tool is http://www.spiderscribe.net/. OR Begin the writing process by having the students begin a free write about what they see in the room. A free write is when the students write for a specified amount of time without stopping. Mistakes do not matter, as long as the students keep writing. After the initial brainstorming activity, have the students circle what they would use for their descriptive writing. Now the students can begin a rough draft of their descriptive writing. After the rough draft, have each students underline each adjective and choose which ones can be changed to something more original, more descriptive, or more interesting. The students should be directed to Thesauruses to help them find synonyms to their descriptors. http://thesaurus.com/ The final copy should include these new descriptors and any other changes that are necessary. The focus of the writing should be description, not necessarily organization, voice, or other writing mechanics. Depending on the grade level and writing level of the students, other writing mechanics may be added. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' writing, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in writing, and writing strategies ESL students need to learn: Research: Since ELL writers do less planning for their writing, this method includes the planning phase to help them practice the pre-writing stage that will help them create a better writing sample. Also, since ELL writers use less word choice, this method helps them vary their descriptors to make their writing more interesting. Objectives: The students need to know the vocabulary associated with the room they are writing about. This activity may prompt them to learn the proper vocabulary, thus expanding their word base. The students also need to know how to write in the English language (the alphabet, sentence structure, etc.). The students should also know what adjectives are and how to use them to describe something. The students need to know paragraph or essay format and structure. The students should also know spelling and grammar so those do not hinder their descriptive writing. Strategies: The students will need to be able to plan according to their writing and evaluate their writing in order to make it better (i.e. more descriptive). The students may need to know how to use a thesaurus to look up alternatives to their descriptors.
Activity: Write now Student Age: All ages Student Level: Beginner to Intermediate Skills being practiced: Students are using the vocabulary they know along with using context clues to think of words that fit in the sentences. What you need: Paper and some sentences with blanks. Instructions 1. Break students into teams 2. Each team will select a student to be the writer 3. The teacher writes a sentence on the board with a blank in it, such as "I like ___." 4. Each team must fill in the blank with as many English words as possible in one minute 5. Have teams turn in their papers and mark the correct answers 6. Explain the incorrect ones. 7. The team with the most correct answers wins 8. Have teams change writers, write a new sentence, and play again Notes Make sentences structures that allow students to practice grammar structures they are learning, such as countable and uncountable nouns. Students get pretty loud shouting out answers to their writers so be sure to close the doors and windows What this accomplishes in regards to what ESL students know about writing, what objectives there are for learning writing skills, and the writing skills and strategies students need to know: Students are not only improving their writing skills they are also working on expanding their vocabulary because they are constantly learning words that will fit in the blanks. Also with the idea of writing they have to keep the idea of proper tenses of the words and different forms they may have to use.
Teaching writing skills! Student age: Middle level-High school Student level: Intermediate
Skills being practiced: Process writing, place sentences and verbs in an order that makes sense. Also, they are making sure that the sentences have flow and are structured. What you need: A story cut into strips so that it is scrambled. Students will also have their own paper. What do you do? You, the teacher, will take the different strips of paper and place them at various spots around the room. Students will be placed in pairs, designating one as the writer and one as the reader. The reader will go to the strip, read a portion and come back to tell the writer. This will continue for a while. Then, you the teacher will say stop and switch! After this is over, the students will put the story or passage in order. Finally, you will walk around and check to make sure that they are correct; circling things that are incorrect or need to be modified. At this point you can also teach them about why a certain spot needs corrections. What this accomplishes in regards to what ESL students know about writing, what objectives there are for learning writing skills, and the writing skills and strategies students need to know: This tests their reading which is a crucial part of understanding writing. As they are trying to put it in the correct order, it is testing their understanding of grammar, flow, organization and style. These are all essential parts that good writing requires. Also, when they have the different pieces of the story, they may begin to look into the context of the other phrases or words and determine from there the order of the story or passage. They may become creative with it which can be fun.
Cartoon Strips with Fill-in-the Bubbles Student Age(s): upper elementary through adult Student Level(s): beginner Skill(s) being practiced: vocabulary, handwriting, grammar What you need: a set of cartoon strips which you have photocopied (with the speech in the speech bubbles whited out), or a set of cartoons that come ready-made without anything in the speech bubbles (See http://www.classicalcomics.com/education/freedownloads.html for comics with Shakespearean themes with empty speech bubbles, or http://mspaforums.com/showthread.php?34226-The-quot-Fill-the-blank-comic-quot-thread. for a new comic with empty bubbles every day) What you do: 1. Decide if you want students to work singly or in pairs. 2. Hand each student or student pair a comic strip copy. You could use the same comic strip for everyone in the class, or you could give each student or pair a different comic strip. 3. Direct students to use their imaginations to fill in the speech bubbles. Help them out with vocabulary or grammar as needed. 4. Display or highlight the finished products so that everyone can enjoy the humor and creativity! What this accomplishes in regards to what ESL students know about writing, what objectives there are for learning writing skills, and the writing skills and strategies students need to know: Beginning students are often reluctant to write in English because it is so difficult! By providing them with this fun and short opportunity to practice writing English, you are giving them a chance to use English writing to create something that is relevant to them and, at the same time, helping them to practice handwriting (other students need to be able to read it, right?) and word choice and grammar (other students need to be able to understand the humor, right?)
Writing Activity: Running Dictation Purpose: For students to practice writing complete sentences and reading the sentences Student Age: Depends on the complexity of the story and sentences Student Level: Beginner to Intermediate Materials Needed: Sentence strips, paper, pencil What to do: Students will pair up in groups of two (I will group them together based on readiness) and pick one of them to be the reader and the other to be the writer. Different sentence strips will be spread out around the room. The reader will go to the sentence strip and read it to himself and then go back to his partner and tell him what the sentences says while the writer writes it down. When all groups are about halfway through, they will switch task and the writer will become the reader and the reader will become the writer. Once they have all the sentence strips written down, they will put the story in order and we will then discuss it as a class. How this activity is shaped by what we know about ESL students' writing, the objectives ESL students need to accomplish in writing, and writing strategies ESL students need to learn: This activity is a great way for each student to practice his or her writing and reading skills through a fun and interactive activity. Each student will get to be the reader and have to read and memorize the sentence to go back and tell to their partner the writer. The writer will have to practice spelling and grammar when writing the sentence. Once they have read and written all the sentence strips, they will both work together to put the story in order which is a great way to talk and discuss organization and structure of the story.

ESL Activities: Reading Writing Speaking Listening

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Reading Writing Speaking Listening

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