Check out the top icebreakers and ESL activities for first day of class that will get your students talking and getting to know each other.
Let's face it, when planning weekly lessons, having a few "go-to" activities on deck can make the task of planning much easier. These are not just "fillers," but tried and true activities that are meaningful, fun and effective at building language. Here are three weekly language building activities that do NOT require planning time. 1- Weekend Update/Weekend Plans This is an awesome activity for beginning and intermediate English learners to build speaking and writing skills. Weekend Update (WU) is usually a Monday activity, and Weekend Plans (WP), a Friday activity. For my beginners, who I see everyday, I do both. For some of my groups, who I meet with only a few times a week, I'll pick one or the other. Weekend Update - I want to know what my students did over the weekend, and I want them to practice oral language using past tense verbs. Once I ask the question, "What did you do this past weekend?" or "What did you do over the weekend?" students take turns answering the question. I provide a sentence starter for my beginners. Then, I repeat their sentence back to them using correct grammar, and help with any basic vocabulary, as needed. Next, I write their sentence on the board. Lastly, they copy their sentence into their notebook. I like to write each student's response in a different color marker so that they can easily distinguish between the sentences on the board. Depending on a student's level of language proficiency, I might ask clarifying questions in order to get a few more details from him or her. I want to push them to use more language, if they are able. Weekend Plans - It's the same concept as Weekend Update, but with this activity I want to know what plans they have for the weekend, or what is something they would like to do over the weekend. I also want them to practice oral language using future tense. So the process is the same as WU, just done towards the end of the week, usually on Thursday or Friday. My students really love this activity; and I'd better not forget to put it in my plans, otherwise they WILL let me know! So as a warm up activity or a closing activity, simply write WU or WP in your plan book and know that 7-10 minutes is going to be this fun and engaging weekly activity. *As my students' language skills progress, I like to find ways to challenge them. For example, after everyone has shared their update or plans, I'll ask students to tell me what one of their classmates did over the weekend, or what one of their classmates plan is for the weekend. NOW we are practicing listening and reading skills PLUS using appropriate pronouns! There are lots of ways to modify this activity to either simplify or to challenge students! As a bonus, this activity is a great way to build relationships. You get to know your students better, and as you share things about your weekends, they get to know you too:) 2- Restate the Question Students need to be able to restate a question, or a prompt, when responding either orally or in writing. This is especially important for their annual language assessments (WIDA ACCESS). For this activity, the objective is put the question in the answer. This will require some modeling at first. Once a week, I incorporate a 10 minute Restate the Question (RQ) activity into my weekly plans. I change it up from time to time, so that students stay engaged. (For groups that I see less often, it may be a quick 5 minute activity.) Here are a few examples of how I incorporate it. Oral Activity- I use activity cards. I place the cards in the middle of the table, and either I'll pick up and read the question, or I'll have them do it. Then, they take turns responding to their card, being sure to restate the question or prompt in their responses. My students love this activity too! When it's time to put away the cards, they often ask to "play" a little longer. Writing Activity - Give students a question or prompt, either printed out or written on the board. If printed out, I have my students glue it into their notebooks. Then have them respond in writing. Afterwards, I ask students to share their responses. This is a designated weekly activity when we purposefully focus on building this skill, however, this skill is informally practiced throughout the week. Click HERE for "Restate the Question" cards. What if students don't yet have enough language? Start with very basic questions. What's your name? My name is _______. Do you like pizza? Yes, I like pizza. Or... No, I do not like pizza. How old are you? I am ____ years old. Where are you from? I am from _____. Using sentence frames is another great way to give beginners the practice they need. For example: Question: What is the problem in the story? Sentence Frame: The problem in the story is _________________. Question: What did the story remind you of? Sentence Frame: The story reminded me of __________________. Restating the question is an important skill. This past year I made time for it in my weekly plans and I saw great progress with my students. 3- Daily Language Review I use this resource a lot with my beginners and intermediate level students. It's a daily activity, most days, so I know that 5 minutes will include this "warm-up" style activity. Although there is no planning involved, there is some printing. But that's OK. I spend 15 minutes a week printing out what I need, then I cut and staple. That's it! I'm ready for the week! The student pages are a half page booklet with 5 days worth of activities, usually only about 4 or 5 short questions per day. Since my students are learning the basic concepts of English grammar, writing mechanics and spelling, we do this activity together. We walk through it as a group and we talk about it. I often use it as a jumping off point for skills that need more attention. I can either go more in depth right then, or take note that I need a lesson on a particular skill for a future lesson. It has a little bit of everything, and it helps to expose my students to many of the skills they'll need as their English progresses. As the year goes on, I may have them do parts of it by themselves, like "Fix the Sentence" before going over it whole group, but for the most part this activity is heavily supported by the teacher. Full disclosure, I don't get to this everyday. If we have a lot to do in other areas, this might get pushed to the side, but students will often ask me if they can try to do it on their own in their general education classroom. Of course I say YES!!! I love it when they ask me that question! *********************************************** My students enjoy all three of these activities, they really do. I can honestly say that each one has proven to be fun, engaging and effective in building my students' language skills. These are my go-to weekly activities that I do not need to plan for; and you can bet that they will be in my lesson plan book. I simply write WU, WP, RQ and DLR on the days, and for the groups, that I want them, and that's it! It makes planning out my whole week, for all of my groups, much easier. (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
Check out the top picks for ESL Time Filler games and activities. Kill some time in English class with these fun activities.
Check out the following ESL lesson plans and lesson plan templates to get your teaching on in style! It's English teaching made easy!
This 3rd part of ESL ideas (view other parts of the series here: part 1, part 2) features 7 more quick but powerful tips. Some of them will will definitely come in handy one day. Who kn
10 fun and educational ESL activities for busy teachers! Try these games and activities in your classroom (or virtual classroom) today!
A collections of ESL worksheets to teach directions / giving directions in English. Download and use in class today!
Check out the following ESL lesson plans and lesson plan templates to get your teaching on in style! It's English teaching made easy!
Check out our top picks for ESL pronunciation games and activities to help students work on and improve their English speaking skills.
A worksheet for practising telling the time in English (part two) - ESL worksheets
What are your methods for teaching vocabulary? Drills? Flashcards? Yuck! Boring! While these can certainly be effective, they can be a quick way to lose your student’s attention if you spend too much…
Beat the overwhelm of teaching an absolute beginner with this downloadable checklist
A list of ESL websites that have plenty of activities, teaching strategies, worksheets, templates, lesson plans and articles which will help in your work.
100+ Printable board games and templates for kids and beginner ESL students. Download and use in class today!
Learn three simple things you need to teach your ESL beginners right away. These include variations of introductions, classroom surroundings and basic needs
In this worksheet there is a crossword. There is also an activity where the students read and follow the instructions (Ex. Colour the t-shirt red) For lower level students you can read out the instructions instead. - ESL worksheets
Why are there so many insecurities as a language learner? How to change it? Here are 25 qualities of good language learners and what to do.
Improve your second language teaching skills by avoiding mistakes such as talking to much, echoing, sentence completion, and unclear instructions. Follow @tesolAmerican TESOL
Download these free ESL vocabulary quizzes to print and use in your classroom.
Fun and engaging ESL activities, games and worksheets in printable PDF format with full teacher's notes and answers for English teachers to use in class.
The classical survival game about ten shipwrecked people: Two of them must leave the lifeboat within 30 minutes, or the ship will sink. The ws contains ten role play cards and a ws to justify the decision who will live or die. - ESL worksheets
The following game will help your students practise or revise the usage of "have/has got" structure. Students draw the ships on their boards and then they start ´shooting´ trying to quess where the partner´s ships are. Hope they like it! - ESL worksheets
A set of cards to practice have got/has got in questions and short answers for your students. They work in pairs or groups and interview each other. They will help your students develop their speaking skills. - ESL worksheets
Made for a lesson from Touchstone 3, Unit 8. The phrases need to be cut out and then distributed to the students. If they aren't familiar with the second conditional yet, the beginning of the answer "I would [infinitive] ..." could be written on the board. Can be used as an ice-breaker or as an introductory exercise. - ESL worksheets
Fun and engaging ESL activities, games and worksheets in printable PDF format with full teacher's notes and answers for English teachers to use in class.
RELATIVE CLAUSE WHO, WHICH AND THAT BOARD GAME. You can write the answers on the board or just say it if you want. Can be played by two or three students! Have Fun! - ESL worksheets
A series of exercises.Have a nice weekend!! - ESL worksheets
Six exercises for practicing can, could, will be able to. Key is included. Thank you!! - ESL worksheets
A sheet for young learners to practise the demonstrative pronouns. - ESL worksheets
Fifteen sentences for practicing correction of mistakes. Key is included. Thank you!!!! - ESL worksheets
This is a fun animals exercise for beginner ESL students focusing on the verb can and can't.
A collection of ESL worksheets to teach past tense verbs and sentences to English language learners.
Perfect for warm-up or lead-in. Nice-looking cards with not trivial questions and some pictures to stimulate the imagination and help with the answers.
An explanation of how to pronounce the letter S at the end of words in English including a summary chart.
