ESL Teaching Techniques

What are effective ways to teach grammar to ESL students?

The short answer is “in context” … of class reading and writing activities. Grammar is not the ultimate goal in communication; grammar exists as the way to clarify and shape a person's expression of ideas to a listener or reader. The following are various ways to present grammar contextually.

Take student generated mistakes from class assignments. List them on the board or give them to the students on a handout (not mentioning who made the mistakes specifically). Individually, in pairs, or in small groups, have the students fix all of the mistakes. Review all of the sentence corrections together and have the students explain the reasons for the corrections.

Similarly, when you first introduce a new grammar point to students, have them generate 5-10 examples or sentences using the new structure just to become more familiar with it. Do this in pairs or small groups. Collect one page from each group with their names on it. As a follow-up activity, list the mistakes from these pages on the board or in a handout anonymously for the class to “fix” in pairs or small groups.

If you are giving your students a group of sentences which need manipulation of some grammar point, have all of the sentences relate to the same topic, or tell a story, instead of just making up different sentences that have no relationship in meaning with one another. Some topics lend themselves well to specific grammar points. For example, if your curriculum requires past tense formation, then write a short story about an adult's childhood memory giving the verbs needed, but without their formation, so the students can fill them in. If your curriculum requires present perfect verb formation, then give the students a short paragraph about some activity that a person has never done. Students also enjoy made-up stories that include their names. Leave the pronouns blank for students to fill in as you write a story about the possessions that students have with them in class that day.

When you see a mistake with a current, emphasized grammar point of the curriculum in the other class reading or writing assignments, highlight it. Discuss it with students. “Fix” it together and get the students to tell you why and how it is done. Give them other examples you have had in the past to fix, as well.

If you can create your class writing topics within your curriculum framework, be sure to use ones that naturally require the grammar topic at hand. For instance, if you are teaching the present perfect verb tense (have/has and the past participle), students can write about their job or career skill experience. (I have worked in retail sales for 3 years …) If you are teaching when to use the different tenses – past, present, and future – have the students write a short biography of their childhood, current life, and future goals. If you are teaching sequential and transitional words like first, second, next, then, etc., have students explain how to cook their favorite meal or how to make some craft or other constructed project.

What are ways to get the students interacting and talking more in class?

Find out what topics, sports, activities, etc. your individual students are interested in outside of class (take a written survey in class and discuss it afterwards – added English practice and insightful information for you). Then, see how you can incorporate these topics into reading and writing assignments you have.

Figure out (honestly) how much time during the class you talk and how much the students talk. If you talk half or more, think about ways to have the students do it instead of you. Don't give the explanation for a correct answer. Ask a student to explain to the class the reason. Don't give a vocabulary definition to the class. Ask if any students know the meaning of the word that he/she can share with the class. Don't answer a student's question before you give the question to the class to answer. Then, agree or disagree.

Read a short newspaper headline, a dilemma, a short story, or mini-mystery. Have pairs of students explain the main ideas, possible endings and solutions.

Give students a choice in what they read. Give the students a handout with the book jacket summary and picture (if possible) of all possible selections. Have at least 3 novels the class can vote on. After they read and discuss the summaries, they vote. The majority choice wins.

Give students a choice in what they write about. If they need to write using the past tense, they could choose between a favorite childhood memory, a favorite holiday celebration memory, an achievement they are most proud of from their childhood, advice from a relative or family friend that made a difference in their lives, etc. If they need to write a summary, they could choose a movie plot, a novel plot, the factors that led their family to come to America, a description of a problem they are having, or a decision they must make, etc.

Show interesting magazine pages, usually pictures and advertisements, and have the students explain what is happening in them, what the problem or joke is, or make up a related story.

Have half the class create a question, and call on whomever they want on the other side of the class to answer it. Once everyone has finished, reverse and have the opposite sides ask and answer. This also keeps every student listening, because no one knows who will be called on next, so everyone must pay attention.

If students are shy or nervous, especially true in the early days of a class, have them do these activities in pairs or small groups instead of individually.

What are ways to get students to write more?

Have a regularly scheduled “free writing” time in class each session. Play classical music as they write. For no more than 10 minutes, have students write about a choice of topics related to the day's lesson. Tell students that if they have a grammar and/or spelling problem, solve it in the best way they know how, and keep writing. The main focus of this type of activity is to express ideas, and to get as many of them down on paper. Keep these writings in a folder for each student. Later, they can use these as a starting point for more formal writing assignments, paragraphs, essays, an autobiography, etc. At the later time, they will begin to review the organization of their ideas in these writings, edit and expand their writing to fit into a more formal assignment.

Every time you introduce a new chapter or theme, create a class story. At the top of a notebook page, write the first sentence of the class “story”. Tell the class that each person must contribute one sentence to the story by first reading what classmates have written before you. Then, write the next event that happens in the plot. The last student must finish the story. Circulate the paper throughout the class and have the final student give it to you. Read the story aloud for the class. As a follow-up activity, type out the sentences AS THEY ARE WRITTEN, copy and hand it out to the class. Individually, in pairs, etc., have students correct the ideas/plot to be in logical order and the grammar to be appropriate, as well. Then, share the final edits of the story with the class out loud and on a bulletin board, etc.

What do I do with a multi-level class? Some are good readers and writers, while others are great at speaking. How do I even things out, or give time to the individual needs?

Given a small number of ESL students or other program limitations due to spacing and budget, multi-level classes often result. Here are some ways to make allowances for a great variety of skill levels that are all together.

Have different small group activities/assignments based on skills. So, for a predominately speaking activity a good speaker might be in a different group than for a predominately writing activity if he/she is weaker.

Have the stronger students matched with the weaker students in an activity. Helping the others will help the stronger students (even if they don't like it).

Have the stronger students decide if the results of an activity are correct or need further revision. This gives them a chance to use more advanced skills, yet involves the other students, too.

What are some “break the ice” introduction-type activities to do with a class?

These activities can be a great way for students to mix with other students in a class. Per human nature, ESL students find and sit with a classmate who speaks the same first language. Students discussing and translating their work into their native language defeats the purpose of having them negotiate such meaning in English. Here are some fun ways to alter this tendency and create some pairs and groups with different first languages.

Without teacher/native English speaker assistance, students stand, talk with one another and line up …

With 5-10 minutes, students individually write about themselves (and after, read it to the class) on one of the following topics (or one of yours):

Students each select one item from the teacher's desk (The teacher brings in everyday items such as a pen, newspaper, tape, notebook, etc.). Each student tells the class his/her name and why he/she picked the particular item … how it relates to his/her life and sits down.

Students take out 2 or 3 things from their purses, pockets or backpacks (not valuable) and place them in a brown lunch bag (provided by the teacher). They close the bags and trade them with another student in the room they don't know. Each person sits with their partner and tells what they think they know of the other person from looking at the items. The owner of the items confirms or denies the assumptions. Students then introduce their partner to the class as a whole. All items are returned to their owners and the class begins. As a follow-up, students can write a paragraph/essay about their partner.