ESL: English as a Second Language

This 123 page printable book is designed to support teachers and tutors who are working with low-intermediate English language learner (ELL) parents in family literacy programs. The strategy provides detailed instructional activities to help ELL parents build and practice English conversational skills. The resources are NOT online. It is designed to be printed out and used as a hard copy.

Developed by National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) with funding from the United Parcel Service (UPS).

ESL: English as a Second Language

Beginning High, Intermediate Low, Intermediate High

This site has ideas for activities - there is not a computer component for students. This activity is a short but fun way to practice comparatives and superlatives. Students draw a picture of an object, line up according to the size of the object that they drew, respond to questions from the teacher, and make sentences using comparatives and superlatives.

ESL: English as a Second Language

Beginning Low, Beginning High

This site has ideas for activities—there is no computer component for students. Students role-play interactions between a patient and a doctor.

ESL: English as a Second Language

Beginning High, Intermediate Low, Intermediate High, Advanced

This student-centered activity practices the phrase ‘have you ever...?' to talk about life experiences.

ESL: English as a Second Language

Beginning High, Intermediate Low

In this activity, students participate in a jigsaw reading to practice their speaking and summarizing skills. Jigsaw reading is very useful when working with short authentic texts such as newspaper articles and can be done using two separate stories or one story split in two.

Jigsaw reading is a great way to introduce speaking into a reading lesson. It provides a real opportunity for genuine communication. In real life, we may tell people about a news article we have read, so this is a classroom activity that is fairly authentic.

ESL: English as a Second Language

Beginning High, Intermediate Low, Intermediate High, Advanced