I have been teaching ESL online for a few years and often meet very beginner students who need to learn beginner ESL vocabulary. They have very limited vocabulary and need to start at the very beginning in order to learn the English language. Often these students are new to learning the English language and the pop-up is unexpectedly on my screen. Have you had such students before?
It is always a good idea to have a plan if you teach ESL online and be prepared for the very beginners. These are my tricks to make sure I am ready for them when they present themselves…
Preparing for Beginner ESL Vocabulary Needs…
I teach for two companies. The one provides the learning material and the other doesn’t. Teaching with allocated material makes teaching preparation easier, but it does not always suit the students’ needs.
I prefer planning my own content for my classes. I like to have an activity for the first lesson to gauge what level my ESL students are and then I am able to plan from thereon.
These pictures are always part of my first lesson (I repurposed them from the Mini Office Folder that I made for my son when he was little). They offer a lot of diversity which makes things easy for different levels. I will write a detailed description of how I use these cards next week, be sure to check it out.
Once I have come to the realization that my student has very little knowledge of the English language, I know I need to start with basic vocabulary. In the beginning, it was a challenge to decide where to start, so I created a checklist to follow. This checklist focused on 24 topics of very basic vocabulary to help teach the English language. With each checklist, there is a key question and answer sentence included to use for sentence formation. This gave me a clear outline of what to do and when to do it.
What I Use to Teach Beginner ESL Vocabulary:
I gathered props from my children’s toy boxes and have them stored in my home classroom – I’m not sure how happy my children are about this arrangement, hehe.
I have also started creating Boom Learning™ decks to go with my vocabulary themes. These decks follow the vocabulary lists and sentences They offer ample opportunity for students to practice the new vocabulary and sentence structure. You can watch the demo video here.
What is Covered in the Beginner ESL Vocabulary Decks?
These decks are digital and you can read about the positives of these cards here.
Each deck focuses on 6 new vocabulary words and then uses these words in two sentences. The plural version of the words is also often included in the deck.
The deck all uses 10 different activities to practice these new words and sentences. The activities are interactive and offer variety to ensure students remain focused and interested.
The 10 activities are as follows:
- Vocabulary introduction (pictures and words)
- Drag the picture to the correct name box.
- Select the correct name from the list for the picture
- What can you see in the kitchen? Drag the magnifying glass to count.
- Copy, complete, and say the pattern.
- Answer the question using the picture cue.
- Form sentences with the pictures revealed. I see … and …
- Complete the sentence by dragging the shadow away to reveal the answer.
- Roleplay with questions and answers.
- Boardgame using the yellow and orange movers on the side to keep place and a physical die. Say a sentence for the block you land on.
You can view the different topic decks in Boom Learning or on Teachers Pay Teachers.
I would love to hear how you teach your Beginner ESL students the English Language, in the classroom and/or online. Leave a comment below.
Happy Teaching!
Margaux
