advanced ESL

Five classroom lessons for adult English language learners, adult basic education, and citizenship classes that are based on stories for students to read, using a ‘real-life’ approach to learning. Follow Hawa, Fatima, Carlos, William, Nhong, Mai and Tran as they register to vote, learn about the candidates and issues, make choices, and finally cast their vote in the 2018 election.

Purpose:  To help learners become familiar with the word stress patterns of their vocabulary words through using a visual support

Preparation Time:  None

Materials Needed:  None

Procedure:

Purpose:  To help learners practice using correct grammar, and to develop proof-reading skills so that learners can become more independent with self-corrections

Preparation Time:  10 minutes

Materials Needed:  A short passage with several errors, or sentences or a worksheet with errors

Purpose:  To help learners improve their writing skills and practice grammar tenses

Preparation Time:  10 minutes

Materials Needed:  sets of comprehension questions (see example below)

Example 1:

1. What was Ahmed’s job?
2. What does he do at his job?
3. Why does he like his job?
4. When does he go to work?
5. What does Ahmed do after work?

Example 2:

Purpose:  To practice using vocabulary words in a conversational setting

Preparation Time:  10 minutes

Materials Needed:  list of 5-10 vocabulary words, one copy per learner

Procedure:

This blog post from Scholastic.com (http://www.scholastic.com/home/) contains excellent teacher practices and materials that can be adapted for improving reading comprehension at any level. The post includes printable PDFs of a teacher reading prompt booklet, bookmarks, for learners, and guided reading question cards that learners can use to interact with a reading text independently or in small groups. The reading prompts are written for a third grade reading level, which can easily be used with intermediate and advanced adult ESL learners.

Purpose: To facilitate students speaking to each other, to get to know classmates and to use vocabulary related to the day’s lesson

Prep Time: 3-15 minutes

Materials: copies of the conversation grid (see link below)

Prep:
Version 1: print the grid, write a title on it, and write four questions related to today’s lesson on it, and then make copies of it

Version 2: print the grid, write a title on it and make copies of it

Purpose:  To help learners practice identifying and reviewing the main information from a reading

Preparation Time:  none

Materials Needed:  a reading text, highlighters

Procedure:

The Minnesota Literacy Council has produced four new videos demonstrating how to teach pronunciation in the adult ESL classroom. Watch the videos to gain teaching techniques and discover activity ideas that can be integrated into regular ESL classes.

This online reading text repository was designed to create leveled reading selections that are appropriate for and valued by adult learners.  These materials, combined with the research-proven strategies of repeated reading and guided oral reading, aid in building learners' fluency and comprehension skills. This project helps adults become better readers and more informed consumers, parents, employees, citizens and community members.  The focus of these reading selections includes topics such as:  Civics, Employment, Housing, Health, School, Money, and Government.