Get some helpful ideas on how to decorate your ESL classroom. Check out the top 5 classroom decoration ideas to work on with your students!
How to decorate an ESL Classroom; 8 ESL classroom decorations for a welcoming and inclusive environment for your multilingual students.
Create a word wall with these classroom expressions and commands for your ESL classroom! I know that getting my students to speak English aloud is a real challenge for me, especially when most of their classmates speak the same home language. I set up words and expressions around the classroom for them to refer to ... Read More about ESL Common Classroom Expressions
ESL All About Me Activities Bulletin Board Decorations Newcomers Class Quilt Create a Vibrant Mosaic of Cultures and Personalities! This is a perfect back to school activity for elementary, middle school and high school multicultural classrooms. ESL ALL ABOUT ME CLASS QUILT: Create a Vibrant Mosaic of Cultures and Personalities! Get ready to spark curiosity and celebrate the rich diversity within your ESL classroom with "All About Me ESL/ ENL/ ESOL/ ELD/ EAL/ EML Class Quilt" activity! This engaging and interactive project allows each student to showcase their heritage, hobbies, and personality in a fun and creative way. By working together, you'll craft a masterpiece (ESL CLASS QUILT) that not only reflects the tapestry of cultures but also builds connections and understanding among your students. Why Use the All About Me Class Quilt? 1. Cultural Exploration: This activity invites students to proudly share elements of their culture, like their country's flag and food specialty, helping them feel valued and appreciated. 2. Language Enrichment: Writing the word "hello" in their native language reinforces language skills and exposes other students to greetings from around the world. 3. Collaborative Bonding: Assembling the individual squares into a quilt fosters a sense of belonging and unity among your students. 4. Creativity Unleashed: Students can express themselves artistically, whether they're drawing their favorite hobbies or creatively showcasing their unique flag. What’s Also Included in the Resource? 1. Multicultural Bulletin Board Message: Take your classroom's aesthetics to the next level by adorning your bulletin boards with our resourceful ESL acronym words in a variety of vibrant colors and black-and-white options. Showcase "ESL," "ENL," "EML," "ESOL," "ELD," "EAL," and the highlight of the collection, the "ALL ABOUT ME CLASS QUILT." Transform your learning environment into an inspiring haven of linguistic and cultural enrichment! 2. 7 options of the quilt squares to choose from (one blank for students to customize). 3. 4 examples of completed quilt squares for you to model for your students. 4. Directions 5. ESL Class Quilt Word Bank with images to help your newcomers or inspire students with some ideas You might also like All About Me Activities Multicultural Bundle If you like this resource, please check out my store for more products like this one, and kindly leave me your feedback :) Let’s stay connected! TPT ESL Resource Meet Store Instagram Facebook Pinterest ESL Resource Meet Blog Question? Concerns? Email me: [email protected]
Corkboard Connections is a blog written by Laura Candler who enjoys connecting terrific teachers with amazing resources!
These grammar posters include a visual for some basic ESL grammar concepts that are great for newcomers help aid with speaking and writing skills. A MUST HAVE for English teachers! They provide a clear, easy to read visual reminder for ANY Elementary English classroom (ESL &EFL). Use them all at once as classroom decor to display all year or use them according to the unit you are teaching! Each of the 24 pages focuses on one concept. What's included: Simple Present: Positive, Negative and Question forms for the verbs PLAY & BE Present Continuous: Positive, Negative and Question Forms for the verb GO Adverbs of Frequency: Adverbs to use while answering the question "How often?" Wh- Questions - What, Where, When, Why, Who, How Pronouns - Subject and Object Plural Nouns - Regular, Irregular and Unusual Articles - A/ An/ The These posters are designed to be printed on US letter size paper or A4. Print, laminate and they are ready to use! This resource is a digital download. No physical product will be shipped. This resource is also available for purchase on Teacher Pay Teachers. If you prefer to purchase it there, follow this link. How to assemble and use this resource: This is a full color pdf file. After printing the resource, I recommend laminating or framing. This increases durability and ensures that you can continue using them throughout the years! How will you receive the resource? After your payment has processed you will be redirected to a download page where you can immediately download the file and save it to your computer. You will also receive an email containing a link to the resource. * Due to the digital nature of this product. Hot Chocolate Education does NOT offer refunds. Once the product has been downloaded, it can't be returned and refunds can not be issued.
Do you set academic goals with your students? What about language goals for your English learners? I compare goal setting with creating a road map. We are at point A and need to get to Point B. So, we identify and target an area of need, then systematically work towards improving that area, tracking progress along the way. For students, this "road map" provides purpose. They know WHAT they need to do AND identify specific steps for getting there. Let's look at how setting specific language goals can help get ELs to the next level in their language acquisition journey. Where to Begin Before we start setting goals, we need to know our students. What are their current levels in each language domain? I work in a state that uses the WIDA ACCESS to annually assess language proficiency with English learners. At the end of the school year I receive a report that lists each student's scores in the four language domains: listening, reading, speaking and writing. So, the first step I take in setting goals is to analyze my students' score reports. If your state uses a different assessment, then you’d use your own state/district scores. I then make a list of all of my students current scores in each domain, as well as, their scores from the previous year, if available. I can then see trends, areas of weakness and domains that need additional attention. These will be the areas to target. It is good practice to also conduct your own assessments, such as a writing prompt, reading assessment, oral interview and listening skills activities. Once you have a good idea of where your students are currently, and what they CAN DO, the next step is to determine where they need to be by a given time. My timeline is generally the end of the school year, and I typically set goals to improve one whole level up in a given domain. For example, if a student is a level 2 in writing, and this is a weak language domain for him/her, I am going to set a writing goal to get him/her to a level 3. Student names covered for privacy. Generally, I set one or two main goals with my students. If a student is progressing at an appropriate rate in reading and listening, but is weaker in writing and speaking, my focus with that student will be to create a writing and speaking goal for the year. Of course we will still work on reading and listening skills, but the goal is to measurably increase the weaker skills. If they are progressing in all areas but one, then they’ll have just one language goal for the year. If I set two goals for a student, then I usually split the goals up focusing on one goal during the first half of the year, and the other during the second half. I have many small groups that I meet with throughout the week, and most are grouped according to need, so I find that setting a "group goal" can be more practical in the sense that the goal setting process is simplified and goes much quicker because everyone is working towards a similar goal. I still track individual student progress, but the group as a whole is working towards a common goal. Ultimately, when setting goals, you'll do what works best for you and your students. How it looks from one group to the next might look very different. Creating a Goal After I analyze each student's scores and I know the area(s) that need targeting, I use language descriptors to help create their goals. The descriptors are formatted with two levels side by side. Once I determine where my students or groups are, I then choose skills from the next level up to create a challenging, yet attainable, goal. I'll write the goal on the board for the students to copy on their own goal setting sheet. This sheet gets glued into their notebooks or their folders. We then, together, come up with skills we can work on that will help them reach that goal. I lead this discussion but they are definitely part of this process. Once a couple of strategies/skills are decided upon, I'll write them on the board and the students copy them on their goal setting sheet as well. This will be a reference throughout the year as we keep focus on what their goals are. I keep the language descriptors page, one for each student, in my binder. As we work, I check off the various skills and take anecdotal notes on how they are doing. Here, I want to get my student(s) from a level 3 in Speaking to a level 4, so I use the descriptors to help create a challenging yet attainable goal. Measuring Progress I keep track of my students' progress throughout the year, but at the beginning, middle and end of the year I use summative assessments to measure progress towards student goals. These scores become part of my official data collection. The assessments are typically a writing prompt, a speaking or listening activity and/or a reading assessment. After these assessments, I make time to meet individually with students to conference on their progress. For the students, or groups, that I have tracking their own progress, it is during this time that students shade in their graphs. Charting their own progress provides a great visual and is highly motivating for most students. This too will look different depending on your students. You may find that this is also a good time to revisit the steps needed to reach their language goal(s). I do not have my first graders chart their progress, nor do I have my newcomers. I usually add charting progress with my second or third graders and higher grades. My 1st graders know that we are working on goals because I post a learning target poster for each group, but they don't track them, I do the tracking. I'm not suggesting that you don't let your "firsties" track their own progress, I just choose not to. I have spoken with teachers who do and they have great success with it. You have to decide what works best for you and your students when setting goals. For newcomers, I show them at the end of the year how much progress they've made. They are usually amazed to see how far they've come. In the End... My number one piece of advice when setting language goals is, keep it simple! It can easily become overwhelming, but if you know your students' needs, and you group them accordingly, you can set one goal for the group. If they have multiple needs, give them one goal at a time to work on. You can always give a second goal later. When goals are clear and an action plan, or "road map", is in place, students (and teachers) are set up for success! Your students will love seeing their progress from the beginning of the year (BOY) to the end of the year (EOY). For the students who track and chart their own progress, this process can be highly motivating. They love pushing themselves, IF they know what they are working towards. My Language Goals resources below have all of the components necessary to help you start planning and setting goals with your ELs. Data Collection Sheets - get to know your students and their needs Descriptors for Each Language Domain - levels formatted side by side Goal Setting Sheets - for students Goal Planning Sheets - for planning or language goal posters Progress Monitoring Graphs -students actively participate in tracking their progress Cover Pages and Divider Pages - for creating a personalized "Language Goals" teacher binder It's never too late to set goals with your students. Click HERE to find my Language Goals for English Learners!
Create a word wall with these classroom expressions and commands for your ESL classroom! I know that getting my students to speak English aloud is a real challenge for me, especially when most of their classmates speak the same home language. I set up words and expressions around the classroom for them to refer to so there are no excuses for not trying English first. These are great for those beginner ESL students who are still learning classroom English. Each card has a visual to help students understand what you are saying to them or what they may want to ask you. Which expressions/questions are included? I have a question. I don't understand the directions. How do you say that word? May I use the dictionary? May I borrow a pencil? Do we have homework? May I work with a partner? May I go to the bathroom? May I sharpen my pencil? May I use my phone? Teacher commands: Sit down, please. Stand up. Go to the board, please. Write on the board. Put away your books. You may work with a partner. Open you book. Close your book. You may work in groups. Download this free resource from my TpT store here! P.S. In case you haven't downloaded our free ESL classroom vocabulary cards, check them out here! Enjoy!
Need tips on welcoming your ESL newcomers into your classroom? This post will give you practical strategies and resources to do just that!
Entering a brand-new classroom is nerve-wracking for most of our English speaking students. For our newcomer ELLs, it can be a very intense and scary experience. Providing them with a welcoming, thoughtful environment from the moment
Start the year off right with high expectations for your English Language Learners! Some students learn to avoid answering difficult questions by reminding teachers of their limited English skills. "I don't know" or "I can't" may become a common refrain! Here are some ideas to help shift students' mindsets from knowing the right answer to putting in the effort to figure it out. 1.) Talk about the brain as a muscle: the more you work it out, the bigger and stronger it gets! My elementary students always love it when I comment on how large their heads are getting…to contain the brains that are growing so quickly inside! It's become a real motivator for my students to think hard and work hard. They often ask me if I can see a difference in the size of their heads after working diligently on a difficult project. A wonderful colleague of mine has an EASY button that she got from Staples. When you push it, it says, "That was easy!" She invites students to come up and push the button after working through a difficult problem. It motivates students to push through difficulty, and reminds them that it was ultimately easier than they'd thought. 2.) This chart offers students alternate ways of responding to a question they don't know the answer to. Around winter break, "I don't know" becomes a forbidden phrase in my classroom. It is the students' responsibility to learn to ask the questions necessary to get to an answer. I encourage them to ask teachers and peers for guidance, ask for additional wait time, ask for repetition or slower speech, and ask for the opportunity to consult outside resources. 3.) Make this your classroom mantra: It's okay not to know, but it's not okay not to try. Students should be so familiar with this concept that they encourage each other to try without your prompting. Post it in your room and refer to it constantly! The willingness to take risks is so important in language acquisition. The sooner we can create comfortable classroom communities coupled with high expectations for participation, the faster our students will begin mastering the English language.
What are my ESL teacher must haves? Check out these top five must haves for the ESL teacher-things I reach for every day in the ELD classroom.
Tackle that awkward getting-to-know-you moment with these 6 fun ESL icebreaker activities. Whether you work with ESL beginners or more advanced students, children or adults, these icebreakers are sure to make the start of your year great!
Tips for successfully starting the school year for your ELs and MLs. Help your students to feel comfortable in their learning environment.
Have you used choice boards with your English learners? In this blog post, I share 3 ways you can do that in your ESL classroom!
How to decorate an ESL Classroom; 8 ESL classroom decorations for a welcoming and inclusive environment for your multilingual students.
You’ll learn the 13 rules which help you to teach ESL effectively, together with info on how to become an ESL teacher in no time.
What kind of posters do you have on your classroom walls? How do you use them? We all try to prepare the best learning environment for ...
Level: This is most suited to B1+ - B2 level. Time: 20 mins + (depending on level). This activity provides practice of the causative structure 'have/get something done' in a variety of tenses and structures. We have a teacher's copy (including teacher's notes and an answer key) and a student version which you can email to your class for online lessons. For best results when printing our PDFs, open and print them through Adobe Acrobat. https://get.adobe.com/reader/
We've been learning about the parts of speech in the most fun ways. A parts of speech printable and flip book, writing our own mad libs, and more.
Who knew that three simple questions could make an ESL speaking class so fun? Here is an ESL speaking game that your students will thoroughly enjoy!
ESL Vocabulary for Newcomers 1st 5 Units! Do you need help when a new student enters your classroom that does not know English? This English Language Learner's Bundle will help make your ELL's transition into the classroom easier! It includes the first FIVE units any ELL needs to increase ESL VOCABULARY quickly! ⭐ Take a look at the VIDEO PREVIEW to see how this will benefit your English Language Learners⭐ WHAT TEACHERS ARE SAYING:: ❤️❤️❤️"My students began to open up using the step by step engaging material. With ELL students they tend to shy away from communicating. However, these activities and sentence structures really helped build confidence." ❤️❤️❤️"I was looking for a resource to use to fill in the gaps for the curriculum and found this one. It is amazing and has so much stuff!! I was able to pull a weeks worth of centers and small group activities from this resource. I immediately sent the link to my team and encouraged them to get it to use because it is such a great resource. " ❤️❤️❤️"I needed some materials quickly for a new student straight from El Salvador with zero schooling. This was perfect to get me started! Now I am using it with all of my Beginners! " ❤️❤️❤️"This was a wonderful resource to use with my newcomers. They loved the activities and found it very helpful when learning a new language." About this Bundle! ✅Used in over 3,800 classrooms worldwide! ✅Detailed Lesson Plans are included based on WIDA standards. ✅5 newcomer ELL resources! School vocabulary, Color words, Verbs, Introductions and Vegetables ✅They are fun and very engaging ✅This bundle includes units 1-5 in a 20 unit curriculum to help your new English Language Learners. ✅It is based on WIDA and Common Core Standards. ✅The units may be taught in any order except Unit 1 is best first. ✅Four of the Five Units include Easel Activiites on Teachers Pay Teachers ⭐Unit 1 "Introductions" Includes: Introductions 2 Flap Books Cut-and-glue sentences (4 pages) Introductions Find My Match task cards (10 color, 10 b and w) 5 Day Lesson Plan ⭐Unit 2 Classroom/School Vocabulary includes: 5 Day Lesson Plans Classroom/School Words 24 color and 24 b and w Headers for Pocket Chart or Anchor Chart 4 Sentence frame cards Cards which include each word in the sentence frames Whoops! game directions 2 (2 page) Interactive Printables ⭐Unit 3 ESL Verbs Teach your ELL's action words in a fun way! The action vocabulary words (verbs) can be used in several ways: Flip Books (He is _____. She is ______. They are _____.) Act It Out(Place the vocabulary words in a basket. Work with a partner to take turns acting out the word.) Guess what your partner is doing! Trade partners and act it out again! Great ESL Activities to help your children learn English! Included: 5 Day detailed lesson plans Memory Whoosh Anchor Charts Pocket Charts Included are: 24 color vocabulary cards 24 b & w squares to make flip books. 3 flip book frames Action words are: eating, listening, opening, peeling, washing, giving, writing, brushing, cutting, drinking, painting, whispering, taking, dancing, shopping, hugging, daydreaming, reading, saluting, licking, cheering, roasting, smiling ⭐Unit 4: Colors This activity is to help our new ELL's learn color names in English as well as simple singular and plural sentence structures. There are 16 posters that the children can use to make 8 Flap Books for 8 colors. Detailed Lesson Plans are included based on WIDA standards. Included are: Detailed Lesson plans for 9 days 8 posters (singular nouns) 8 posters (plural nouns) 8 Flap books The sentence frames are: A_______ is red. ________are red. etc 8 pages of color word and colors to sort. The colors are red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, black, brown, and green. Have fun with this color activity! ⭐Unit 5 Vegetables Fun for Teaching ESL Vegetables Names! This ELL activity is to help ELL's increase their vocabulary by learning vegetable names! It can be used in a small group or with a partner in the classroom. This is Unit 5 in a 5 unit curriculum to help your new English Language Learners. It is based on WIDA and Common Core Standards. Great for Anchor Charts and Pocket Charts! Included: 5 Day Lesson Plans Vegetable Interactive Printables (2 pages) I like _____, but I don't like _____. Cut-and-glue sentences (5 pages) Which veggie am I? I am a _______. Vegetable vocabulary cards. Can play FIND MY MATCH or Memory (23 color and 23 black and white; picture and word on same card) (23 color and 23 black and white picture only) (23 color and 23 black and white word only) Emergent Reader ABC Order Enjoy! DIGITAL COMPATIBLE: Through Easel Activities, this product contains an INTERACTIVE PDF. You will be able to annotate and customize it for your distance learning needs. Underlying content is not editable. Your students will complete the digital PDF and submit it to you for review via Google classroom. Click here to learn how to use EASEL activities I am an ESL teacher and use these lessons for my newcomers in a small group. It includes lessons plans that are helpful for new ESL teachers or veteran teachers that have little experience teaching English Language Learners. These lessons will give your children a strong foundation in beginning English and you will quickly see them gain confidence in their speaking. Enjoy! :) See Individual links below Click here to find me on Pinterest Click here to find me on Facebook Click here to follow my Blog Jill Richardson ELL EVERYTHING BUNDLE *************************************************************************** ELL Newcomer Year Long Curriculum Mega Bundle Units 1-20 Click Here to See a Video Preview *************************************************************************** Customer Tips: How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: • Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I value your feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your classroom so I can create more for you. ☺ Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches: • Look for the green star next to my store logo and click it to become a follower. Voila! You will now receive email updates about this store. ☺ ***************************************************************************
Students work in pairs, take turns and debate on the given statements. They must contradict each other, one of them agrees another disagrees. They express their opinions by giving arguments for or against the statement. - ESL worksheets
Learn about some of the differences between teaching phonics to ELLs and native English speakers. Also discover some new resources.
Use WIDA Can Do Descriptors to help you understand and support your emerging bilingual students through differentiated lessons.
Useful expressions to use when we go to a doctor.I divided this ws into 5 parts:Different stages of a doctor visit(the expressions we use at each stage) and a useful vocabulary part which includes some related words and phrases.I will prepare and upload an exercise worksheet related to this topic soon. - ESL worksheets
These neutral color grammar posters include a visual for some basic ESL grammar concepts that are great for newcomers help aid with speaking and writing skills. A MUST HAVE for English teachers! They provide a clear, easy to read visual reminder for ANY Elementary English classroom (ESL &EFL). Use them all at once as classroom decor to display all year or use them according to the unit you are teaching! Each of the 24 pages focuses on one concept. Take a closer look here! What's included: Simple Present: Positive, Negative and Question forms for the verbs PLAY & BE Present Continuous: Positive, Negative and Question Forms for the verb GO Adverbs of Frequency: Adverbs to use while answering the question "How often?" Wh- Questions - What, Where, When, Why, Who, How Pronouns - Subject and Object Plural Nouns - Regular, Irregular and Unusual Articles - A/ An/ The These posters are designed to be printed on US letter size paper or A4. Print, laminate and they are ready to use! Looking for brighter colors? Try these: ESL Grammar Posters -Rainbow Colors This resource is also available for purchase on Teachers Pay Teachers. If you prefer to purchase it there, follow this link. How will you receive the resource? After your payment has processed you will be redirected to a download page where you can immediately download the file and save it to your computer. You will also receive an email containing a link to the resource. . * Due to the digital nature of this product. Hot Chocolate Education does NOT offer refunds. Once the product has been downloaded, it can't be returned and refunds can not be issued
Have you used choice boards with your English learners? In this blog post, I share 3 ways you can do that in your ESL classroom!
13 RULES WHEN TO USE COMMAS: Commas can be tricky to get right, but mastering them will improve your student's writing. Learn when to use commas and when to leave them out with this vivid and easy to read chart that lists 13 major rules of when to use commas. A MUST HAVE: Our 'When to Use Commas' poster is a must-have resource for any classroom or language arts center. Each rule is clearly explained and accompanied by clear examples, making it easy for students to grasp the intricacies of punctuation. EXCELLENT QUALITY, MADE TO LAST: Printed with vivid colors printed on high quality (100#) paper. Manufactured with double sided 3 mil thick encapsulated lamination and sealed on all sides to protect against dirt, dust, moisture and humidity. FULL SIZE POSTER: Each poster measures 17 inches x 22 inches. Large fonts and crisp graphics for easy readability. MADE IN THE USA: All of our posters are printed in the USA and shipped in sturdy cardboard tubes.
Post sight words and vocabulary words around the room to help ELLs. When you display vocabulary and sight words, this will help ELLs learn new words.
A story for Halloween preparation. Scary story for A1 learners. Repeat past simple regular verbs and get to know irregular verbs. Questions make studens use the verbs in focus - ESL worksheets
Matching sentence to picture - ESL worksheets
talking about family members - ESL worksheets
Check out the different types of approaches and methods in language teaching, and find out which works best for your ESL classroom!
10 ESOL Teacher Must Haves. Check out these items to make your teaching job easier.2
Learn Creative ESL Teaching Notes and Ideas.
Spruce up your classroom with this set of 7 different verb tense posters for a quick and easy to access grammar wall for your students. Both colorful and easy to read, they provide students with a quick reminder of how to conjugate six of the most commonly used verb tenses in a young learners ESL or...
How to plan ESL lessons 300% faster with this easy trick! Download these 3 free teacher to teacher lesson plans.
Children will practice using context clues as they identify the correct homophone in this grammar and spelling worksheet.
