Fresh Approaches: Engaging Multilingual Learners in Spring ESL Lessons Through Authentic Language Use

Do you need some fresh ESL lessons for spring? Are your students geting tired of sitting in front of a screen or completing a dry worksheet? Believe me, I get it! Spring means great weather, but it also means ansty kids, wanting to play outside, and tired from the long school year. ESL students have the added burden of just having completed ACCESS testing in most states. So what to do? ADD FUN. ADD MOVEMENT. ADD PEER TO PEER COLLABORATION. Read one to find out some techniques, tips, and resources to give your ESL lessons a spring refresh.

Pronoun Sorting Butterfly Bush

Use this spring, butterfly-themed sorting activity to teach and assess English Subject Pronouns to your ESL students. This fun pronoun sorting activity allows students to move around the room and learn collaboratively in a safe way that doesn't make anyone feel uncomfortable if they make a mistake.

My students loved the adorable butterfly theme as well as getting to discuss and debate which butterfly should go with which subject pronoun. They got quite animated and had a great time!

Here is how you implement this activity in your ESL classroom:

1. Print the butterfly bush papers and the butterfly pronoun cards.

2. Cut out the butterfly pronoun cards

3. On the BLANK butterfly cards, write the names of 7 students. You will give these students the cards. ONLY these students should be putting anything in the “I” pronoun bush. For the rest of the cards, distribute them out evenly amon your class.

4. Spread the butterfly bush papers around the room and point out to students where each one is.

5. Send students around the room, with their butterflies in had, searching for the correct pronoun bush.

6. Circulate and check in on student progress as they work. You can point out errors and redistribute the incorrect ones to students as needed.

   
   

   If you would like to purchase this resource, click HERE.

Negative Sentences East Egg Hunt

Do your ESL students struggle with the making the negative? Do they get confused between don't and doesn't? This resource is a spring-themed Write the Room activity (in the form of an Easter Egg hunt), wherein students find an affirmative sentence and have to change it to be negative by adding don't or doesn't.

2 sets of sentence task cards (or task eggs) are included and 2 separate recording sheets in color are included. There is also a black and white version of both sets for easy printing.

Additionally, there is a notes page and a practice page, so that you can pre-teach or review the material before you send your ELLs hunting for the eggs. Your ESL students will be practicing an important English grammar topic while having fun! This activity can be done independently or in pairs if a student needs some support.

*Teaching idea: You can easily print and cut out the eggs and use tape to put them around the room, HOWEVER, if you want an added layer of spring fun, you can fold up the sentence eggs into actual plastic Easter eggs and then hide them. I did this and the kids absolutely loved it. 100% engagement!

If you would like to purchase this resource, click HERE.

Post Spring Break Speaking Game and Writing Project

This fun post-spring vacation activity is ideal for the ESL teacher who wants to get novice MLs actually speaking. While students may understand a lot of English, they are often nervous to string together sentences orally. This spring themed activity helps them ask and responds to questions about their spring break with confidence!

First, students use the Question Sheet to ask their classmates questions about what they did over the spring vacation. Then, they record the responses. There are clear pictures to support comprehension of the questions. Next, the teacher will lead the students in answering questions about their classmates in the 3rd person singular. A sentence frame graphic organizer is provided to assist English Language Learners with this.

Finally, there is an early finisher/extension activity wherein students write about their own spring break activities. A bilingual, English-Spanish word bank is provided so that students have some verbs in the past tense. There is also a blank version with common verbs so that you can have the students look up the translations if you preefer (also great if you have non-Spanish speaking MLs).

This is a great confidence-building activity for MLs and is ideal to get them speaking with confidence. Additionally, this activity is very grade flexible. I've used it from fourht grade all the way through to high school!

If you would like to purchase this resource, click HERE.