My two favorite projects for my ESL students are their Personal Narratives and their Autobiographies. Not only is it great practice using verb tenses, but it also an excellent way to get to know your students. I am always blown away by the amazing stories they share! I have just completed uploading a FREE Autobiography project for you to use with your ESL students. This autobiography has 3 parts: the past, the present and the future. You can use all three parts or just one or two parts depending on the grade level of your students. You may want to start with Part II "My Life Now" since it covers the present tense. Then continue with "My Past" and "Coming to a New Country" followed by "My Future". I always review each tense and then give my students the related part. This could be a project that you use throughout the year, culminating in a final Autobiography after learning all three verb tenses. Or, you can use it all at once for more advanced students. If you would like to download this FREE autobiography, click here! Thanks for looking!

Find out all the top picks for whiteboard games and activities for kids, teenagers or adults. Have some fun in your classes today!

"Why even do this?", students might ask when they are not sure why they need to complete certain tasks. Student motivation and engagement are possibly the most important variables in the learning process. Identifying clear objectives and providing students with a purpose for carrying out various activities will more likely engage them as they will see the benefits of completing the proposed tasks. Because most of my high school ESL learners need a lot of motivation in school, I like to assign di

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!

"Why even do this?", students might ask when they are not sure why they need to complete certain tasks. Student motivation and engagement are possibly the most important variables in the learning process. Identifying clear objectives and providing students with a purpose for carrying out various activities will more likely engage them as they will see the benefits of completing the proposed tasks. Because most of my high school ESL learners need a lot of motivation in school, I like to assign di

Do you struggle with finding interesting ways to teach ESL listening skills? Maybe you have an activity or two already but you want to be able to mix it up and keep things interesting. By the end of…

Past, present, and future.

Be sure to try out these ESL Vocabulary Activities and games if you want your students to have some fun learning new words.

Beat the overwhelm of teaching an absolute beginner with this downloadable checklist

Looking for unique post-reading activities to inspire students and provide a sample of their analytical skills? Find high-interest strategies for secondary.

While teaching the parts of speech is oftentimes a lesson that one would find in the elementary classroom, high school students also need to know their parts of speech. Learn about how to teach the parts of speech with these simple steps.

Whether you’re trying to eliminate tons of prep time, save paper, or support ELL students in distance learning, using digital vocabulary units can be extremely helpful activities for ELL newcomers. These digital units target reading,

If you want your children to learn more about body organs and their functions, these human body printables for kids are just what you need!

Begin your classes the awesome way with ESL Warm-Ups For Kids, Teenagers and Adults. It's lesson planning made easy, guaranteed.

This week in Science we have been learning about Earth's Land Features. All week we took notes, learned hand gestures, and watched a video, and then we made a landform flipbook. I have to say, it came out SOOOO cute!! I got the idea from an AIMS lesson and adapted it for the SC landforms. Here is what it looks like completed! And here it is in action! You can download it HERE!

"Why even do this?", students might ask when they are not sure why they need to complete certain tasks. Student motivation and engagement are possibly the most important variables in the learning process. Identifying clear objectives and providing students with a purpose for carrying out various activities will more likely engage them as they will see the benefits of completing the proposed tasks. Because most of my high school ESL learners need a lot of motivation in school, I like to assign di

As I am looking forward to a new school year in my new school, I have already started planning and creating new resources. Since I have my classroom now and I can finally make the big decisions about the teaching materials I would love to use, I am all excited to be able to say good-bye to textbooks and use what I believe best responds to my learners’ needs. If you are looking for some engaging and valuable resources for your textbook-less ESL class or you wish to supplement your own materials,

Here are my free ESL resources all in one place! Click on any images below and it will take you to my TpT store for the free download. Thanks for looking!

We’ve been learning about the continent Australia! One of our parents brought along some wonderful items from Australia to share with us. Boomerangs! Holding a Koala What’s on the Shelf? Here’s our unit studies shelf with materials about Australia Geography of Australia This is our Australia Geography folder full of images from Australia and the Pacific […]

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!

Unit 1: Introduction to School of this middle school and high school newcomers curriculum hits the ground running with 36 new words or phrases, 5 important basic sentences or greetings, and an introduction to singular and plural nouns, pronouns, and the simple present tense.

Pronouns are a fundamental grammar concept for middle and high school students to grasp. But teaching grammar is often a challenge! Here are some quick tips and

Learn about Mexico for Kids with these free printable Mexico Worksheets and printable books with cute clipart and information to read, color, and learn!

I teach to many ESL students. They have a tendency to revert to their first language throughout the semester. By starting the semester with this SILENT activity students are able to see that they don’t need a language to fall back on they have so many other ways. This project takes one entire class. Students work together to save themselves from zombies! This is great for my speech class as students are able to better develop their nonverbal skills. The project DOES require some set up (though how much depends on you!). I am able to use products I find around my school (cups, rubber bands, string, etc). Be sure you have gathered everything before you plan to use the lesson. That being said, many teachers find this useful in ANY class as they work on critical thinking and their teamwork skills. It can be used from any class ranging from 45 to 90 minutes. Twitter: mELTingTeacher Facebook: TheMeltingTeacher Twitter: mELTingTeacher Instagram: mELTingteacher Pinterest: MeltingTeacher Remember to leave a review! Reviews get you TPT credits good for discounts or even freebies :)

Photographs offer excellent support for English Language Learners to write about. They can help students generate ideas, and visual vocabulary support is built into a high-quality photograph. You can easily differentiate a writing assignment based on photographs. All students use the same picture, but the amount of writing, level of support offered, and complexity of

Do you and I run in the same circles? Doubt it. Although we do share at least one circle: teaching. Right? And if you and I ha...

If your non-English speaking students aren't ready to do the regular class work, what should you have them do instead? This handy tool can help.

Here are six essential back to school lessons I’ll be using in my classroom this back-to-school season.

Supporting all students needs can be a challenge, especially when your class includes students with IEPs and students learning English as a second language. Middle school and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed the integration of IEP and ELL students as well as how their needs are communicated and assessed. Teachers also shared the challenges in teaching IEP and ESL students, support provided outside of their classrooms, and successful activities, projects, and method of differentiation.Read through the chat for ideas to implement in your own classroom.

I remember when I was a new ESL teacher, I really had no clue where to begin. Thank goodness I had an amazing mentor and roommate; without her I would've been completely lost. Each school district is different, so you may be required to do certain tasks at the start of each year, but as a seasoned ESOL teacher, here are my top 5 suggestions for starting off the school year strong. Where to Begin the Year - ESL Edition Teachers in my district head back to school a week prior to students. The week is filled with meetings, professional development, Open House and squeezing in time to set up instructional spaces. During this hectic week it's also important to find out who my English learners are, who the classroom teachers are that I'll be collaborating with, and to think about routines and procedures I want in place for my ELD instruction. Week 1 - Prior to Students Arriving at School Get your hands on a student list. The list should include important information such as grade level, classroom teacher, ELP level and home language. Sometimes I need to ask the registrar at my school for a list, but most of the time I can find it on my district's EL database site. You'll also want a list of ELP scores from last year (preferably from the past two years) so that you can analyze student proficiency levels AND growth in each language domain. This is key in determining strengths and areas of need. Once you have your student lists, you can begin thinking about how you want to group your students. I'm lucky, in my district to have the autonomy of grouping my students the way that best targets their needs. Some schools/districts group students for you AND make your schedule, giving you no control in these two areas. If you are able to group your own students, I like to group based on language need with about 6 students per group. When I have small homogeneous groups, it allows me to really target students' linguistic needs. I usually use something like this to map out my groups. Students and ELD Groupings Once I have my groups, which I try not to have more than 10 in all, I then I create an initial instructional schedule. That's really a whole other post in itself! It's probably one of the most challenging tasks of the year. Considerations include the master instructional schedule, specials, lunch & recess schedules, as well as gen ed classroom focus minilessons because we don't pull students out during their focus lessons. There's a LOT to consider when creating an effective instructional ELD schedule. I use something like this to map out my draft schedule. Weekly Schedule You'll likely need to tweak your schedule at some point, so keep in mind that it might change as the needs of students change. Both of these pages are from my ESL Teacher Planner, linked at the bottom of this post. Recap Week 1 - get student lists that include the information you need to help create homogenous groups, as well as your instructional schedule. Week 2 - Students First Week of School Students arrive, so now what happens? I do not start my pull-out schedule on day one. IMO, It's important for students to stay in their gen ed classrooms and get settled, even for the first few days. They are building a classroom community, learning procedures and getting acquainted with their new setting. My district does kindergarten K-WAPT testing the first week, so I might not start my ELD schedule until the end of the week. I do push-in though the first few days, when I can, and introduce myself to my students, give them resources such as bilingual dictionaries, as well as a vocabulary workbook to my newcomers. And check in on teachers, especially if they have newcomers in the class!💛 Once I start pulling my groups, the focus is all about Getting to Know You. I really take time this week and next to start building relationships with my students. On my first day with students I share a slide that tells about me and my family. I also share things that I like doing outside of school. Then we go around the group and give each student time to share about them. Introduction Slide It's incredibly important to build trust with students, so really take this time to get to know them as individuals. It'll pay off big time. Some of my favorite "Getting to Know You" activities are... Getting to Know You Activities Four Corners Activity Teach Us Your Name - FREEBIE 👉Additional Getting to Know You activities and resources will be listed at the bottom of this post. Recap Week 2 - let students get settled into their general education classrooms, then start meeting with your students/groups. Introduce yourself and focus on getting to know them as individuals. Start building trust. Week 3 - BOY Assessments Once students have been in school a week or so, and we've started getting to know each other, it's now time to get to know them better as learners. What can students do at this point in time? I have their ELP scores from the previous two years, but that data is not recent, and they've been out of school for a couple of months, so where are they now in their language proficiency? The goal - to find their instructional "starting points." The main assessments I do at the beginning of the year are... Newcomer Group/Level 1 Students - a phonics assessment. Do they know their letter sounds? Which sounds do they know? It's also important to know the literacy level of newcomers in their native language. Do they have age appropriate literacy skills or do they have gaps? Have them write in their native language. Find a book in their native language and let them read it to you. Don't have books available? I often write a message using google translate, then have them read it to me. Did they understand the message? Where they able to respond to it? It's important detective work. 🕵️‍♀️ Phonics Survey for Level 1-2 Students All of my groups, except for maybe my newcomer group, write to a prompt. This allows me to analyze their writing skills. The BOY prompt is usually, "Describe a place you like to visit. Tell what you like to do there." We brainstorm possible places, then I have them write for about 20 minutes. Afterwards, I collect their writing and take anecdotal notes on skills we need to focus on in that group. Beginning of the Year Writing Prompt My school district gives assessments, most of which I'm not a big fan of, that include iReady for reading, PRF for fluency and DSA for spelling. We used to give the DRA2 reading assessment to find the instructional reading level of each student, but we no longer do that, so it's been an adjustment trying to figure out where my kids are in that particular area. The best way, for now, is to listen to them read and check for comprehension. Each data point is a small piece to a much larger puzzle. With all of the assessments listed above, especially my own, I usually have a pretty clear picture of starting points. 👍 Recap Week 3 - take time to assess students so that you know what they can do AND what they need. Finding their starting points will be critical in knowing what to teach them. Week 4 - Routines, Procedures and Planning ELD Lessons It's not until THIS point that I begin planning ELD lessons. Now I know my students better, both as individuals and as students, I've built some trust with getting to know you activities and I've assessed their needs, so NOW I can plan lessons to better suit them. But WAIT! There's one more important item to do before diving into planning! For me, I need to decide which on-going activities I want certain groups to do and then teach them the expectations. What's an on-going activity? It's a skill based weekly activity, such as phonics, grammar, idiom, sight word, writing, etc., that has a procedure needing to be taught or modeled. I definitely don't rush this. This is a big part of routines and procedures! Some of my groups (level 1 & 2 students) have a weekly phonics minilesson and activity, for example. I set this up for success by teaching students the components and expectations of the activity. We set up their ELD Notebooks and I model each expectation. This is really important, IMO, for a successful year. Modeling Expectations for Word Work Weekly Phonics Word Work Activity-Student NotebookPretty soon, the on-going activity becomes a very familiar part of their class time with me. If I want my newcomers doing something in their general education classrooms during independent class time, like a vocabulary workbook activity, I need to take the time to teach them how to do that. Here's a post about planning these types of weekly activities! Once I'm done teaching expectations for on-going activities, THEN I'm ready to plan targeted ELD lessons! 👏 Recap Week 4 - teach routines & procedures- identify on-going activities for groups and model expectations. Start to plan & prepare targeted ELD lessons based on students' linguistic needs. Bottom line... there's a lot to do at the beginning of the year before targeted ELD lessons begin. But at this point, I'm in a MUCH better position to plan lessons that meet the needs of my students. At about 4 weeks into the school year, it's time to plan and prepare materials for my first language function unit... the language of INQUIRY. Here's my post on Language Functions. It explains what a language function is, how to plan a unit and why I love teaching functions. This next post on "Forms and Functions" dives a little deeper into the language forms that accompany language functions. Check them both out! My advice for starting a new school year, do not stress about what you're going to teach the first couple of weeks of school. There are many other priorities that require time and attention. I promise you that spending time getting to know your students both as individuals and as learners before you plan lessons will only enhance your ability to target your instruction, which will ultimately get students to the next level in language proficiency. And that's the goal! 🙌 Additional resources that help get my year started.👇 ESL Teacher Planner Would You Rather My Country Activity "I Like" Activity Vocabulary Workbook for Newcomers - Year-Long Bundle Available! Notebook Covers and Tabs for the ESL Classroom Best of luck to you on a smooth back to school season. Having plans in place for a strong start will set you and your students up for a very successful school year! Take care, Affiliate Links: My Amazon Storefront

Your little engineers will really enjoy these 12 creative engineering activities. On a recent trip to Sydney, Australia, I spent a lot of time admiring (and photographing) the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge which is the widest and one of the longest steel arch bridges in the world. Quite the engineering feat! Between that and the world famous Sydney Opera House, I came back buzzing from my little getaway with lots of thoughts about engineering and just how important it is for our children to have opportunities to experience it and to learn more about it. What is engineering? Engineering is the application of science, technology and maths to develop solutions to problems. Put simply, engineers are creators! They take the above disciplines and combine these with creativity and ingenuity to make something new. Engineers see a problem and solve it. They create and re-create products, infrastructure and solutions that make our everyday life easier. Architectural engineers play a huge role in the construction of buildings like the Sydney Opera House (pictured above) and civil engineers work on things like roads and bridges like the Sydney Harbour Bridge (see pictures below). There are also many other types of engineers that are heavily involved in so many different projects and areas of production. From technology and the engineering of the mobile phones we use, to robots, computer games, chemical engineering, medicine, renewable energy, aircraft and much more. There are so many different avenues that engineers can put their skills and passions towards in this modern day and age. Why is it important for children to learn engineering? Allowing children to experience different forms of engineering helps them to understand more about the processes that go into making up so much of the world around us. Engineering encourages creativity, problem solving and cooperation. It allows children to think outside the box and to come up with solutions to problems through experimentation and trial and error, whilst putting into practice so many of the skills they are acquiring as they grow. Check out this fabulous video from the 2012 Young Australian of the year, Marita Cheng as she talks at TEDx Sydney about why we need to teach our children to be makers and the fabulous work they're doing, encouraging girls in particular, to take an interest in engineering. Engineering Activity ideas for kids Here are 12 fabulous activities that allow children to experience a number of different types of engineering. These activities encourage creativity, problem solving, trial-and-error, maths, science, technology and more. Designing and Building bridges by The Imagination Tree Build Blinking Bugs by Inner Child Fun Toothpick and Mini-marshmallow challenge by Learn with Play at Home Four Engineering challenges with Craft Sticks, Cups and Cubes by Frugal Fun for Boys Spaghetti Tower Challenge by Tinkerlab Make Soda Rockets by Lemon Lime Adventures Make a Tinkering Station by Left Brain Craft Brain on A Mom With a Lesson Plan Make a Catapult by Fun-A-Day Paper Building Blocks by Babble Dabble Do Test the Stability of Structures by Science Sparks Design a Cardboard Tube Marble Run by Learn with Play at Home Design and Build a Rollercoaster by Planet Smarty Pants Highlights from Sydney Well, isn't that a lot of fun? All inspired by a little bridge. Ok, not so little! Here are some pictures from my weekend in Sydney. My fabulous kid blogger buddies and I at Nuffnang's Sydney Office Launch Party. L-R: Me (Learn with Play at Home), Kelly from Be A Fun Mum, Danya from Danya Banya, Chelsea from Moments a Day and Rachel from Racheous- Lovable Learning. Even with the dark clouds rolling in, the harbour was a spectacular sight. See the bridge? I got to drive a yacht around Sydney Harbour! Very cool! (Thanks for the pic, Kelly- Be A Fun Mum!) Sailing underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge gave a whole different perspective and you got an even great feel for the gigantic scale of it all. Engineers are incredible! The food! Oh the food. My favourite was Spice Temple and meeting the owner and celebrity chef Neil Perry. Amazing! Definitely some food engineering going on there! Yes, food engineering is a real thing. Why didn't anyone tell me that when I was at school? Yum! A comfy bed, good food and a good location. Couldn't ask for more from our accommodation at Rydges Sydney Central And I can't resist just a few final shots of the bridge! Sydney Harbour bridge. Spectacular by day and by night. If you get a chance to go to Sydney, you really must. Such a vibrant place to visit with tons to see and do for all the family! (Even in winter.) A huge thanks to the major trip sponsor, Destination NSW for an amazing launch party at ECQ Bar and an incredible sailing adventure around the bay with East Sail; Qantas for getting me there and back as well as hosting a mouth watering lunch at The Burger Project and an unforgettable dinner at Spice Temple (you really must go!);; and of course my comfy and well positioned accommodation for the weekend, Rydges Sydney Central Hotel! Also thanks to Spotlight (check out their awesome range in-store or online) for sponsoring our conference in the Macquarie Room at the Pullman Quay Grand Sydney on the final day (location, location!). Sydney, thanks for having me and I can't wait to come back. Next time with my whole family! Further Reading: Here is a fabulous article on 10 ways to support an interest in Engineering! A good read with lots of other engineering activity ideas. Have you been to Sydney? Do you have little future engineers at your house? Happy playing, Debs :) {Disclaimer: This is not a paid post. My Sydney trip was provided thanks to my agency Nuffnang, Destination NSW, Qantas and Rydges. All opinions are, as always, my own.) Look where else we are. Are you following along? :)

Why are map skills important for kids? How can I teach navigational skills to preschoolers? Inside this post you'll learn about maps and why knowing how to get around is important for kids! We're also

Writing instruction often fits into a small corner of the day. This makes it so challenging to find time to teach grammar, spelling, punctuation, and all the other foundational skills students need to be more effective writers. While working through the writing process is an important piece of writing instruction, many