modifying assignments for esl students

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English language development

Accommodations for English Language Learners (ELLs) in the Classroom

All teachers use accommodations to help their students master grade-level content. Whenever you’ve given a student more time to complete an assignment, explained a concept in a different way, or asked a student to assist a struggling classmate, you’ve used an accommodation. But supports that work for native English speakers aren’t always necessary for multilingual learners , who may only need language support

Dr. Ivannia Soto is an education professor at Whittier College, in California. She specializes in second-language acquisition and systemic reform for English language learners (ELLs). I spoke with her about the challenges English learners face, and how we can ensure they get the help they need for academic success. (Note that in this article, we use both the terms English language learner (ELL) and multilingual learner to account for the different ways this group of students has been described.)

“Multilingual learners are doing double the work,” Dr. Soto says. “They're doing the work of learning the basics of English and academic language as well.”

While Soto stresses how invaluable scaffolds can be for multilingual learners, she also reminds educators to switch them out as needed.

“Scaffolds allow multilingual students to do rigorous academic work,” she says. “But it’s important to remember that all of these scaffolds are temporary supports that eventually should be taken away to allow students to progress.”

How to Accommodate ELL Students

Here are some of the accommodations for English language learners that Dr. Soto finds most effective.

1. Make Use of the Frayer Square

Graphic organizers are a great way to support multilingual learners. In particular, the Frayer Square , developed by educational psychologist Dorothy Frayer and her colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, provides an effective method for building vocabulary. Whenever you need to introduce new words, whether starting a new unit, preparing for a read-aloud, or building academic language, have students fill out the organizer.

Students place a word in the center of the graphic organizer. Then, in the boxes surrounding the word, students write their own definition, description, examples, and non-examples. Completing the Frayer Square helps students retain new words.

“Multilingual learners don't have time to be taught one word at a time,” Dr. Soto says. “This is a helpful way to come up with a bunch of examples that are connected with a target word.”

See the example below of a completed Frayer Square using the target word “quadrilateral.”

2. Practice Think-Pair-Share

Before holding a whole-class discussion on a topic, try a think-pair-share activity . A quick talk with a partner where the stakes are low allows multilingual learners to build confidence in their ideas before sharing them with the class. This method, Soto says, allows students time to process new vocabulary and content.

Here’s how think-pair-share works. The teacher poses an open-ended question related to a unit the class is studying. Based on the question, students complete the prompt in the organizer:

What I Think

What My Partner Thinks

What We Will Share

Think-pair-share allows students to practice their speaking, listening, summarizing, and writing skills. Plus, it has an added benefit for teachers, according to Dr. Soto.

"For teachers, the think-pair-share is an informal assessment that provides a preview of what students know and don’t know," she says.

3. Provide Sentence Starters

Sentence starters allow English learners to speak and write about complex topics by providing them with the vocabulary and structure for articulating their ideas. Just be sure to switch out the sentence frames depending on the unit of study.

“The frames should change according to the conversation,” Dr. Soto says. “Teachers should vary them throughout the year, to ensure discussions don’t get stale.”

Here are some examples of sentence starters that may work across different subjects.

4. Display Word Walls for Units of Study

A word wall is an organized display of key words, and sometimes, accompanying pictures, that students can refer to during a unit of study. Whatever your class is studying—the 19th Amendment, fractions, or green energy—a list of relevant vocabulary will support multilingual learners in discussions, research, writing, and other activities related to the unit.

Dr. Soto suggests using word walls in conjunction with sentence starters for students with lower levels of proficiency.

ELL Accommodations and Modifications Checklist

Here is a comprehensive checklist of strategies for supporting multilingual learners in the classroom, including ways to:

• Create a comfortable and welcoming environment
• Build students’ confidence and engagement
• Support students’ academic success

Download ELL Accommodations Checklist .

More Accommodations for ELL Students

How do you support multilingual students in your classroom? We’d love to hear about the ELL accommodations that have worked for you and your students. You can reach us on Twitter ( @HMHCo ) or Facebook , or email us at [email protected] .

Watch our webinar Reading and Writing Strategies for Multilingual Learners to learn how to accelerate academic language for multilingual learners in Grades 4–12 through high-interest content, consistent instructional routines, and daily practice opportunities .

A ddress the range of English learners' needs with our English language development programs .

Download our free Reading and Math Intervention eBooks.

• English Learners
• Intervention
• Grades 9-12

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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Examples of modified assignments for students with special needs.

6 comments:

Thanks for this post. I will be sharing with my daughter's teachers.

Yes yes yes! More more please... are there other links you suggest for MORE examples! Other websites or blogs??? this is a large need for school teams. THANKS

How Do you know when your modification/adaptation is too much vs just right for a student?

You can use the IEP goals to help you decide how to modify the work.

http://teachingtoinspire.com/2013/01/differentiating-math-assessments-made.html

Very nice article. (Middle School Math/Science) I've cut sheets in half, had some students do 5 problems in a section first then go back and do more if they can, 2 day testing as opposed to one day tests, cut homework in half, created guided notes, handouts, allowed word bank usage, open book quizzes, use of notes/guides during classwork, station time etc, had them work in pairs, use as many visuals as possible, color coded formulas and the numbers we inserted into formulas, created tiered lessons.... easier level problems leading up to harder problems, calculator usage..... the list can go on. Thank you so much for the article.

7 ESL Modifications to Set Your Students Increase for Sucess

We ELP teachers are this experts in English language acquisition.

Our superior capabilities even allow us to impart knowledge to scholars through an osmosis-like processes.

Okay, not really. Excuse my wishful thinking.

Instead, were how upward late researching  marketing to motivate my students .

We ongoing seek new ways to  vivid up our ESL classes , and we explore tools to meet the needs of various  learning styles .

While all these belongings are great — and necessarily — we need go make indisputable that we’re supporting our academics 100%.

This only occurs by implementing the necessary and appropriate modifications and overnight in the classroom.

But several of our don’t have firsthand experience learning a second language the, for this of us who do, most have had the service of record most other all of our education in our native language. Our students don’t necessarily have so luxurious.

In fact, of majority von themselves can learning to navigation a novel language and civilization as simultaneously learning their native choice. With content area english, students are learning other concepts and ideas forward an first time at a language that they have any to master. ELL Accommodations for Lesson Plans | Study.com

That’s not an comfortable feat, to say the least.

So, what do we think out which modifications and accommodations our apprentices need to succeeded?

Download: This blog post are available as one comfortably and portable PDF that you able take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

The Importance of Implementing Modifications required Elles

Many English Language Learners represent identified as having Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and, in turn, struggling toward access the material or concepts being taught in class. In this common situation, it’s imperative for teachers to choose appropriate modifications and accommodations in order in make the content moreover accessible to them.

But these modifications live bad to place unseren students on a level playing text with their English talking counterparts, they do do a huge difference in our students’ academic success. Modifying Assignments/Assessments for Newcomers/ELs

The definitions modifications or accommodations are often used interchangeably, but it’s imperative so teachers understand the differences between which two. ESL Modifications Checklist

Modifications are essentially modifications performed to the core content so that the learning objectives are different and more accessible forward the student.

Accommodations , on the other hand, don’t change the actual page person delivered. They’re add-ons, tools that ensure such students can demonstrate get they know without diminution their expectations. Since modifications do usually lessen the expectations in the students, they’re usually only used the extreme circumstances.

Both modifications and accommodations should be used carefully and with refined respect.

Let’s featured a ideas at how we can use accommodations both modifications to make learning easier available students with LEP.

7 ESL Modifications for Lesson Plans That’ll Make Learning Less

1. alternate responses.

When assessing autochthonous EAP students, be sure that you’re clear on exactly get it is that you want them to demos. Then, think out creative ways that they can demo that knowledge. For instance, a teacher assessing students’ understating is causes of the Revolutionarily War may traditionally have mandatory that students write responses to adenine number of questions or prompts. For ELLs, this may be restrictive and prevent them from communicating what she actually know.

If you’re non actually assessing their type ability, then thee can find alternate ways for the students to respond.

They can be allowed to draw a series of photo with short headings with even speak their responses inside a recorder in lieu of providing a written response. This path, you’re giving them the chance to communicate their knowledge inbound a way that circumvents the language and/or writing barrier.

2. Proceed Notes

Justly thinking about the advanced French class that I took in college makeup my boss spin to this very day.

The instructor spoke in French the entire time. Although I had a decent grasp on speaking and understanding French, it was still difficult for me to keep up using everything that was covered.

Our students front a similar report in many of our classes.

One way that we can make things easier is with preparing and distributing advance notes. Those gives ELLs the opportunity to preview whichever will will taught and, in turn, aids by comprehension of the significant. In this lesson, faculty will learn some strategies for differential their lesson plans into provide accommodations to English language learner...

If your students are required to take notes, your ELLs ability use your advance notes and make small additions while necessary. This decreases the amount from script required, permit the student to slow down both helps them construct sense of what will being said. It’s also a huge confidence booster that’s been proven to increase student performance.

3. Extended Time

It’s obvious such response time for ELLs is significantly greater than it is for college proficient in English. Given this, we know that Shell may require more time to process and communicate information on rating. To support your students with this area, give them additional time about tests to help. Extra time will also help to decrease anxiety, which often features a significant impact on test production.

4. Teacher Modeling

As ESL teachers, we’re always philosophy about reducing Teacher Talking Time (TTT). Can great way to do this is up focus on ways to communicate non-verbally.

Modeling plus using gestures to assist in understanding can be a very effective accommodation for ELLs. Make sure which you’re thoughtful about what you’ll model and how you’ll do it ahead for die. Also make sure that you’re not only modeling during instruction, when that you also model directions as well. Modified Lesson Plan TSL4080 - Learning Objectives: What should students how and be talented to do as a - Studocu

That, let’s do you’re passing to tell your students that they need to get folders from own duffel. Place your own backpack on your desk, find adenine place to sit real support your Factions by modeling per step as you say it. Yours can point to ampere direct while him ask them at place their folders on their workstations. You can also pick up adenine choose and dot to your backpack when you ask them to do the first step. Lesson PLAN Modification Table - LESSON PLAN MODIFICATION LESSON PLAN MODIFICATION TABLE Original - Studocu

The key is to keep your actions clear or easier. As considerably touching around sack distract students from listening to what you’re saying.

5. Simplified written and verbal tutorial

Or you’re giving how for a test alternatively assignment verbally or word-for-word, you should simplify them as plenty as possible for students from LEP. Many times, this can be easily done on taking out extra words with turning intricate sentences into simple one. Consider these directions:

Carefully read each sentence below and determine it topic and predicate. Then, underline the subject once both the predicate duplicate.

These directions ca be lighter changed into this simpler version:

Take each sentence. Put one line under the subject. Put two lines go the predicate.

These simple changes requisition minimal effort and time, but actual do make a huge difference used to students!

6. Frequent pausing

Learning shall play, but it can also be hard work!

This can especially true for students learning a new language. Choose that heavy work may mid that own ELLs must additional frequent breaks than others. Give your apprentices patronize breaks during class time or tests like that it can perform at their superior. Plain stepping out is the hall, walking around the room or taking a trip to the water fountain can make a huge variance, leave them feeling refreshed and take the in the zone to be readiness on more.

7. eDictionaries

When used get, technology never fails to transform a classroom . Allow your students to use eDictionaries in your classroom to seem up unknown words. Every regular spelling will what, but eDictionaries allow students to hear an pronunciations a words. As you might imagine, this your extremely helpful available anyone learning an second language. When college encounter an unfounded word, they pot type it into an eDictionary, hear the word pronounced and either read or listen to the item. Also, if they aren’t safer how to to sprechen adenine talk, many eDictionaries will allow yours to tell the word to have the correct spelling indicates.

Using Content Modifications When Necessary

Are is definitely situations where lodgings are simply none adequate. In these moments, you’ll requirement in really change or modify table and learned objectives. Last-Minute ESL Lesson Plans That Can Be Adapted for Any Class

In these instances, you’ll basically change the overall expectations from the individual student and/or make the contented less complex. The goal is that this will find the student to learn as much as possible while still working towards ihr overall learning goals. 

So, if one learning target for your pupils exists to be able to identify the grounds of the Revolutionary War, adenine modification ability entail that one particular student only had to identify all parties involved in who warfare, dates, and other specific bits from information.

Review Effectiveness of Instructional Accommodations

There are many, many options for convenient your students.

Whole to these accommodations aren’t equal.

What works for one student may not work for another, and what worked at one point the length may not longer be effective forward your current classroom.

At implementing accommodations the modifications, are definite to continuously evaluate their effectiveness.

In this evaluation, it’s significant up entreat and considering student feedback. For something is workers well, then greatly. Whenever not, then you’ll need to find other rooms that are more effective. Talking to other teachers can be especially useful in this process. More for your peers will have ideas and view of accommodations that they’ve used successfully.

Keep in mind that the goal of that choose is the make the procedures off teaching and learning better for the student. Put forth time and effort into diligent selection accommodations and watch as these small changes make one world of difference! Access learn documents, get reply to your study questions, additionally connect about real tutors for EDU 342 : ESOL Applications at Nonpareil Leopards University.

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Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

The Six Most Effective Instructional Strategies for ELLs—According to Teachers

• Share article

(This is the first post in a two-part series.)

The new question-of-the-week is:

What is the single most effective instructional strategy you have used to teach English-language learners?

This series is part of a longer series of questions and answers inviting educators from various disciplines to share their “single most effective instructional strategy.”

Last week, educators shared their recommendations when it came to teaching writing.

There are many more to come!

Today, Valentina Gonzalez, Denita Harris, Cindy Garcia, and Deedy Camarena offer their responses.

Before we get to today’s guest, I’d like to share my own answer.

I’m a big fan of all the ideas guests in this series offer—particularly the Picture Word Inductive Model .

Two that contributors to this series don’t mention and are ones I like to use often are the Language Experience Approach (LEA) and Total Physical Response (TPR).

The LEA describes a lesson in which the entire class does a common activity (playing a game, watching a video, anything), and then the teacher leads students in a process of writing about it. Those sentences can then be used for a myriad of other follow-up activities. It’s particularly useful for mixed-level classes—everyone can participate in the activity, and then students can write sentences about it that are simple or complex depending on their language proficiency. You can learn more about the LEA here .

Total Physical Response (TPR) describes a process where the teacher (and, later, students) model a physical action when teaching a new word (standing up when teaching the word “stand”). It’s active, can be done in a very playful mood, and can be made increasingly complex. You can read more at The Best Resources For Learning About Total Physical Response (TPR) .

You can learn more about ELL teaching strategies at previous posts appearing in this column—find them at Teaching English-Language Learners .

Two particularly useful posts that have not yet made it into that summary collection (I update them every summer) are Thirteen Instructional Strategies for Supporting ELL Newcomers and Ten Strategies for Teaching English-Language Learners Online .

Now, to responses from today’s guests:

Picture Word Inductive Model

Valentina Gonzalez is a former classroom teacher with over 20 years in education serving also as a district facilitator for English-learners, a professional-development specialist for ELs, and as an educational consultant. Valentina delivers professional development and coaches teachers on sheltered instruction strategies. Her work can be found on Seidlitz Education and on MiddleWeb . You can reach her through her website or on Twitter @ValentinaESL :

Shifting the way we approach teaching English-learners can have a positive effect on their success in our schools. When we see our English-learners’ assets first, we recognize everything they come with and value not only their culture but also the content and literacy they bring to the table.

I’ve found the Picture Word Inductive Model (Calhoun, 1998) to be one of the most effective instructional techniques in my experience teaching ELs. The benefits of using PWIM with English-learners are many. This literacy technique is quite flexible and can be used cross-curricularly no matter the grade level, language level, or content. PWIM leverages students’ funds of knowledge and builds upon them. Through the PWIM, ELs are engaged in thinking and in all language domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing with scaffolds and supports such as visuals and sentence stems or frames. This method can be used in all grade levels and cross-curricularly.

These are the steps I use to implement an adapted version of PWIM with English-learners and how each step benefits ELs:

This engaging instructional strategy helps to lower students’ anxiety levels, which increases participation. After using the PWIM with numerous student groups, these are some tips I can offer to educators who haven’t tried it before:

• Carefully select images that are compelling to your age group of students.
• Try color coding or chunking labeled words (ex.: all verbs in orange, adjectives in blue, etc.).
• Keep in mind students’ language-proficiency levels when creating sentence stems and frames. Students with advanced English proficiency will benefit from more sophisticated sentence structures.
• Don’t stress about doing it all in one day. Gage your students and make adjustments as needed.
• On a subsequent day, use the generated words as a sorting activity. Ask students to work with a partner to put the words in groups and label the groups.
• Co-create a sentence-patterning chart with the class. Some groups of students may need this level of support during Step 7.

Below is an example of a PWIM and sentence-patterning chart mash up. Combining these two techniques enhances ELs’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English.

This link will take you to a video with more details about the PWIM. I know many readers here have tried PWIM or variations, too. Please share pictures and stories of how your students have responded.

Sentence Frames

Denita Harris is a curriculum coordinator for the MSD of Wayne Township, Indianapolis. She has over 20 years of experience as a teacher, assistant principal, and district-level administrator. Harris is the recipient of the 2019 INTESOL (Indiana Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages) Best of the Best in K-12 Education, and the 2017 and 2020 African American Excellence in Education Award. Find her on Twitter @HarrisLeads:

The single most effective strategy I have used and would highly recommend when teaching English-language learners is the use of sentence frames for writing and speaking, the productive skills, accompanied with a word bank, word phrases, and/or pictures.

English-languagelearners possess a wealth of knowledge, and it is our obligation, as educators, to tap into their knowledge and continue to build upon what our students already know and can do. We must remember our students are in the process of learning a new language and are not in the process of learning a language; therefore, we can provide the words and the grammatical structures of the new language to help guide them in speaking and writing.

Here is an analogy to consider. English-language learners have the tools (vocabulary in their native language). They come to us with these tools; however, while learning English, they may not yet know the names of all the tools or how to use them properly to accomplish a task completely (speaking or writing in English). Our responsibility is to provide our students with the names of each tool (vocabulary in English) and demonstrate to them, through sentence frames, how they might utilize these tools to accomplish a complete task (express a complete thought or sentence in English). A sentence frame can be made up of only one sentence or several sentences to assist students in structuring paragraphs.

The use of sentence frames for writing and speaking not only give English-language learners a framework to communicate through both oral and written language, sentence frames also help build students’ self-efficacy. When students have the language to contribute to classroom discussions and are able to express their thoughts on paper, they begin to feel a part of the classroom community, and that makes all the difference.

Comprehensible Input

Cindy Garcia has been a bilingual educator for 14 years and is currently a district instructional specialist for PK-6 bilingual/ESL mathematics. She is active onTwitter @CindyGarciaTX and on her blog:

The single most effective strategy that I used to teach English-language learners is comprehensible input. Comprehensible input means that the teacher speaks in such a way that students are able to understand what is being said even when they do not know or understand all of the words being stated. Below are some strategies to make input comprehensible:

• Slow down rate of speech and enunciate clearly. As students are listening, they are also working to process what is being said and how that fits with what they already know. At the same time, ELLs are translanguaging and making sense of teachers’ academic language. ELLs are developing their English language, and it is very important that they hear those initial and ending sounds of words in order to add them to their vocabulary. Sometimes when we speak too quickly, we drop important sounds such as “ing”.
• Avoid figurative language and idioms. While these phrases might make sense to you and emphasize a point, to ELLs they might break down their comprehension. Students will probably end up with a literal translation that makes no sense. For example, saying it was a piece of cake will be translated to it was a portion of a dessert, not it was easy! Not only that, but ELLs might stop listening as they try to figure what that idiom means.
• Use gestures and total physical response (TPR). Language can sometimes be abstract and not precise. There can also be words that exist in English that do not exist in other languages. For example, toes do not have a Spanish equivalent. In Spanish, we have hand fingers and feet fingers. Using exaggerated gestures can help make the meaning of new vocabulary more clear to students. Using TPR, students also learn to associate a movement with a word, and that will make it more likely that they internalize that new vocabulary.

Collaborative Summarizing

Deedy Camarena is the coordinator for English-language development (ELD), dual and world languages, at the Santa Clara County Office of Education in California:

When English-language learners (ELLs) are acquiring another language, they must be able to make meaning. In order to make meaning, they must develop oracy (proficiency in oral expression and comprehension— Merriam Webster ). Utilizing purposeful dialogue to practice oracy expands student thinking. The most effective instructional strategy I’ve used to practice oracy is Collaborative Summarizing.

There are five steps to successfully implement Collaborative Summarizing. These steps allow ELLs to read, think, exchange information, and negotiate through dialogue. In preparation, the teacher must select a text appropriate for the students’ independent reading level, or lexile level, and determine the language demands. The purpose of reading the passage is to utilize the information to make meaning through oracy. However, you may find another purpose such as language functions , content, or to acquire background knowledge. Once the text has been selected and vetted by the teacher, the five-step Collaborative Summarizing can begin.

First, the teacher models how to identify the big ideas in the text. This may include the important people, things or ideas, what is occurring, and details. Then, the students individually read the text and determine 3-5 big ideas. Students utilize a graphic organizer specifically made for this strategy to record their information. Using those big ideas, students write a 15-word summary.

Second, students find one partner to dialogue with and “ create a negotiated list that reflects their combined agreement on the three to six most important ideas .” Once students have discussed the most important ideas, they turn them into one, collaborative 15-word summary. Teachers can strategically pair up students, or students can choose. Students must first determine the negotiating rules they will follow. For example, act respectively, cite evidence to prove your opinion, or use academic-language sentence frames, such as Kate Kinsella’s, for discussing and collaboration . Students use these sentence frames to support the function of negotiating and intentionally use academically language correctly. The purpose of negotiating with their partner is to “identify who or what is the most important in the section, [and] identify what the subject is doing,”( English Learner Toolkit of Strategies ).

Third, have each pair meet with another pair. One student from each pair reads their summary. Then, they dive in and renegotiate a common summary for their new group of four and add it to their graphic organizer.

Fourth, each group of four chooses another group of four to repeat the renegotiating process. Once again, the group will add this new summary to their graphic organizer.

Fifth, ask groups to edit their summaries for meaning, language, and word choice. As the focus of Collaborative Summarizing is utilizing purposeful dialogue to practice oracy, this could be an optional step.

Sixth, chose one student from the group to present the summary to the class. As ELLs have varying comfort levels of reading in front of a class, give the students time to practice in their group. Once a sufficient amount of time has passed, bring the class together to listen to the summaries.

Collaborative Summarizing helps students develop oracy and effectively utilize purposeful dialogue with a partner and a group to create a common product.

Thanks to Valentina, Denita, Cindy, and Deedy for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

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How to Modify Your Writing Lessons for English Language Learners / ESOL Strategies

Here is an example of one of the questions I get asked frequently by other teachers. “What can we do to help our English Language Learners who need more support in their writing while still having to teach grade-level standards that they’re not ready for?” So, I’m going to share the writing lessons for English Language Learners that I use in the classroom. The best part of these ELL lessons is that many of them can be incorporated into the lessons you are already doing. You’ll just use these strategies to modify your writing instruction for your English Language Learners. You can even use these strategies with the whole group because they work well for most students.

Nine writing lessons for English Language Learners

1. sentence frames/stems.

My first strategy is to use sentence frames or sentence stems in the lessons. This can be as simple as printing sentence frames onto sticky notes and helping students stick them on their paper.

We can also use this with more advanced ELLs by creating a paragraph template. It allows them to have a beginning and end so they can focus on filling in what they can. It allows them to really focus on the content and not struggle too much with how to start or end the sentence.

You can modify this strategy based on whether students need help writing a single sentence or an entire paragraph. You can also use this with the writing prompts you’re using with your students. It allows ELLs to participate in the same writing topics while getting a little more scaffolding.

You can print out sentence frames and use them on a bulletin board, making it easy for all your students to use.

2. Reduce Text & Close Read

My second strategy is to reduce the amount of text they are using. We know text-based writing is so important, but we don’t want students who are ELLs to worry about reading a text that is at grade level if that’s not where they’re at.

We can also have students close read the passage with a partner or with us so they can close read and write down notes. Again, it gives them the chance to grasp the passage better.

I also like to have a read-aloud available. We have this for all of our texts in our  Simplify Writing Program . It really helps our ELLs. You can also record yourself reading your texts to help students.

3. Provide models

I provide models for students in all of my writing lessons, so this isn’t an activity I need to modify. When I do a mini-lesson, I model exactly what type of concepts students will use in their writing. Then, they have examples to take into their writing time.

I’ll display the model really big, so it’s easy for them to see. You can also provide a copy for them to look at if you pre-prep it. This is helpful for all students to know what you’re expecting from them and what the writing should actually look like.

4. Mentor Text

A mentor text is closely related to providing a model. You can use a mentor text to show students what a specific skill or concept looks like in writing. Not only is it engaging, but it’s a way for them to visualize it, which is half the battle when teaching writing.

5. Quick Writes

Make time for quick writes. Allow all students to have time to do no-stress, no-pressure quick writes like journaling or writing based on a verbal or picture prompt. This allows them to focus on getting their thoughts down. This might mean writing in their native language and translating one or two sentences for ELLs. Or they may focus on just building out a very small paragraph.

It will be different for each student, but the quick write allows you to differentiate for each student so that they can write at their ability level.

6. Word Walls

This next strategy is another activity that is great for all students. Word walls are a collection of words that students can use in their writing specific to the writing type or topics you’re working on. Word walls are beneficial if they’re writing on a science or social studies topic with a lot of academic vocabulary.

7. Utilize their native language

Allowing students to write in their native language is not a bad thing. You can have them translate it over or use Google Translate (there are so many tools to help do this.) But when students aren’t ready to write in English, and you still want them to participate and move them towards that goal, this can be really helpful.

8. Pre-teach academic vocabulary

I think this tip is helpful for all students—pre-teach the academic vocabulary. These words in passages are usually bolded because they are grade-level academic vocabulary. It’s helpful to pre-teach these words to ELL students, and it doesn’t hurt to do that with all your students. 

You can easily do this by using a vocabulary lesson before your writing lesson. It will make a huge difference.

9. Simplify directions

My best strategy for teaching writing to all students is to give a bite-sized lesson and have students do the exact same thing in their writing directly after. I don’t want to give students directions and tell them a long list of things to do. Instead, you want to give them a very short checklist with one or two items they can do in their independent writing time.

It’s the same with ELLs, but it might be a slightly different checklist based on their skills. Again, you want to ensure the directions are very simple and easy to understand without many complicated steps.

Make sure you stop and define writing terms when you are using them in a lesson. For example, if you’re talking about “thesis,” stop even if you’ve gone over it before, and remind them of what a thesis is. We have to make sure they understand the language we’re using and are building that English vocabulary.

Those nine strategies help me when teaching writing to English Language Learners. Of course, you can pick and choose which ones you use. You will find that some fit certain situations better than others.

If you haven’t visited Simply Writing yet, check it out. The program includes a complete resource library for English Language Learners along with our regular intervention units. We also have audio read-alouds for all the passages that students are reading so we can fully support them.

If you have any questions about teaching writing to ELLs, please leave them in the comments.

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About the Author

April smith.

April began her career as a 5th grade teacher in 2008 and quickly developed a passion for creating engaging educational materials to share with fellow teachers. She now works with districts around the country, training their teachers and leaders on how to implement research-based strategies and differentiation techniques that meet the needs of diverse learners.

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14 fascinating teacher interview questions for principals, tips for success if you have a master’s degree and can’t find a job, 14 ways young teachers can get that professional look, which teacher supplies are worth the splurge, 8 business books every teacher should read, conditional admission: everything you need to know, college majors: everything you need to know, 7 things principals can do to make a teacher observation valuable, 3 easy teacher outfits to tackle parent-teacher conferences, a guide to classroom and at-home accommodations for esl students.

ESL is a method of language acquisition where students are placed in regular English-speaking classes for part of the school day and pulled out for intensive small-group language focus during other classes.  Are you an educator or parent searching for accommodations to help ESL students? Well, look no further. Here are some ways that you can make the learning process easier for ESL students.

Classroom Accommodations: To succeed in the classroom, ESL students need access to appropriate supports, including:

• Allow extra time on tests
• Provide a quiet space to work
• Explicitly teach language objectives.
• Simplify the language used in instruction
• Give additional instruction including reviews, drills
• Use manipulatives to enhance concepts depending on the language level of learner
• Provide visual aids to enhance key concepts
• Provide for alternate seating for proximity to peer helper or teacher as necessary
• Assist the student in building a picture file of key vocabulary
• Assist students in underlining keywords or important facts in the text
• Use prompts, photocopies of notes or outlines, or highlighted texts and materials
• Utilize resources in the student’s first language
• Teach new concepts in chunks
• Provide frequent checks for comprehension
• Orient students to expectations through rubrics
• Provide simplified/additional instructions
• Allow editing and revision before grading
• Distribute a daily or weekly syllabus of class and homework tasks
• Give alternative homework or classwork assignments suitable to the student’s linguistic ability for activities and assessments
• Extend time for assignment completion as necessary
• Give students an opportunity to express key concepts in their own words
• Allow alternate reading assignments/materials at the student’s reading level
• Substitute a hands-on activity for a written activity
• Utilize assignment notebooks
• Simplify language or shorten assignments
• Provide a word bank
• Allow the student to take the test/re-test individually with a teacher or paraprofessional
• Read the text aloud
• Allow for small group administration of assessments
• Utilize informal observations of performance and classroom participation as a percentage of the overall evaluation (see rubric).
• Incorporate group work into the assessment process
• Simplify the language and organization of the assessment
• Give opportunities for the student to take tests in sections/chunks
• Allow for an extended time to complete the assessment
• Provide the opportunity for a student to provide oral responses to be recorded by the teacher or paraprofessional
• Design projects and assessments for the student that requires a reduced sentence or paragraph composition
• Use rubrics as an assessment tool in place of textbook tests

At Home Accommodations: Parents can support the work that is being done at school, by providing their children with the following at-home accommodations.

• Play language development games
• Learn the new language alongside your child
• Provide a quiet place to study
• Help with homework
• Be understanding

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Making Lesson Plan Modifications that Support All Students

Rebecca Duguid

BetterLesson Master Teacher

This blog is the first in a series that highlights the work of the Meeting the Needs of All Learners Master Teacher Project . Each author is an experienced educator from the Kansas City area with deep expertise in differentiation and working with students with disabilities and English Learners.

Time is considered a special commodity among teachers, which we try to maximize as much as possible. So when considering modifications for students with disabilities or English Language Learners, we might question using our precious time for just a few students. In reality, the modifications that we make for students with different needs could benefit the learning of every student in your class. Taking the time to make modifications helps you to prioritize what you truly want students to learn and helps all students successfully reach learning targets.

When I first started making modifications, I found myself spending more time on prep. However this quickly became easier, and I soon saw results in my classroom. I was expecting a unit about the Revolutionary War to take more time to teach, but all my students were able to grasp the key ideas because they were working at their independent level for success. We were able to move more quickly through the material, which allowed for deeper and more meaningful conversations as a whole class.

Here are some areas where modifications will lead to the success of all students.

Reading Modifications

Build the foundations.

One of my favorite strategies for teaching the foundations of reading is  Tap It Out . Tap It Out is a strategy in which you use your fingers to tap each sound in a word to help students with phonemic awareness and decoding. This strategy is especially helpful with dyslexia or other reading difficulties. However, I use this strategy with all of my students, and I can see that each student grasps the necessary knowledge and routine that increases their ability to decode and encode.

Build Background Knowledge

Building Background Knowledge through Text Sets  is a strategy that requires some pre-planning. Teachers must first identify which topics might be unfamiliar to students who don’t have the necessary background knowledge based on their disability or cultural differences. However, all our students come to us with different lived experiences and interests, so curating a text set to introduce a topic before diving deep into the learning allows all students to build a schema to connect to later on in their learning.

One of my favorite examples of the universal benefit of text sets came from a young man in one of my reading groups. I had created a text set with the intention of assisting a couple of students with disabilities in the group, however, this particular student became really engaged and excited by the topic. When we started digging deeper into the actual learning he was motivated, incredibly insightful, and encouraged all his group mates throughout the learning. He felt like a success and this, in turn, helped the other group members feel successful.

Personalization

Place assignments into tiers .

Tiering assignments is another way to address the needs of students with disabilities and English Learners that also helps all students. When assignments are tiered, students are able to access information in different levels and forms, which increases their motivation and belief that they can succeed. Three teachers from the “Meeting the Needs of All Learners” Master Teacher Project have written strategies to help with tiering:

• Tiering Assignments and Assessments in Math
• Tiered Activities for Upper Elementary Students
• Tiered Activities for Early Elementary English Learners

Audio Recordings 

Often strategies that meet the needs of students with disabilities include auditory recordings of text.  Digital Worksheets with Video Directions demonstrates this type of strategy.  The benefit to all students comes from taking the cognitive load off of comprehending directions. This allows for students who find it easier to listen to directions to access that information, but keep their minds focused on the analysis of the content or the learning that needs to take place.

Using Visuals

Another strategy that is often used for English Learners is utilizing visuals. Strategies like  Visual Retellings  and  Shades of Meaning  are very helpful for English Learners. However, this same idea could benefit many students who find they learn better through visuals either as photos, graphics, diagrams, illustrations, etc.  It can also help all students make those neural connections to other ideas.

What we as teachers discover in the end is those modifications that make learning accessible for students with disabilities or English Language Learners lead to enhanced learning for all students. Taking the time to make those modifications will lead more students to success with learning targets and maybe even less time re-teaching.

Explore Rebecca’s strategies and more on the  Meeting the Needs of All Learners Master Teacher Project. Read the second post in this series: Science for all students, bringing the ocean and wind to the classroom .

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Using ELL Strategies in the Science Classroom

How science teachers can use ELL strategies to help students have a better grasp of the vocabulary of science.

Middle school science students filter into the classroom, gradually transitioning to speaking English as they finish conversations in their first language, Korean or Chinese. One of a series of slides is up on the board, each cuing an activity to get them talking about the subject in the target language, preparing them for the challenge of the vocabulary-dense content area of science.

The volume of science terms discourages many students early on, especially students who don’t often see themselves reflected in the content, particularly girls and students of color. To address the needs of the large language learner population at our school, the two of us—English language learner teacher Kent and science teacher Gina—teamed up to create resources to support students as they grow as both scientists and English speakers.

While these resources were designed with language learners in mind, the activities have proven highly effective in increasing confidence with science vocabulary for native English speakers as well.

Teachers can easily modify each of the resources below to fit different science units or even different content areas and support learners as they transition away from figuring out what to do and instead focus on content, skills, and vocabulary, reducing the amount of time needed for instructions. For example, when students see a vocabulary puzzle in class, they discuss with a partner or small group (in English or their first language) the multiple ways to approach it and then immediately get to work.

Supporting English Language Learners in Science Classes

Interactive student-to-student talk:  Using the target language for frequent student vocalizations and student-to-student interactions is a primary goal and the main area we focused on when we developed these resources. Each class starts with an opportunity for students to warm up their science vocabulary, activate schema relevant to the day’s lesson, or retrieve previously learned content, all while practicing their academic interpersonal English skills. We have slides and activities to engage students in partner talk using unit vocabulary, and teachers can easily adapt them for a range of content.

Vocabulary puzzles:  Vocabulary puzzles tap visual, kinesthetic, and interpersonal modalities and can be differentiated with little difficulty. Teachers can scaffold the puzzles for different linguistic levels by cutting them into fewer larger pieces before tackling all the pieces separately. Students can also lay pieces on top of the completed puzzle, using it as a key. Once students are confident with the vocabulary, they can use the cards in a dominoes-style game where students make connections between different terms to build an interconnecting board.

Student roles in jigsaw discussions:  Dividing up content using a jigsaw  strategy gives students the chance to dig in more deeply with a smaller amount of information and offers all learners the opportunity to feel more like an expert about specific content material. This also allows for the leveling of source material to give every student an entry point into the topic. Clear student roles in the discussion ensure that every student is contributing and is engaged during the interactive portion of the jigsaw.

These tools also support effective collaborative talk as students are tasked with asking questions, summarizing main ideas, and using a recording tool to offer a window into their conversations. The teacher can easily change the roles to meet the needs of the students, content, or task.

Fishbowl discussions:  Once students feel comfortable with the content vocabulary, it’s important that they get an opportunity to apply it. Fishbowl discussions consist of a small group of students conversing about a unit-related topic while another group of students observes the discussion. Topics are designed to prompt debate, deep thinking, and connections to student experiences, as well as promote the application of unit content and vocabulary.

Tailoring both the student preparation sheet and the observation sheet gives the teacher the opportunity to guide students toward the right content and discussion norms. For example, after noticing that girls were often excluded from discussions involving groups that had a majority of boys, we added an “invites quieter member to share” section to the observations sheet.

The fishbowl format facilitates high-level discussions in the target language and supports students in developing academic and collaborative discussion skills. In classroom reflections, students often point to fishbowl discussions as the activity that really pushes them and helps them learn.

Students thrive in learning spaces where they can be engaged and successful—where they can feel themselves learning. Integrating activities like those above into a science or other content class gives every student entry points for success and the tools to support them in making progress. We encourage teachers to give these strategies a try, measure how classroom interactions shift, and plan their next steps in supporting all learners in communicating about scientific topics.

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73 ESL Writing Activities to Spark Your Students’ Creativity and Imagination

From a student’s point of view, writing assignments are something to dread.

But from an ESL teacher’s point of view, they should be a challenge worth accepting.

The challenge for you is to motivate your students enough to actually be excited about writing.

Sounds impossible? It’s actually quite simple.

The key is a strong pre-writing activity that boosts their confidence and adds to their vocabulary at the same time.

So, how do you get your students’ writing off to a great start?

In this post, we’ll look at some different ESL writing activities that will transform your students from hesitant writers to confident wordsmiths in their own right.

Writing Assignments Based on Stories

Writing activities prompted by music, writing practice exercises based on images or pictures, writing assignments based on food, writing activities based on mysteries, exercises to practice writing emails, activities to practice writing advertisements, assignments to practice writing reports, creative writing activity: class newsletter/newspaper.

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People of all ages love a well-told story, and using stories to teach ESL is a sure winner.

A story for a pre-writing activity could be in the form of:

• A  movie . It could be a biography, sci-fi film, thriller, action-packed adventure, fairy tale or even a cartoon.
• A  story read aloud from a book. If you’re using this, read in a way that brings the characters’ voices to life (including the narrator’s), hold the book up to show any pictures within or scan them and project onto a screen as you read. You can also search YouTube videos of famous authors or celebrities reading a book aloud, and show these in class.
• A  story from the news . It could be from the TV, radio, newspaper or an online news site .
• A story read by your students. In this case, you could let them read a story silently or with a partner, and take as long as they like to think about the important parts.

No matter what you choose, it’ll be a great lead-in to the ESL writing exercises below.

1. Re-tell the story as is, or summarize it. (This works best for beginners, who are still getting their feet wet in the waters of English comprehension.)

2. After watching “Finding Nemo” : Tell the story from the point of view of the whale, the dentist’s daughter or Bruce the shark.

3. Explain to Marlin how he should take care of Nemo better.

4. Make up a story about a farm animal/zoo animal/jungle animal. What if a baby ___ was lost? What if a child was lost in the city? What if you found a lost child?

5. After the story of “Goldilocks” : Tell the story from the baby bear’s point of view.

6. What if the baby bear and Goldilocks became best buds? What would happen?

7. After discussing “The Gingerbread Man” : Tell the story from the fox’s or gingerbread man’s point of view.

8. What did the old woman do wrong that made the gingerbread man run away?

9. How do you make a gingerbread man? What other shapes could be made instead?

10. After “Little Red Riding Hood” : Write the story in the first person—from the point of view of either Red Riding Hood or the wolf.

11. What should Red Riding Hood have done when she met the wolf?

12. After watching a “Lord of the Rings” movie: What would you do if you had the One Ring? Write about a magical quest you and several friends would have if you could.

13. After watching a “Pirates of the Caribbean”  movie: What if you were a pirate? What adventures would you have if you were a pirate?

14. After watching “Titanic” : Write about what you discover when you dive onto the wreck. Or imagine you were on the ship when it sank, and talk about how you escaped.

15. Whose fault was it that so many people drowned on the Titanic? What should they have done?

16. After watching a “Star Wars”  movie: Imagine you’re a space explorer and write about what happens when you meet some characters from “Star Wars.”

17. After watching a “Terminator”  movie: Imagine your teacher is a robot that has come back from the future. Or imagine you have come back from the future—what would it be like?

18. After watching a “Harry Potter” movie: Make up some magic spells and explain how you’d use them.

Everybody loves music! Watch your students’ faces light up as soon as they realize that they’re about to be treated to some songs rather than chalk-and-talk. Music stirs the emotions, after all, and can get your students excited about writing.

Here are some ideas for music you can incorporate into ESL writing activities:

• Classical music. There are some pieces of well-known classical music that specifically tell a story , and many of these are available on YouTube.
• “Fantasia 2000,” particularly “Rhapsody in Blue.” This wonderful, wordless animated story can kick off so much great writing!
• Movie music. The music that goes with a movie tells watchers how they should be feeling, and could be a good jumping-off point for some writing.
• Popular songs and music. Self-explanatory. Check out the most popular or trending artists on YouTube or Spotify for ideas.
• Kids’ songs . There’s something about singing a catchy little tune that makes the words stick in your mind more than just saying them. These can lead to some interesting writing, too.

19. After Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” : Tell the story from Peter’s point of view.

20. After Saint-Saëns’ “The Carnival of the Animals” : Imagine walking through the scenes with the animals and interacting with them. Write a story from the point of view of one of the animals.

21. Describe the animals in “The Carnival of the Animals.”

22. After Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” : Re-tell this classic Shakespeare story, adding a twist.

23. After watching and listening to “Rhapsody in Blue” : Tell all/part of the story.

24. If you were the main character in “Rhapsody in Blue,” what would you do?

25. Listen to a piece of classical/instrumental music and tell the story that it might be a background to. Imagine that it’s the background music for a movie.

26. Tell the story (real or made up) behind some popular songs like Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams.”

27. Describe meeting someone special like in the aforementioned Taylor Swift song.

28. What happens in your wildest dreams?

29. What if you were a famous pop star or musician? What would it be like? What would you do?

30. Give instructions on how to find your favorite song on the Internet, both music and lyrics.

31. If you play an instrument, or have a relative who plays one, write about some of the basics of how to play. (This could also work as a speaking and listening activity, and then the whole class could write about it.)

32. What is your favorite genre of music, and why? (Be sure to explain what “genre” means !)

33. Do you think young children should be allowed to freely watch music videos?

Some pictures you can use for ESL writing activities include:

• Pictures from social media. If you use social media at all, you doubtless have a barrage of amazing photos and videos on your feed, all of which make for excellent writing prompts.
• Pictures from Google Images . A quick Google search on any (classroom-safe) image will turn up plenty.
• Cartoons . If you have young students, they’ll definitely enjoy this one.
• Pictures selected by your students. Not sure what to choose? Have your students pick their own pictures to write about. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how vibrant their writing can be when they’re writing about subjects they actually care about.

Regardless of the picture you (or your students) choose, here are some writing prompts you can consider.

34. Tell a story—real or imagined—of what is happening in the picture.

35. Write about what happens next from the pictured moment.

36. Write about what was happening just before the pictured incident.

37. What if that was you in the picture?

38. What if you were the person who took the picture?

39. What if you knew the people in the picture? What would you say to them?

40. Describe all of the elements in the picture. This is great for vocabulary practice.

41. Describe how someone in the picture might be feeling.

42. Explain how to get into  a pictured predicament (for example, in the picture here , how did he get into the boat without the crocodile eating him?) as well as how to get out of it.

43. Express an opinion about the rights and wrongs of the pictured situation. For example, for the same picture above: Should crocodiles be hunted and killed? What should happen if a crocodile kills someone?

Many of your students likely enjoy thinking and talking about food. So why wouldn’t they be motivated to write about it?

How you integrate food into your ESL writing assignments depends on your classroom arrangements and the amount of time you’re willing to put into preparation.

In any case, here are some ideas:

• Start with the preparation and sharing of food before writing about it.
• Look at pictures of food, and talk about them before moving on to writing.
• Have students research food-related topics on the internet.
• Start with a story about food.

Here are the specific food writing prompts:

44. After the story of “The Gingerbread Man”: Think about food that develops a life of its own, and what would happen with it. (This can also open up a discussion about cultural foods.) For example, make up a similar story about another piece of food (e.g., spaghetti or rice that comes alive). What if you felt something moving in your mouth after you bit into your burger?

45. Write a story (real or imagined) about being very hungry and/or finding/buying/stealing food to meet a desperate need.

46. Write a story about trying a new, unfamiliar kind of food—maybe in a (relevant) cross-cultural setting.

47. Write a story about finding and eating a food that has magical properties. (Maybe read or watch some or all of “Alice in Wonderland”  first.)

48. Describe interesting/disgusting/unusual/delicious/colorful foods, especially after a class tasting lesson. (Prepare students first with suitable taste vocabulary .)

49. Describe a food that’s unfamiliar to most students in the class. (This is particularly helpful for classes where there are students belonging to minority groups who hesitate to speak up.)

50. Describe an imaginary magical food.

51. Give instructions for preparing a particular recipe.

52. After a class activity or demonstration involving food: Write down what you have learned.

53. Give instructions for producing food—growing vegetables, keeping animals, etc.

54. Give instructions for buying the best food—what to look for, looking at labels, checking prices and the like.

55. Write about your opinion on food and health in First World and Third World countries. (Explain what makes a country “First,” “Second” or “Third World” first.)

56. Write about your opinion on the cost of food.

57. Write about your opinion on GMOs or genetically engineered foods .

There’s nothing quite like a good “whodunnit,” and students will always enjoy a good puzzle. You can base various pre-writing activities around the two games below to get the class warmed up for ESL writing practice.

• Conundrum. This is an example of a game that can be played as a speaking and listening activity, and can lead into some good writing. The game starts with a simple statement or description of a situation like the ones described in situation puzzles . Students ask questions and receive yes/no answers until they work out the explanation for the situation.

After Conundrum, here are some of the activities your students can do:

58. Write a story about the sequence of events involved in a situation brought up in the game.

59. Devise and describe your own situation puzzle.

• Putting their hands inside a cloth bag (or just feeling the outside) to guess what an object is.
• Smelling substances in opaque jars with perforated lids, and trying to guess what they are.
• Tasting mystery foods on plastic spoons (with blindfolds).
• Looking at pictures of mysterious objects from obscure angles.
• Listening to and guessing the origins of sound effects. (You can record your own, or use some from the Internet .)

(Important: Make sure that whatever you’re using for your guessing game is safe for your students, especially if they involve having to touch, taste or smell the object.)

After a guessing game, your students can:

60. Write about a possible mystery object and a magical quality it could possess.

61. Describe what you thought you saw, heard, felt, tasted or smelled.

For both games, here are some writing prompts you can do:

62. Give instructions for playing one of the games.

63. Give instructions for the perfect crime.

64. Give your opinion about a recent crime and the punishment for it.

Emailing can often be a scary task for your students, especially if they’re using a new, strange language like English. You can utilize an email writing activity to help your students build confidence and get more comfortable writing in English.

Email can also teach your students things like proper language (formal or informal), structure and format. Email-related writing activities for ESL students can offer ample opportunities to teach all of these three aspects.

Since emails involve two parties (the sender and the receiver), you’ll need to pair your students up for this activity. Here’s how to prepare for it:

• Create one set of worksheets explaining details relevant to the sender. For example, it could contain information about a sender’s upcoming birthday party that they want to invite the receiver to.
• Create another set of worksheets with the receiver’s details. The worksheets could contain questions about food dishes or gifts, or it could say that the receiver can’t make it for one reason or other.

Once the above has been done, give one set of worksheets to the “senders” and the other to the “receivers.” Then, here’s what your students will do:

65. Based on the senders’ worksheets, write an email inviting the receiver and explaining the key aspects of the event featured in the worksheet.

66. Based on the receivers’ worksheets, write an email explaining why you can or cannot make it to the party, and/or what other information you need about the event.

Advertisements are everywhere, and you can bet that your students have a few favorite ads of their own. Advertisement-related writing activities work across age groups and can be adapted to most students and their needs.

This great ESL writing assignment can help your students put the adjectives they’ve learned into good use, as well as showcase their creative writing and persuasion skills.

You can find advertisements everywhere, including:

• YouTube videos
• Newspapers and magazines

You can also bring an object (or handful of objects) to class that your students can write ads about.

67. After your students carefully examine the object(s) you brought into class: Write all the adjectives you can think of about it.

68. For a more challenging writing exercise: Write an ad about the object. How would you persuade someone who knows nothing about the object whatsoever to buy it? (Your students may or may not use the adjectives they wrote down earlier. Encourage them to be creative!)

Your students have likely already done some kind of report during the course of their studies. Also, writing reports is a skill that’ll be useful to them once they enter college or the corporate world (if they aren’t in it already). If you feel that they need a little more practice in this area, use this ESL writing assignment.

First, discuss how research and structure matter to reports—and perhaps show them a few samples. Then, give them a few questions to base their reports on, like:

69. What can you say about (insert topic here) in terms of (insert specific angle here)? (For example, “What can you say about the government’s efforts to improve the local park in terms of its impact on the general public?” Of course, you should adapt this question to the level of your students.)

70. After talking about a YouTube video on bears eating salmon : What would happen to the bears if the salmon ran out? 

This ESL writing activity is a bit more intensive and will allow your students to employ many different aspects of their ESL knowledge. Crafting a class newsletter will build collaboration, communication, listening, speaking and, of course, writing skills. If they’re not sure how to build a newsletter or newspaper from scratch, they can always swipe from premade templates like this one .

The newsletter/newspaper can follow a specific theme, or the articles can consist of a hodgepodge of random topics based on questions like:

71. What is the most interesting thing that happened in school this year? It can be the funniest/scariest/most heartwarming incident. Write a feature article about it. (Make sure to explain what a “feature article” is .)

72. Write a report highlighting the key events in some recent local festivals or concerts.

73. Going off of the last exercise, write an ad inviting the reader to buy a product or attend an event.

Once all of the articles are done, you can start putting them together. Make sure to walk your students through these newspaper layout tips . And when the newsletter/newspaper is finally published and circulated out there for the world to see, remember to congratulate your students for a job well done!

No matter what writing assignments you choose, make sure to keep the excitement level high so that your students are enthusiastic for your next writing session.

Whether they write by hand or type on a computer, remember to encourage them as much as you can by focusing on the good points rather than just running all over their mistakes with a red pen.

Lastly, find ways for them to share their efforts—whether online, on the classroom wall, bound together in a book to be passed around, etc.

They can also read aloud to each other, share with their parents and siblings and even share with other classes!

For more ESL assignment ideas, check out this post: 

Great ESL homework ideas can be difficult to come up with. So check out these 13 great ideas for ESL homework assignments that your students will love. Not only are they…

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