NEW TO ESOL GUIDANCE: TEACHING AND LEARNING

NEW TO ESOL GUIDANCE:

TEACHING AND LEARNING

MATERIALS FOR LEARNERS

NEW TO ESOL AND LITERACY

CONTENTS

Included in the Effective Practice Guidance

Introduction to all components in the new to ESOL guidance

Table of contents of teaching materials

Top tips

TT 1: Meaning, understanding and speaking first

TT 2: Localise it

TT 3: Keep it visual

TT 4: Go slowly and repeat

TT 5: Focus on learners’ lives, stories and contexts

TT 6: Read aloud

TT 7: Make the most of resources

TT 8: Use a range of strategies

TT 9: Keep it real

TT 10: Using a wide range of differentiated texts

Key knowledge and skills

KK&S 1: The languages grid

KK&S 2: Inclusivity

KK&S 3: Literacy practices

KK&S 4: Phonics

KK&S 5: The whole word approach

KK&S 6: Handwriting

KK&S 7: The language experience approach

KK&S 8: Spelling

KK&S 9: Name cards

KK&S 10: Reading activities

Bibliography of useful resources

Included in the teaching materials

Five teaching topics each made up of four units

Timesaving templates

Template 1: Lined paper

Template 2: Blank sentence strips

Template 3: Look, say, cover, write, check

Template 4: BINGO

Template 5: Key words

Template 6: Class survey

Template 7: Bubbles

Template 8: Alphabet: lower case, upper case

Template 9: Days of the week

Template 10: Months of the year

Template 11: Numbers

Template 12: Phoneme chart

Reading texts

RT 1: Social sight words and signs

RT 2: Forms

RT 3: Digital literacies

RT 4: Dates and times

RT 5: Instructions

RT 6: Packaging, labels and captions

RT 7: Simple narrative texts

Picture pack

Included in the screening package

Guidance for non-specialists

Interviewer questions

Reading and writing tasks

Screening record

Learner profiles

INTRODUCTION TO THE RESOURCES

Background

As part of the Integrated Communities action plan, the Home Office and Department

for Education commissioned the development of these resources. This was in

response to feedback from stakeholders that English for Speakers of Other

Languages (ESOL) learners do not always progress quickly, and this can particularly

be the case for learners at what is commonly termed ‘pre-Entry level’. There is

considerable demand from learners at this level, including refugee learners. The

development of these resources has involved wide engagement with practitioners and

learners to further understand barriers to progress in English language learning for

‘pre-entry’ level learners. The resources have been designed to give practitioners a

range of knowledge and tools that can help address these barriers in the classroom.

Research with ESOL practitioners carried out as part of this project identified a

number of areas where new resources could help to improve the support available to

learners at ‘pre-entry’ level. The research identified a need for:

• Greater guidance and support to practitioners with teaching basic literacy, such

as the language experience approach and the use of phonics.

• Resources which are adaptable and support differentiated learning, recognising

the range of learning needs which are often present within a single class, and

that language learning which relates to the local context is often more

meaningful.

• Resources that can be used alongside existing materials, to support recycling

of language and provide opportunities to consolidate learning over time, given

the importance of this in the language learning process.

• Resources, suggestions and practical tips for ‘materials-light’ classroom

activities, and time-saving strategies to help practitioners manage the demands

of lesson preparation for ‘pre-entry’ classes, which were considered greater

than that required for other levels.

Terminology

These materials are intended to support practitioners (teachers, classroom assistants,

volunteers and others) working with ESOL learners who are often referred to as being

at ‘pre-Entry’ level. Conventional Entry 1 ESOL classes typically may be considered

unsuitable for these learners because they may have no or very limited literacy in any

language and/or have no knowledge or the Roman alphabet and numbers. The

practitioner research conducted as part of this project identified that, although it is

widely used, many in the sector consider the term ‘pre-Entry’ unsuitable. A number of

reasons for this were put forward, including:

• ‘Pre-Entry’ learning needs already being recognised within the Entry Level 1

Adult ESOL Core Curriculum framework, pointing to a need for greater

understanding and recognition of progression within this this level, and the time

needed to do so.

• Potential for confusion with other contexts for the use of the term ‘pre-Entry’, as,

for example, this is often used in learning provision for people with learning

difficulties and disabilities, or, in the refugee resettlement context, could refer to

English language provision before arrival in the UK.

• A sense that the term ‘pre-Entry’ embodies a deficit model of learners, as well

as being difficult to explain meaningfully to learners working at the level.

A range of alternative options were put forward by practitioners during the research

phase. In these resources we refer to such learners as ‘new ESOL learners’ or

‘learners new to ESOL’. This term aims to reflect that learners in scope for this kind of

provision are, for the most part, at the very beginning of English language and/or

literacy learning.

About these resources

The resources in this pack are split into three sections: the teaching materials, the

guidance documents and the screening package.

1. Guidance document

The guidance document contains three sections:

Top Tips

These are key tried and tested principles and advice for practice with new ESOL

learners. Each includes some bullet-points expanding the tip or principle from three

perspectives: that of the learner, the practitioner, and the overall teaching context. We

also include some quotes from learners and teachers to show how the materials were

developed in response to the needs of practitioners and learners.

Key knowledge and skills

These sections provide guidance on particular approaches to, or facets of, ESOL

literacy teaching and learning. They include reading development, handwriting,

phonics, spelling, literacy practices, and the language experience and whole word

approaches with some key techniques and suggestions for classroom practice. There

is also a languages grid, which gives information about some of the languages new

ESOL learners speak.

Bibliography

This section is an annotated bibliography of resources we think are helpful for

practitioners working with learners who are new to ESOL and new to literacy.

2. Teaching materials

The teaching materials are based on five topics, each divided into four units. The

topics are typical for learners at this level, reflecting priority needs and, as far as

possible, universally engaging subject matter relating to learners’ lives, experiences,

opinions and plans. Being aware of the ongoing need for a refreshed supply of

resources to help reinforce learning at this level through repetition and using a variety

of approaches and activities, these topics are likely to be familiar to practitioners. (A

wider range of useful materials are summarised in the bibliography). Important

approaches underpinning these materials relate to drawing on learners’ input and

active contributions to their learning, and to encouraging learners to use their first

languages (L1s) to support their own and each other’s learning and understanding.

Each unit is accompanied by a set of instructions with ideas for the teacher/practitioner

on how to use, adapt and supplement them. The resources are copyright free and

authorable so that they can easily be customised to suit a range of contexts and

learners. Each unit provides about 2.5 hours of teaching and learning time, plus

additional and follow-up activities. However, the time taken to cover a unit may vary

considerably according to the level of each learner/group: learners with better writing

skills will be able to complete many of the written tasks in less time, and those who

find reading and writing in Roman script very challenging may require significantly

more.

The topics can be used in any order - there is no implied syllabus or structured

curriculum. The units are presented in one possible sequence, with some summative

activities in Unit 4 for each topic. However, the materials are designed so that they can

be ordered to suit the different priorities and interests of any group of learners. It is

also possible to pick and mix individual units from each topic rather than having to

complete each topic before moving on to another.

Many learners at this level are placed in mixed-level groups of learners who have a

wide range of skills across speaking, listening, reading and writing. Typically, these

learners, often referred to as having ‘spiky profiles’, will have higher level speaking

and listening skills than in reading and writing. Therefore, the resources have been

designed to be highly flexible and adaptable to suit mixed-level classes, and the

structural content has not been artificially limited. For instance, learners can be

supported to use past and future forms as well as the present.

Three inclusive-friendly fonts are used throughout: Arial for the teachers’ notes; Segoe

UI for materials learners need to read; Century Gothic for materials learners need to

copy. Font sizes have been chosen to be accessible to a very diverse range of

learners. Century Gothic was chosen for content that learners need to copy as it is

‘sans serif’. However, it should be noted that the question mark in Century Gothic is

rather idiosyncratic and has been replaced where used.

Timesaving templates

This section contains templates for some of the most-used activities or lexical items for

this level. They are designed to be easily adaptable and are often referenced in the

teaching materials themselves.

Reading texts

This section includes the reading texts from the topics as well as some additional

reading. They can be used with the screening documents as well as for stand-alone

use in classrooms or to support initial assessment.

Picture pack

This section reproduces all the images used in the teaching materials as a picture

pack.

3. Screening package

The screening package is a set of resources designed to help identify new ESOL

learners who would benefit from ESOL literacy focused input at this level, as opposed

to those who might join an Entry 1 ESOL class. The package is made up of five

sections:

Guidance for non-specialists

The guidance provides an overview of how to use the screening tool and some

general information about the characteristics of learners who are new to ESOL.

Interviewer questions

The screening interview questions include descriptions of the type of language and

literacy expected at each level, and examples of typical responses. Responses to the

questions can be recorded on the accompanying record sheet.

Reading and writing tasks

These tasks are referenced in the interviewer questions

Screening record

The record sheet to be used with the screening questions and guidance.

Learner profiles

The learner profiles are descriptions of real ESOL learners who are either new to

ESOL and Entry Level 1. The profiles contain samples of their writing, information

about their background and details about their engagement in ESOL.

Teaching Materials table of contents

Topic 1: Me

Unit 1 - My life now

Unit 2 - People in my life

Unit 3 - Places in my life

Unit 4 - My future

Overview

Learners discuss, read and write

about where they live and who they

live with: I live in Finsbury Park. I live

in a flat. I live with my friend.

Learners identify important people in

their lives and write one or more short

simple sentences about them: This is

Maria. She is my sister.

Learners discuss, read and write

about where they come from and

where they live now: I come from

Syria. I live in Bradford.

Learners discuss, read and write about

their hopes, desires and ambitions for

the future: I want a big house. I’d like to

be a teacher.

Skills:

Speaking

and

listening

Ask for and give information about

current homes – location, type of

home, and other people living there.

Identify important people and give

simple factual information about them

in simple exchanges.

Make simple statements of fact, give

personal information and descriptions

using adjectives.

Listen for detail and respond to

requests for personal information.

Pronounce sounds clearly and use

the correct stress patterns in familiar

words.

Express hopes, desires and ambitions

clearly.

Give information about another learner.

Skills:

Reading,

writing and

phonics

Read and understand a short simple

text.

Write a short text about themselves,

forming letters in upper and lower

case.

Spell correctly some personal key and

familiar words.

‘Wh’ spelling, / w / sound ‘i’ spelling, /

ɪ / sound.

Read and recognise familiar names.

Decode simple, familiar words and

recognise letters of alphabet.

Focus on initial letter sounds for

family members such as /b/ in

‘brother’ /s/ in ‘sister’ and final letters

‘er’ /ə/ sound.

Read, understand and write a simple

sentence with correct punctuation

linked to the topic.

Spell correctly some personal key and

familiar words.

Read and understand a short simple

text about an individual and recognise

sentence patterns.

Recognise and decode key words.

Write a simple sentence using capital

letters and full stops.

Use and spell correctly personal

keywords (place names) and form

letters accurately.

Initial letter sound correspondences of

place names.

Final letter ‘y’ / iː/ sound.

Recognise key and high-frequency

words.

Focus on initial consonants in key

words relating to hopes and ambitions.

Read, understand and write a simple

sentence with correct punctuation

linked to the topic.

Form letters accurately.

Spell correctly some personal key and

familiar words.

Language

points

Vocabulary for types of housing.

Verb live + prepositions in and with:

I live with my mother / I live in a flat.

Vocabulary relating to family and

relationships.

Structures: Who’s that? This is

Adjectives to describe places

Structures: I come from …. / I live in

... / It is …

Structures: I want / I’d like + to +

infinitive or I want / I’d like + noun

phrase.

Wh questions + do.

(name). She/He is my ...

Use capital letters for ‘I’ and the first

letter of place names.

Topic 2: My local area

Unit 1 - My neighbourhood

Unit 2 – Local services

Unit 3 - Recycling

Unit 4 – Out and about

Overview

Learners listen, talk, read and write

about where they live: I live in … It’s

… There is … There isn’t … There

are ….

Learners listen, talk, read and write

about local services: local council,

recycling, garden waste, housing,

library.

Learners find information in a

recycling leaflet, recognise some

recycling symbols and practise giving

and receiving recycling instructions:

Put paper in the green box.

Learners identify important places in

their area, give information about them

and create some local maps. The

market is opposite the library. I like the

market. The food is cheap and fresh.

Skills:

Speaking

and

listening

Listen for detail in a short talk and

respond to requests for personal

information.

Talk about local neighbourhoods and

give a simple description.

Pronounce sounds clearly and use

the correct stress patterns in familiar

words.

Make simple statements about the

local council.

Ask for information and answer

questions clearly.

Pronounce sounds clearly and use

the correct stress patterns in familiar

words.

Take part in a discussion on the topic

of recycling.

Answer simple questions with

answers: Yes, I can. No, I can’t.

Give and receive instructions.

Identify and give information about

important places in the local area such

as where they are, what they are and

what they offer.

Skills:

Reading,

writing and

phonics

Read and understand a short simple

sentence or text.

Write a simple sentence with correct

punctuation linked to the topic.

Use and spell correctly keywords and

form letters accurately.

Read and write single syllable words

with a, e, i, o and u (short vowel

sounds æ, e, ɪ, ɒ, ʌ).

Recognise and decode key words

and numbers.

Say the letters of the alphabet in

name and address.

Form letters and digits accurately

Write name and address.

Words beginning with the sound /k/ /l/

/h/ /tʃ/ ‘ing’ and ‘s’ endings.

Recognise recycling symbols.

Follow the gist and get information

from a recycling leaflet.

Spell simple words associated with

recycling.

Write an instruction on how to recycle.

Sound out words with short vowel

sounds.

Recognise and decode familiar words

and place names.

Focus on initial letter sounds for places,

things and adjectives / c / in council, / m

/ in market and digraph ‘ch’ in children.

Read, understand and write a simple

sentence with correct punctuation

linked to the topic.

Spell correctly some familiar words.

Language

points

Vocabulary (nouns and adjectives)

relating to local neighbourhood.

Structures: There is … There are …

It’s a + noun. It’s + adjective.

Vocabulary (nouns) relating to local

council facilities.

Ask questions related to local

services.

Give personal information such as

Vocabulary (nouns and adjectives)

relating to recycling.

Modal verb – can: Yes, I can. No, I

can’t.

Give instructions: verb + noun +

Vocabulary (nouns and adjectives)

relating to places and things, e.g.

market, fruit, fresh.

Prepositions of place, e.g. near,

opposite, next to.

name and address, and spelling them

out.

preposition + place: Put paper in the

green bin.

Structures: I like … It/… is … There is

….

Topic 3: Language and other skills

Unit 1 - My languages

Unit 2 – My Skills

Unit 3 – Making a hot drink

Unit 4 – Skills exhibition

Overview

Learners identify their languages and

when they use them: I speak Arabic.

I understand French. I can say a few

words in Spanish.

Learners reflect on, discuss and write

about their skills and share with the

rest of the class: I can swim. I can

make clothes.

Learners tell, read and write about

how they make coffee and tea:

Boil the water. Pour the milk. Stir the

coffee.

Learners create an exhibition or display

of their combined skills using the

language practised and acquired in

previous units.

Skills:

Speaking

and

listening

Tell each other about languages they

know.

Ask questions and share information

on skills.

Pronunciation of schwa and /a:/ in can

and can’t.

Word stress in can and can’t

sentences: I can swim. I can make

clothes.

Listen and talk about making coffee

and tea.

Talk about and share skills, plus revisit

skills as appropriate from the previous

units.

Skills:

Reading,

writing and

phonics

Read and recognise names of

languages and places.

Decode simple, familiar words and

recognise letters of alphabet.

Focus on similarities and differences

between language and country

names.

Write a simple sentence with correct

punctuation linked to the topic.

Spell correctly some familiar words

Say the first sound in names of

learners’ languages.

Focus on syllables and initial, medial

or final consonants of keywords

(learners’ languages).

Read and write a simple sentence

using correct punctuation.

Read and understand a short simple

text.

Spell correctly personal keywords.

Sound out individual letters and letter

combinations.

Practise blending phonemes to say

full words.

Focus on how an ‘e’ at the end of a

word changes the sound of the word.

Read a set of instructions.

Write a short text about making

tea/coffee using basic punctuation.

Form letters correctly, particularly ‘e’

and ‘a’.

‘i’ spelling /ɪ/ sound, ‘ea’ and ‘ee’

spellings /i:/ sound.

Read a short text on a familiar topic.

Read, understand and write a simple

sentence with correct punctuation

linked to the topic.

Read and recognise key words

Use phonic strategies to help decode

key words and aid spelling.

Raise awareness of /t/, /d/ and /id/

sounds for regular past tense verb

endings.

Language

points

Proper nouns and use of capital

letters for languages and countries.

Some common simple quantifiers,

e.g. a little, some.

Structures: I speak/ understand /read/

write + language. I speak with +

(person).

Skills vocabulary (infinitive verbs),

e.g. cook, write, drive.

Structures: I can… I can’t … + verb

(infinitive). Can you …? Yes, I can /

No, I can’t.

Coffee/tea making vocabulary, e.g.

pour, stir, kettle, pot.

Imperative verbs for giving/writing

instructions (plus you).

Possible language points, depending

on context, learners and teacher:

- Vocabulary (verb + noun

collocations) relating to skills

learners possess

- Structure: can/can’t + infinitive

- Showing how to do something -

Imperative verbs / you+ verb

- Past tense for completed activity -

Ali fixed his bike.

Topic 4:My time

Unit 1 - Socialising

Unit 2 – My interests

Unit 3 – Work

Unit 4 – My community

Overview

Learners practise language for

meeting people and read and write a

text message about meeting up: Hi

Muna! How are you?

Learners talk and write about their

interests and share with the rest of

the class: I like cooking and watching

TV. I don’t like swimming.

Learners talk about places of work

(formal, informal and domestic) and

the work tasks: I work in a hospital. I

clean offices.

Learners identify and share information

about their communities:

There is a summer fair on Saturday.

There is a Latin American women’s

group near here.

Skills:

Speaking

and

listening

Practise greetings using the correct

stress and intonation.

Talk about interests and pronounce

key words clearly.

Ask and answer questions about the

time.

Learners talk about where they work

or have worked (including in the

home) and the tasks they perform.

Learners listen and pronounce clearly

/tʃ/ and /ʃ/.

Learners listen to a short presentation.

Learners tell one another about their

communities.

Pronounce new words clearly.

Skills:

Reading,

writing and

phonics

Read a text message and recognise

key words, digits and symbols.

Use phonics to help decode, write

and spell key words.

Compose a simple text message.

Recognise some different letter

combinations that make the /eɪ/

sound – ‘ay’, ‘ea’, ‘ai’ and ‘ey.

Recognise how the letter ‘i’ is

pronounced /ɪ/ in CVC words such as

Recognise and decode key words.

Write a simple sentence using capital

letters and full stops.

Obtain information from a simple

leaflet.

Write key words and times clearly,

using phonic knowledge to aid

spelling.

Learners read and write a simple text.

Focus on words with initial and final

‘sh’ and ‘ch’ spelling patterns, spelling

them correctly.

Read and understand some information

about a community event.

Read and understand days of week and

months.

Read, understand and write a simple

sentence with correct punctuation

linked to the topic.

Write and spell correctly some familiar

words.

Use phonic strategies to help decode

‘his’ and /aɪ/ in many other common

words such as ‘nice’.

key words and aid spelling.

Recognise ‘y’ letter/sound

correspondence.

Language

points

Different forms of greetings, e.g.

Hello. Hi! Nice to meet you.

Question forms for socialising/ making

arrangements – spoken and written.

Punctuation and symbols used in text

messages, e.g. ! ? :)

Recognise the difference between an

informal text and more formal written

language.

Vocabulary (nouns and verbs) relating

to interests and leisure activities.

Structures: I like/I don’t like + verb

(…ing form) or I like/I don’t like +

noun phrase; present simple + noun +

adverbial phrase.

Read, say and understand the time

(12 and 24 hour clock).

Vocabulary: work activity collocations

e.g. check the cash / look after

children.

Structures: present simple tense for

habitual actions e.g. I open the shop,

possible past simple tense formation.

Some common vocabulary (nouns)

relating to the topic, e.g. community,

festival, meeting, country.

Use of capital letters for days of week

and months.

Structures: There is a/an … on (day)

(date). It starts at … It finishes at …

Topic 5:What’s important to me

Unit 1 – My culture and heritage

Unit 2 – Opinions and feelings

Unit 3 – Keeping in touch

Unit 4 – What next?

Overview

Learners identify and share

information about their culture and

heritage: This is a Nigerian pot. These

are some coins from Afghanistan.

Learners talk about colour

preferences for different objects,

associate colours with emotions and

write one or more short, simple

sentences about them: I love my red

shoes. I don’t like blue cars. Green is

a sad colour.

Learners discuss, read and write

about how they keep in touch with

important people in their lives: I Skype

my sister in Sydney.

Learners talk about their lives,

experiences and plans for the future.

I came to the UK in …. I’m a cleaner

…. Next year I want to go to college.

Skills:

Speaking

and

listening

Make simple statements of fact about

objects relating to culture and

heritage.

Express likes, dislikes and

preferences relating to colour,

everyday objects and feelings.

Take part in simple exchanges about

how technology is used in

communicating with friends and

family.

Ask and answer simple questions

about methods of personal

communication.

Say name clearly and spell it aloud.

Give personal and factual information

about the past, present and future.

Skills:

Reading,

writing and

Read and recognise names of

countries, adjectives of countries and

languages.

Read, understand and write a simple

sentence with correct punctuation

linked to the topic.

Recognise key logos/symbols and

read keywords associated with

methods of communication.

Read and decode simple, familiar

words and distinguish between /ɪ/ in

with, children and visit and /aɪ/ in drive

phonics

Decode simple, familiar words and

distinguish between p, f and ph - /p/ /f/

sounds.

Focus on similarities and differences

between country names, adjectives

and languages.

Read, understand and write a simple

sentence with correct punctuation

linked to the topic.

Spell correctly some familiar words.

Recognise and decode familiar words

and recognise letters of alphabet.

Spell correctly some personal key and

familiar words, forming letters

accurately.

Letter ‘r’ /r/ sound, e.g. brown, orange

contrasted with the silent ‘r’ in words

such as purple, curtains /ɜː/ sound.

Read simple questions.

Read and understand a short simple

text.

Write a simple sentence using correct

word order and basic punctuation.

Spell correctly personal keywords.

Focus on initial, medial and final

sounds and spellings of words.

and library.

Write and spell correctly some familiar

and key words.

Read and write years.

Read, understand and write a simple

sentence with correct punctuation

linked to the topic.

Language

points

Some common adjectives, e.g.

traditional, important.

Use of capital letters for countries,

adjectives from country names and

languages, e.g. Nigeria/Nigerian/Fula.

Structures: This is a/an … These are

some …. noun is/are + adjective.

Vocabulary relating to everyday

objects, e.g. curtains, backpack.

Adjectives to describe colours and

emotions, e.g. yellow, red, happy,

sad, bored.

Structures with like/don’t like, e.g. I

(don’t) like yellow cars. I love red

shoes.

Vocabulary relating to keeping in

touch, e.g. message, text, email;

family members and other important

people, e.g. sister, mother, friend.

Question forms (present simple), e.g.

Do you text/email/use Skype?

Structure: I (present simple verb) my

(family member or friend) in (place

name), e.g. I Skype my sister in

Sydney.

Vocabulary relating to rivers, e.g.

island, waterfall, rock.

Noun/verb collocations: drive a car, use

a computer.

Time phrases: next year, in two years’

time, in the future …

Structures: past simple, e.g. I came to

England in 2005; present simple, e.g. I

work in a shop; future hopes/plans, e.g.

I want + to + infinitive + verb/noun; (I’d

like + to …).

TOP TIPS

Top Tip 1: Meaning, understanding and speaking first

The key priority when teaching learners at this level is to first establish some

genuine communication. This is especially the case when learners have difficulties

with literacy skills and are highly dependent on oral communication.

Learners

• Some new ESOL learners may have higher level speaking and listening skills

and will be eager to use these skills to communicate.

• Learners with little or no literacy in their first language (L1), or whose L1 has no

written form, will need to approach literacy through the spoken language.

• If your learners are true beginners (i.e. speak no English at all) then focus on

speaking and listening before attempting to teach the written form.

Practitioners

• Encourage lots of talk before reading and writing work and make sure learners

can practise reading and writing words they know and understand.

• Use the language experience approach to draw out learners’ stories, opinions

and experiences before they start to read or write about them.

• Don’t move too quickly into teaching activities. Engage with your learners on a

conversational level as much as possible in the initial stages of a session.

• Depending on the make-up of the group, it may be very useful to ask learners to

talk about a topic in their first language before moving into English.

• If you work for a service provider (e.g. Jobcentre Plus), be prepared to explain a

form or written task in some detail orally before asking a learner to complete it.

Context

• Match talk to the context you are working in: if you are teaching 1-1 in a learner’s

home, chatting is an extremely appropriate way of interacting with the learner.

• Use features of the local context to generate natural conversation, e.g. the

building you are in, objects around you, the learners themselves, local events.

Top tip 1: What learners and teachers said

‘Listening and understanding is first. Because the

more they repeat, the more it sticks and it's easier

for me to learn. Because if we don't hear anything,

we wouldn't learn any writing.’

ESOL learner

‘It has to be…think what things motivate and

interest students emotionally. You have to spark

their imagination… And make it funny.’

ESOL teacher

‘Speaking should precede reading and writing but

often managers/learners/curriculum fight against

this’.

ESOL teacher

Top Tip 2: Localise it

Where you are, geographically and culturally, will have a great effect on the varieties

of texts and language use around you. Relating teaching content to local features,

issues, texts and conditions will help connect with, and empower, learners.

Learners

• Use social sight texts and references that are the most relevant for your learners,

e.g. the numbers of local buses they use and the shops and markets they go to.

• Which languages do learners speak? It can be surprising how many languages

learners may speak and use in and outside the class. Find out and encourage

learners to use their languages to support each other. Encourage them to

compare their main language with English to understand key similarities and

differences. Check language features in the language grid in ‘Key knowledge and

skills 1’.

• Find out how well learners know the local area: if possible, visit key local places

together as part of the class - or better still, ask learners to show each other and

tell each other about places they know about.

Practitioners

• Wherever possible, use local texts, or adapt generic texts to reflect your locality.

Ask learners to bring in texts they have to interact with (such as school or

surgery letters, emails and text messages).

• Find out how local services are provided, and how learners access them. If this is

through online application forms, see if you can use, or reproduce them, in class.

(For instance, see how you could adapt Topic 2, Unit 3 to your locality).

• Using or making local maps is a very powerful teaching tool. You can see an

example of this approach in Topic 2, Unit 4 and there is more information about it

in the Reflect for ESOL Toolkit.

Context

• Bring the outside in! The learners, your setting and the locality are rich

resources. The places, people, objects and texts around you can all be used to

develop learning materials or topics for basing a session on.

• If you work in offender learning, a local focus might be placed on learner’s

preferred, previous or intended neighbourhoods.

• If you are teaching in a learner’s home, look around for objects of special

significance (e.g. photographs), or discuss everyday objects in use (e.g. This

coffee cup - where did it come from?)

Top tip 2 What learners and teachers said

‘UK-specific materials and effective practice guidance

would be of great benefit.’

ESOL teacher

‘Local town, local area, things like that, things that

they can relate to without having to start talking about

painful history perhaps, you know, their new life, new

friends.’

ESOL teacher

‘Language Experience is one of the things that’s really

good, which I’m sure other people have talked about,

where you basically get the language to come out,

come from them, create texts so you have a whole load

of speaking and listening around it and then you create

a text and then you can do a lot of reading and writing.’

ESOL teacher

Top Tip 3: Keep it visual

Especially when knowledge of language is limited, pictures speak thousands of

words. In a world where much of our communication is shifting to genres where

language and visual images mix, it’s important to use and develop visual imaging as

a communication resource for both learners and yourself.

Learners

• Find out if any learners have skills in visual areas or occupations, such as artists,

architects, photographers - and see if you can harness these skills in class. (The

Reflect for ESOL approach uses many visual tools).

• Find out if and how learners use social media. For example, if they are on

Instagram, what do they photograph?

• For learners who are new to any literacy, or to Roman alphabet-based literacy,

drawing can be a very useful way of developing muscle control. You can ask

learners to draw letter and word shapes, too.

Practitioners

• Make drawing and/or digital imaging (photography or video) regular elements of

your classes.

• Photography or video projects – such as learners taking photographs of their

local area - are very powerful springboards for writing.

• Use lots of picture-word mapping exercises for introducing and learning new

words (e.g. pelmanism, picture stories)

• Use Google images as an online picture dictionary (but be careful!)

• Where possible, make writing a digital activity that incorporates images too.

• Drawing can also help with differentiation - some learners scribe, while others

draw.

• Build up an extensive picture pack. Reflect for ESOL and English for Action have

lots of ideas on using these. A picture pack is included as part of these

resources.

Context

• Keep a supply of flipchart paper in the teaching space for Reflect type activities.

• Maintain an image rich environment, especially if learners can contribute with

images of their own.

• Encourage learners to bring in and share photographs and other visual images.

• Encourage learners to make displays for their classroom or the centre.

Top tip 3 What learners and teachers said

‘I use lots of photos, I get them online, but photos

of the local area and get them to do their

speaking round the local mosque, the local tube,

the local bus and lots of pictures’.

ESOL teacher

‘I wanted to create ones which were relevant to the

students…it always had to have pictures, that’s the

other thing, isn’t it, you’re always having to bring

pictures in because of the level that you’re working

with so I know how much work finding pictures is’.

ESOL teacher

‘I struggle to create picture-based resources for

pre-Entry learners. I would like to use pictures

matching activities, simple stories with pictures

and some new everyday vocabulary’.

ESOL teacher

Top Tip 4: Go slowly and repeat

Learners working at this level need plenty of time, repetition, encouragement and 1:1

support. In mixed level groups, this can be challenging for the teacher (and the rest of the

group!) so it’s important for the teacher to use a range of approaches and strategies to

support this.

Learners

• ‘Learning to learn’ skills empower learners and support independent learning. For

example, support learners to:

- set up and use a course file

- use ‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ sheets

- regularly add to and look at their key words notebook when they have a few spare

minutes on a bus or in a waiting room

- use their phones to record new words and spellings

- take photos of boardwork, or places or signs they want to know more about.

• Set up a resource borrowing bank so learners can, for example, take word cards home

for more practice with phonics, and letter and key word recognition.

• Forming letters is a slow process. It’s important for learners to try and use different

writing implements and positions for handwriting to find what works best for them.

Practise using keyboards too.

Practitioners

• Don’t be surprised at how much repetition is needed. Frequently check with the

learners: Would you like to do this/go over this again?

• Recycle your resources. Teachers spend a lot of time creating resources. Instead of

taking them away, create a zip lock resource box in the classroom and encourage

learners to regularly review their learning. For example, learners can use

word+picture/word+ word matching cards for pelmanism at the beginning of later

lessons.

• Use a range of differentiated approaches to support letter formation, handwriting,

and word, sentence and text level work to enable learners to develop their language,

skills and confidence in carefully graded, meaningful and contextualised ways.

• Use the walls as a visual aid to cluster and display recent learning.

Context

• Learning to read and write as an adult can be a very exposing/demoralising

experience. Support your learners to develop persistence and resilience - and respect

each other’s dignity.

• In mixed level classes, some learners need time to repeat what others can already do.

Support stronger learners to develop peer mentoring skills.

Top tip 4 What learners and teachers said

‘I was scared [but] after I saw the students, I

knew that there were many people like me.

They don’t know how to read like me and I

started to feel comfortable with my teacher;

she helped me and now I feel safe and

confident’

ESOL learner

‘Repetition is really key for this level but it can

take weeks to learn discrete pieces of

vocabulary and discrete pieces of language.

So, I think that any resource needs to have

lots and lots of recycling in it.

ESOL teacher

‘Back home they don't care about the student

as a student, they will just give you the lesson

once, if you get it, it's good for you. If you

didn't, it's done. Here they keep repeating

once or twice or three times until you

understand, and they focus on the student if

they understood or not.’

ESOL learner

Top Tip 5: Focus on learners’ lives, stories and contexts

In the early stages of acquiring a new language and literacy it is much easier for

learners to relate to teaching and learning contexts that are familiar and

personalised.

Learners

• Learners need language and skills that are directly relevant to their daily lives.

• Learners need to be able to read and write particular key words - that relate to

their lived contexts - such as their names, addresses, names of family members.

• Many new ESOL learners will have remarkable stories to tell, which they may

feel a strong need to communicate.

• Learners may find it very useful to use L1 to talk about their lives - especially if

others can help translate.

• Many new ESOL learners may have experienced (or be experiencing) trauma /

PTSD / other health issues which will impact on their ability to attend regularly,

learn, remember and participate.

Practitioners

• Be prepared to share your own experiences and aspects of your life with learners

- this will help develop trust and a supportive environment for sharing stories.

• Be sensitive to topics which learners may associate with traumatic experiences

and memories, and which can be difficult for other learners, too.

• The River metaphor / drawing activity is very useful for helping learners with

narrative and life events. There is an example activity in Topic 5 Unit 4, and you

can find further information in the Reflect for ESOL Toolkit.

• The language experience approach works very well as a teaching framework for

talking reading and writing about learners’ lives and experiences

Context

• The learners, your setting and the locality are rich resources. Learners’ daily lives

and experiences will provide lots of potential learning content.

• If a learner arrives in class with a burning story to tell, allow some time for this

and maximise the language learning potential through encouraging questions

from the group and capturing important key words and structures appropriate to

level.

• If you teach 1-1, it can be especially powerful to collect stories together into a

kind of autobiography. (This, of course, works well in other contexts too).

• In mixed level classes, learners can support each other’s stories and

experiences by helping to scribe or draw elements of them.

‘I like [my teacher’s] method because he gives

practical examples, when you go to a supermarket

what kind of questions you would ask…his method is

more practical and we benefit more.’

ESOL learner

Top tip 5 What learners and teachers said

‘Wherever possible, nothing beats resources

produced in response to learners' individual need’.

ESOL teacher

‘It has to be real and relevant…Using [other learners]

as a resource as well is really important’

ESOL teacher

Top Tip 6: Read aloud

Reading aloud and together is one of the best ways to help learners develop

reading and phonic attack skills.

Learners

• For many learners, especially those with little or no literacy in L1, reading aloud

addresses the fundamental issue of turning marks on paper into sound and

meaning.

• For learners who lack confidence, reading together with their peers (or with you)

is a real confidence booster.

• Reading aloud is the most direct way for learners to experience the relationship

between letters and sounds.

• Some dyslexic learners may find reading aloud very challenging.

• Learners reading aloud texts that they themselves have created is a very

powerful learning experience.

Practitioners

• Make reading aloud a very regular practice, and try lots of different approaches:

e.g. teacher reading aloud to the class, reading chorally with the whole class,

reading aloud in smaller groups or pairs.

• For early readers, use a finger or pointer to indicate which words or parts of

words are being read, and support learners to do the same.

• Be aware that some learners will find reading aloud very challenging (perhaps

through a learning difference or shyness). Try to avoid singling out or exposing

these learners in reading aloud activities.

• Use reading aloud activities to help identify specific phonic letter/sound

challenges (and opportunities) for your learners.

• Reading aloud was often discouraged in EFL teacher training as ‘artificial’: but

for learners where the sound/letter relationship (phonics) in a new script is a key

challenge, it is a hugely beneficial activity. Don’t be afraid to use it!

Context

• Suit the texts you use for reading aloud to your context. For instance, in family

learning contexts, reading a story together would mirror real world literacy

practices.

• If your context involves working with official texts (such as letters from schools,

surgeries or forms) it can be very helpful to read these aloud together before

asking learners to respond to them.

Top tip 6 What learners and teachers said

‘[I] find it’s good to get them to read aloud, lots and lots of

reading aloud in groups…we have a lot of these sort of

reading books and I scan them, and I do it that they can all

have a copy to read. ‘

ESOL teacher

‘The teaching of reading and writing from the absolute

basics onward to non-literate students, who may also be

non-literate in their first language…There is also a lack of

appropriate materials, especially the right kind of reading

books, and of a clear methodology to help teachers who

don't know how to teach basic reading and writing though

they may be very competent with students who have basic

literacy skills.’

ESOL teacher

Top Tip 7: Make the most of resources

Working with new ESOL learners, particularly in mixed level groups, can create a lot

of demands on the teacher’s time and skills in relation to effective differentiation. A

key strategy is for teachers to exploit their resources to maximum effect.

Learners

• Let learners choose! You can set up graded versions of the same activity on

different tables, explain what they are and let learners choose which to do.

• Lots of repetition is very important at this level and learners need to review and

revise language regularly. For example, teaching learners how to play pelmanism

with word/word and word/image matching cards from previous lessons.

• Keep some scissors in the classroom. Encourage learners to cut up texts and

worksheets and create their own activities.

Practitioners

• Consider how the same topic and resource can be used by learners working at

different levels, e.g. adapt, crop and cut a text into different lengths and levels of

complexity and challenge. There is an example using forms in Reading texts 2.

• Change your instructions – not the activity. For example, with a simple gap-fill

worksheet, lower level learners can put word cards into the spaces or copy the

missing words, next level learners can look at the missing words then fold the

paper over and try to remember them, higher level can fold the paper over and try

to fill in the gaps without looking at them first.

• Group work with flipchart sheets can be the starting point for a wide range of

valuable language learning activities, such as collaborative writing tasks,

participatory tools such as the Reflect ‘tree’ and ‘river’, creating displays and

sharing results of class surveys. See Topic 4, Unit 4 for an example river activity.

• Use laminated A3 sheets as text frames with Velcro spaced on lines and backs of

words. Learners can stick words onto the sheet to make their own sentences.

• Always save templates when designing digital materials.

• A class set of wipe clean boards/laminated sheets are helpful for learners to

practise letter formation and word level work on. – and a very useful checking tool.

Everyone can hold up their boards to show an answer or give instant feedback.

• Keep a ‘literacy kit’ in the classroom, e.g. tracing paper, blank templates for text,

sentence and word level work, scissors, sheets and strips of coloured card, post-it

notes, stickers, different writing implements, sharpeners, erasers, a picture pack.

• Create short simple listening activities on your phone with friends, family and

colleagues to help expose learners to a wide range of voices and accents.

Context

Bring the outside in! The learners, your setting and the locality are rich resources. You

can build language learning around language experience, news a learner wants to

share, interviews and role plays with centre staff/other visitors, or centre events.

Top tip 7 What learners and teachers said

‘With a focus on sustainability, I don't want to have

lots of worksheets. [It] would be better to provide lots

of ideas for working with minimal resources.’

ESOL teacher

‘[Teaching pre-Entry] is very physically draining and

I think sometimes, from a resilience point of view I

feel that anything around how to make this easier on

yourself, and how to deliver this in a way which is

not so physically investing for you as a teacher’.

ESOL teacher

‘The major difficulty is the lack of materials designed

for adults living in England at the correct level. This

means that a great amount of time needs to be spent

in lesson preparation, including creating one's own

materials. Materials which are

photocopiable/downloadable which can be used by

community organisations without too much

expenditure’.

ESOL teacher

Top Tip 8: Use a range of strategies

Using a broad range of strategies will help learners to own their learning, and to find

learning strategies that work for them.

Learners

• Learners who have little or no experience of schooling may find the classroom a

challenging and intimidating place.

• Learners who have experienced very traditional schooling may have fixed ideas

about learning (as may we!).

• Learners may have preferred ways of learning: it can be helpful to acknowledge

and provide these some of the time.

• Encouraging learners to discuss and share their learning experiences - in L1 if

necessary - can help them take control of their learning.

• For many learners, especially those with little or no literacy in L1, learning to

write is a very physical experience, with very physical challenges. Encouraging

experimentation is vital.

• Learners may have difficulty assembling and bringing in the ‘hardware’ of

learning - pens, paper, files, etc. Help them develop strategies for addressing

these issues, e.g. group WhatsApp reminders, file organisers, diary

appointments.

Practitioners

• Keep lots of different writing implements handy and available. Encourage

learners to try different ones, and to experiment with physical position when

writing.

• Use a range of differentiated approaches to support letter formation, handwriting,

and word, sentence and text level work.

• Get to know learners’ L1s as there may be specific approaches that will help

them. For example, if their L1 does not separate consonants from vowels in

written form, it may be useful to focus on English vowels as a separate group of

characters.

• Highlight and make available ‘Learning to learn’ resources and templates such

as Template 3 Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check.

• Encourage and develop participatory approaches to learning.

Context

• Encourage learners to arrange the learning space in a way that suits them, and

to decide how to create displays and other decorations.

Top tip 8 What learners and teachers said

‘I think it has improved a bit but I feel I’ve never

been a great student and now at 60 I feel it’s very

difficult to improve that or to get some studying

habits, or to learn how to study at my age, after

not having been to school [for very] long’.

ESOL learner

‘I think what I am trying to say is maybe we need

strategies to make pre-Entry learners more

independent within the classroom, so that you

can actually just say right, you know the drill now,

you have done this before, get on and do.’

ESOL teacher

‘Most tutors are not confident enough teaching

phonics to adults. The only literature available is

stuff produced for schools and you can see the

resources that are out there are childish. They're

meant to last for a whole year, where they do one

sound a day, but there's no way you can do that

into a normal ESOL class. So, I think, you know,

the sector is crying out for phonics at pre-Entry

level’.

ESOL teacher

Top Tip 9: Keep it real

In a world where communication is shifting towards the visual and the digital, it is

important to equip learners with the skills to participate in the real-world

communication contexts that they meet in their daily lives and will encounter in the

future.

Learners

• Learners will need to develop handwriting (especially for use in exams) but a very

large amount of their real-world communication will be digital.

• Learners will have varying degrees of access to technology and varying digital

skills: this can help create more opportunities for differentiated activities and for

learners to support each other.

• For learners with no literacy in any language, or those who find the physical

aspects of handwriting very challenging, keyboards and phones are hugely

liberating.

• Find out how leaners communicate with friends and family and build teaching and

learning around this. There are suggested activities for this in Topic 5, Unit 3.

Practitioners

• Spend some time getting to know which literacy practices learners engage with

in the real world. Try to reproduce some of these in the teaching space: so, for

instance, if learners have to fill in a form, consider whether this would be on

paper, on a phone, on a tablet or on a PC.

• Ask learners to bring in lots of real-world texts - texts that impact on their lives

such as letters/emails from health centres, hospitals and schools, energy

suppliers, including digital texts that may only exist virtually. Use these texts to

plan activities that could have a real-world outcome.

• The language experience approach can be used to create many sorts of texts

(apart from handwritten on card). Try creating (and reconstructing) digital

language experience texts, such as messages, emails, or social media posts.

Context

• Take advantage of any free digital services or equipment you can, such as

institutional Wi-Fi, or free apps such as WhatsApp, to create realistic (or real)

communication activities.

• Be aware of any data protection issues and follow your organisation’s policies.

• If the context allows, try to create opportunities which help learners accomplish

real world tasks - for example, registering for a service online, online shopping,

setting up a social media account.

Top tip 9 What learners and teachers said

‘There is a wider belief that technology is not appropriate

for lower levels [but] this is something that needs to be

integrated in new resources. Integration needs to be in

the form of mobile technology as many classes are not

based in IT rooms and learners struggle to navigate

college IT procedures.’

ESOL teacher

‘A lot of the current pre-Entry level material… is outdated;

booking a doctor’s appointment by letter when in reality

most are made on-line or by telephone where you choose

the relevant option on the menu’.

ESOL teacher

‘I use my smart phone. I speak to my children in Syria and

Jordan. If I need information, I check on Google. I use

YouTube, I use Google, I use the translator as well.’

ESOL learner

Top Tip 10: Use a wide range of differentiated texts

It is very important to expose learners to lots of different types of differentiated reading

texts to support them in recognising and engaging with texts they will meet in their

everyday lives. It’s good to avoid asking learners to write in order to show

understanding of reading, if reading is the main skills focus for an activity. However,

reading skills work can lead very well into carefully planned follow-up writing work.

Learners

• Literacy skills are much broader than reading and understanding words and

sentences in a text. Learners need to recognise and engage with a variety of text

types such as signs, digital literacies, forms, dates and numbers, instructions and

narrative texts.

• Learners need to read and understand different fonts - but choose ‘sans serif’ fonts

for copying and writing practice for new readers writers.

• Lots of repetition is very important at this level.

Practitioners

• Always set the context and encourage talk before literacy work.

• Only ask learners to read words, sentences and short texts that use language that

is meaningful and known to them.

• Pre-teach/review key words before reading - and writing.

• Differentiation is vital. Cut or crop to create several versions of the same text so

learners can engage with it at the most appropriate level, i.e. word level, sentence

level, text level.

• Vary the type of reading activities you ask learners to do.

Context

• Use the learners’ own texts to generate authentic and engaging reading for

learners.

• Adapt, author, contextualise and localize texts to make them as relevant,

meaningful and recognisable as possible for your learners, e.g. change to local

place names and insert images of local places.

Top tip 10 What learners and teachers said

‘You’ll have three people in the class who are complete

beginners, don’t understand what your instructions are,

you’ll have three at the other end getting on with it and

the ones in the middle. So how do you have the time

to meet all their needs as well?

ESOL teacher

‘Often there are a wide range of needs within one pre-

Entry class. For example, at the moment I have at least

two learners who can communicate verbally at E3 level

and above but who are beginners in reading and

writing, two learners are E1 in literacy but struggle to

communicate and understand others in English when

speaking and two others who have no English at all in

any skill. I would like the project to address how to

produce differentiated materials and manage such a

wide variety of needs.’

ESOL teacher

KEY KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

KK&S 1: The languages grid

This table gives some information about some of the languages spoken by new ESOL

learners at the time of writing. It includes languages such as Arabic which do not use a

Roman script as well as languages such as Somali where learners may have different

traditions of literacy. It also includes some of the languages spoken by the learners

who are profiled in these materials. It is not intended to be representative but rather to

give an indication of the kinds of language you may encounter in the classroom.

We encourage you to add notes to the table, and additional languages, as you find out

more about each of the main languages your learners speak. It can be very useful for

practitioners to know something about the language(s) a learner has been exposed to

from birth, often referred to as their ‘first’ language or ‘L1’. For ESOL learners with little

or no literacy in English it is especially useful to know a something about the script of

their L1 (assuming it is a language that has a written form) - especially the direction

the language is written in, and the category of script, which are both shown by the

table below.

It is also worth noting that the terminology ‘first language’ or ‘L1’ is not entirely

unproblematic and represents a rather monolingual worldview. In fact, a majority of

people worldwide are multilingual (i.e. speak and use more than one language) and

many will not necessarily identify a single language as their L1.

Types of

literacy

Explanation

Non-literate

Learners have had no access to literacy instruction, but they live in a

literate society.

Pre-literate

The learner’s first language has no written form or is in the process of

developing a written form (e.g. some American indigenous, African,

Australian, and Pacific languages have no written form).

Semi-literate

Learners have limited access to literacy instruction, or have some

reading and writing skills in their first language but are not functionally

literate.

Non-alphabet

literate

Learners are literate in a language written in a non-alphabetic script

(e.g. Mandarin Chinese).

Non-Roman

alphabet

literate

Learners are literate in a language written in a non-Roman alphabet

(e.g. Arabic, Greek, Korean, Russian, and Thai). Direction of reading

varies.

Roman

alphabet

literate

Learners are literate in a language written in a Roman alphabet script

(e.g. French, German, and Spanish). They read from left to right and

recognise letter shapes and fonts.

(ref. EU-Speak-3 European Speakers of Other Languages: Teaching Adult Immigrants and Training

Their Teachers (2018), Young-Scholten, M. Naeb, R, Ritchie, Y, & Musa, R.)

Language

Direction

Name of script

family

Type of script

Hello in chosen language

Other notes

Albanian

Left to right

Latin / Roman

Alphabet

Përshëndetje

Amharic

Left to right

Amharic

Abugida

Arabic

Right to left

Arabic

Abjad-- this means

the system uses

(mainly) symbols for

consonants- the

reader supplies vowel

sounds

No indefinite articles

Reversed question

marks and commas

Aramaic

Right to left

Syriac

Abjad

Bengali

Left to right

Bengali

Abugida -Consonant-

vowels combinations

written as a unit

(vowels dependent on

consonants)

Bulgarian

Left to right

Cyrillic

Alphabet

Здравейте

Most users will also

know the Roman

alphabet

Language

Direction

Name of script

family

Type of script

Hello in chosen language

Other notes

Chinese

languages (for

example

Cantonese or

Mandarin)

Columns:

Top to

bottom, read

from right to

left- but lots

of variation is

possible

Chinese

Logographic: written

(or drawn) character

represents a word or

phrase.

No definite articles

Fula

Left to right

Latin/Roman

Alphabet

Jam waali (Good morning)

Expanded version of

Latin/Roman alphabet,

variation between

countries. Also uses

Arabic script, especially

Guinea, Cameroon.

Many Arabic

loanwords.

Gujarati

Left to right

Gujarati

Abugida

No horizontal line

Phonetic

Not case sensitive

No definite article

Hindi

Left to right

Devanagari

Abugida

Phonemic

Language

Direction

Name of script

family

Type of script

Hello in chosen language

Other notes

Urdu / Lakshari

Right to left

Perso-Arabic /

Arabic

Abjad

Reversed question

marks and commas

Igbo

Right to left

Latin/Roman

Alphabet

Nnọọ

Expanded version of

Latin alphabet, non-

standardised so

variation between

users.

Kurdish-Sorani

Right to left

Arabic

Abjad

مهس

Lithuanian

Left to right

Roman but does

not use Q, W or Z

and has additional

letters Ą, Ę, Ė, Į,

Ų, Ū, Č, Š, Ž

Alphabet

Sveiki

Pitch language

(meaning of words

changes according to

stress)

Persian / Farsi

Right to left

Perso -Arabic

Abjad

No definite articles

Reversed question

marks and commas

Language

Direction

Name of script

family

Type of script

Hello in chosen language

Other notes

Punjabi

Two scripts

used:

Shahmukhi -

right to left /

Gurmukhi left

to right

Perso-Arabic /

Arabic

Abjad (Shahmuki)

Abugida (Gurmukui) -

No definite article

Romani

Left to right

Roman but with

some additions

from Slavic

alphabets

Alphabet

Sastipe!

Shares many features

with other Indo-Aryan

languages such as

Hindi and Bengali

Sanskrit

Left to right

Bengali

Abugida

namaste

Somali

Left to right

Latin/Roman

Alphabet

Salaam

alaykum

Tamil

Left to right

Tamil

Abugida

No definite articles

Tigrinya

Left to right

Ge’ez / Ethiopic

Abugida

Language

Direction

Name of script

family

Type of script

Hello in chosen language

Other notes

Twi

left to right

Roman

Alphabet

Agoo

Tonal language (the

meaning of words

changes according to

tone)

Ukrainian

Left to right

Cyrillic

Alphabet

Здрастуйте

Most users will also

know the Roman

alphabet

Wolof

Roman

left to right

Salaamaalekum!

Majority language in

Senegal,

the written form was

standardised in 1971

KK&S 2: Inclusivity

There are many important considerations for ESOL practitioners in relation to making

sure classrooms are safe, accessible and supportive spaces in which learners can feel

equally valued and included. To be aware of the wide diversity of learners and their

varying needs, useful questions for practitioners to ask themselves include:

• Do any learners have visible or invisible disabilities or impairments which may impact

on them being able to:

- access the building or classroom?

- sit in or move around the space safely and comfortably?

- read text on the board or handouts?

- hear the teacher or each other?

- communicate with the teacher and other learners?

- handle writing implements, keyboards or other learning resources?

• Am I making sure that the topics and contexts we choose and use for language

learning reflect the diversity of learners’ lives, gender, sexuality, religious and cultural

norms and practices? Are they sensitive to individuals’ lived experience and are not

based on any assumptions? For example:

- Not everyone is heterosexual! Many LGBTQ+ refugees have had to flee

persecution due to their sexuality or gender-identity.

- Even if they do have children and partners, not everyone will be living in a

family unit. Families may have been separated by, for example, war, migration

and poverty. Children may be living in another country with grandparents,

family members may have been separated in traumatic circumstances and

some may have died.

- Not everyone will feel comfortable being in mixed learning environments and/or

doing pair work with someone of a different gender.

- Some adult learners may not have had any previous experience of formal

education as children, may not have literacy skills in any language and no

qualifications. A classroom will be an alien environment, at least, initially.

• What can I do or change to address any of these, or similar issues, effectively in the

ESOL classroom? What is beyond the parameters of my role? Useful action can

include:

- Neurodiversity including dyslexia and ADD

- Mental health problems, medical conditions or medication

- The impact of trauma and depression

- Lack of sleep due to working unsociable working hours or having changing

shift patterns

- Worry and fears about safety, security and the future. For example, some

learners may be facing issues relating to their housing, visas or status. Others

may be victims of racism, slavery, trafficking or domestic violence.

- Age.

• What can I do or change to address any of these, or similar issues, effectively in

the ESOL classroom? What is beyond the parameters of my role? Useful action

can include:

- actively engaging learners in identifying language learning topics and

contexts that are important and meaningful for them

- making suitable adjustments in the classroom, where possible. For

example, moving a desk/chair nearer to the board or making more space

for a wheelchair user

- finding out what specialist support is available at your centre and who you

can signpost the learner to

- remembering the boundaries of your role and referring learners to the

appropriate person or service.

Implications for teaching

For teaching ideas, strategies and examples, refer to ESOL Access for All

https://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/content/etf2356

Some key reading on inclusivity policy and practice

Inclusivity policy and practice:

- Equality Act 2010: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance

- https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/rfw/inclusivity-learning

- https://www.coe.int/en/web/language-support-for-adult-refugees/home

Neurodiversity and LDD

- Dyslexia & the Bilingual Learner – Sunderland et al

(https://www.learningunlimited.co/product/dyslexia-the-bilingual-learner-sunderland-

et-al)

- https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/dyslexia/0/steps/15675

- ELT Well: http://eltwell.com/

- ESOL Access for All: https://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/content/etf2356

LGBTQ+

- British Council webpage from Breaking the Ice Conference -

https://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/continuing-professional-

development/teacher-educator-framework/understanding-teaching-

context/breaking-ice-addressing-lgbt-issues-esol-classroom

- LELM Education - https://lelmeducation.wordpress.com/2016/02/03/esol-lgbt-

teaching-resources-and-materials/

Mental Health

- MHFE: https://mhfe.org.uk/

KK&S 3: Literacy practices

• The term literacy practices refers to the ways in which people use written texts in

their everyday lives.

• Literacy practices are a part of larger social practices: so, for example, writing and

signing a birthday card is part of larger process (checking an upcoming birthday,

choosing and buying, then eventually giving or sending the card).

• Literacy practices involve values, attitudes, feelings and social relationships - they

go beyond a simple ‘skills’ view of literacy, and cannot be reduced to just a set of

behaviours.

• Literacy practices will often involve all four skills as, in the real world, most reading

and writing occurs within a social context that involves oral communication, too.

• Very different literacy practices occur in different life contexts.

• Social institutions and power relationships shape literacy practices. For example,

a hotel guest filling in a registration form is typically positioned as more powerful

than a hospital patient filling out a functionally similar form.

• Some literacy practices are more dominant, visible and influential than others. For

example, drawing up a legal agreement is a more influential, but less visible,

practice than writing a job application.

• Literacy practices are embedded in wider social goals and cultural practices: they

are purposeful and aim to get something done. (Even if this is a ‘soft’ purpose

such as to relax by reading a comic, or maintain a social relationship online).

• Literacy practices change over time. For instance, writing a cheque was once a

powerful, dominant literacy practice. It now seems old-fashioned and quaint

compared to, for example, an online PayPal payment.

Implications for teaching

• Teach literacy practices in context whenever possible. For instance, set up

speaking activities that copy the type of talk that would occur in the real-life

practice.

• Integrate all four skills - don’t just focus on the reading and writing.

• Ask learners about if/how each literacy practice would be realised in their own

country, community or culture. For example, what would people do and how would

they do it?

• Select literacy practices to teach on the basis of learners’ needs, priorities,

ambitions and interests. Invite learners to suggest ways in which they have used

reading and writing in the past that are important to them.

• Include as many digital literacy practices as you can - these are quickly becoming

/ have become the most dominant, visible and influential literacies. For instance,

phone calendars, WhatsApp message groups (or similar), social media, online job

applications and even shopping lists are all displacing their handwritten

equivalents.

KK&S 4: Phonics

• Phonics is one of the main approaches for teaching reading to native or fluent

English speakers, both children and adults. It is a method of teaching reading and

spelling which involves learning the connections between graphemes (letter

patterns) and the phonemes (sounds) they represent, also referred to as sound-

symbol correspondence.

• There are two main approaches – synthetic phonics (which starts with identifying

and putting sound/letter correspondences together to form words) and analytic

phonics (which starts with words the learners already know and involves identifying

the sound/letter correspondences in those words). An analytic approach is

recommended for ESOL learners as it is important to work with words learners

already know and can say.

• A significant factor is that the spelling system in English is not straightforward -

there’s often no one-to-one relationship between graphemes and phonemes. For

example:

- the letters ‘ch’ can be pronounced / tʃ / church, / ʃ / chef and / k / chemist

- the sound / k / can be represented by the graphemes ‘c’, ‘k’, ‘ck’, ‘ch’ or ‘q’ in

written English

- the sound / u: / can be represented by the graphemes ‘wo’, ‘o’, ‘oo’, ‘ou’ and

‘ue’ as in two / to / too / group / blue

• There are 26 letters in the English alphabet but 44 different phonemes (20 vowel

phonemes, 24 consonant phonemes) and this presents challenges for ESOL

learners.

• Learners need to understand the relationship between spoken and written English

for both reading and spelling. It works:

- from print to sound for the decoding element of reading

- from sound to print for spelling.

Key concepts

• Words go from ‘left to right’ with a beginning, middle and end.

• Words are made up of sounds that can be blended and segmented.

• One or more letters (graphemes) represent spoken sounds (phonemes).

• Long words are no more difficult to read and spell than short words. Very simple ‘fat

- cat - sat’ basic phonics might be too limited for adult learners so teach simply

structured multisyllabic words learners know from the outset, e.g. ‘public’,

‘bedroom’, ‘working’, etc.

• A single grapheme usually consists of one, two or three letters (e.g. ‘a’, ‘ee’ in

‘meet’, ‘igh’ in ‘high’).

• One grapheme can represent one or more phonemes (e.g. tap, baby, water, father,

about).

• One phoneme can represent one or more graphemes (e.g. /m/ in man, hammer,

Autumn).

Suggested approach for working with phonics

• Start with whole meaningful words the learner knows.

• Say the words clearly, identifying the syllables.

• Focus on the first sound (in a word) awareness, sound differences and similarities.

• Build phonological awareness by using rhyming, matching, categorising and sound

games.

• Focus on specific grapheme-phoneme correspondences within those words, e.g. /m/

in ‘my’ ‘name’ ‘some’ ‘many’.

• Start with ‘Basic Code Plus’

– the simple-to-complex sequence of phoneme-

grapheme correspondences. In this approach, begin with the simplest sound-to-letter

correspondences and gradually move on to the idea that a single grapheme can

represent more than one sound and a single phoneme can be spelt with more than

one grapheme.

• Use the guidance and phonics charts from the Post-16 Phonics Approaches

Toolkit to help you integrate phonics into your sessions.

• Keep a record of phoneme-grapheme correspondences taught – revise and build on

these as appropriate.

• Integrate phonic work with whole word recognition and language experience, working

from words the learners already know and can say.

• Avoid de-contextualised lists of words, and link phonic work to spoken language.

• Identify areas of interest for the learner and create literacy materials linked to these

contexts.

• Try out different phonic approaches with your learner(s) and see how they work. If

learners find phonics confusing, try alternative strategies, e.g. visual, tactile or

kinesthetic.

• It’s important to see what works with an individual learner as a phonics approach

may not work for all learners (such as dyslexic learners).

A2, Post-16 Phonics Approaches Toolkit

Phonological awareness

Some learners will need specific sound recognition and discrimination activities as they

may not be able to ‘hear’ particular sounds, especially if they do not occur in their

first/other language. Some suggestions for building phonological awareness:

- use songs or chants to teach rhyme

- raise your hand/card if you hear the sound…

- give learners counters and ask them to line up counters for every sound they hear in

a word

- sort words by initial sound

- begin sound work with very different sounds together, such as /m/ and /d/ or /k/ and

/s/ rather than sounds that are often confused depending on L1, such as /p/ and /b/

or /r/ and /l/

- clap syllables or tap them with your feet

- walk words: take small steps for unstressed syllables and long steps for stressed

syllables

- build word families using onset and rhyme, e.g. c - at, s – at; t – in, b – in; l – ight, r –

ight, f –ight.

- play bingo with sounds instead of words.

KK&S 5: The whole word approach

Key concepts

• Whole word recognition (or ‘sight words’) is a key step in developing reading

fluency. Rather than focusing on the letter/sound correspondences that make up

an individual word, learners are encouraged to look, say and memorise its size,

shape and length.

• Some high frequency words need to be learned as whole words as it’s not

possible to decode them using phonics, e.g. the, be, to, she, one, etc.

• Whole word recognition focuses on words the learner knows or needs to know.

• It draws on the learner(s) oral skills to support the development of literacy skills.

• About 300 ‘sight words’ account for approximately 50% - 75% of those we read

and write. Therefore, building up a ‘sight word bank’ means learners have a bank

of instantly recognisable words, need to rely less on phonics and decoding, can

gain fluency more quickly and focus on accessing meaning.

• It builds learners’ confidence – they can ‘read’.

Suggested approach for working with whole words

• ‘Framing’ a word by drawing a line around it so that its shape stands out helps to

emphasise the visual features:

• Introduce the recognition and reading of whole words through ‘language

experience’ or very brief texts.

• Ensure learners are familiar orally with the vocabulary used.

• Having the words on flash cards can provide many different practice activities, for

example:

- reading and saying activities

- matching to pictures

- matching to different fonts or handwriting

- sorting activities

- labelling pictures

- find the word

- gap-filling texts

- bingo games

- word games.

• The word cards can be used at a later stage for practising sentence formation,

perhaps using different colours for different parts of speech.

come

from

Bangladesh

KK&S 6: Handwriting

Some ESOL literacy learners may already be writers in their own languages and will

have transferable skills such as:

- pen control

- correct seating position

- good hand/eye co-ordination.

Key concepts

Learners who are absolute beginners with writing will need to develop pre-writing

skills. Writing requires a lot of finger and hand strength, manual dexterity, control of fine

movements, and hand-eye coordination. Beginner writers will probably find writing

physically (and mentally) exhausting and will only be able to practise for short periods of

time. They need to learn to:

- form letters and numbers – know where they start and end

- produce letters of the correct size, height, spacing and position on the line

- join letters

- leave spaces between words

- write fluently.

Suggested approach for teaching handwriting

Materials

• Consider the type of paper – ordinary lined paper or ‘4-lines’ paper which guides

the size of the letters and position on the line

• For practising, offer a variety of pens, pencils, crayons, markers or paint and see

which each learner prefers

• Some learners may benefit from using a rubber grip on their pencil

• Customised handwriting worksheets (available online) can be printed in different

sized fonts and enable learners to trace over personal key words, e.g. name and

address.

Writing position

Consider seating position:

- position of table

- height of chair in relation to writing surface

- support for writing arm

- position of paper (left-handed?)

- support for paper.

Letter formation

• Practise forming lines and loops, before trying to form letters.

• Form letters in the air.

• Show learners exactly how to form letters – where to start and end – and the correct

way to form each one.

• Observe and check that learners are forming letters correctly.

• Learners can practise tracing words they need to write, e.g. name and address.

• Encourage joining some letters from the earliest stage, e.g. and.

Spacing and size

• Ensure learners are aware of the importance of size, position on the line and spacing

between words.

• Encourage learners to put a pen or pencil between each word to check spacing.

Learners will need a great deal of practice in order to develop fluent and legible

handwriting so ‘little and often’ is usually best.

Don’t forget that in today’s technological world, handwriting is required less and less;

therefore it’s essential that learners also learn digital skills, including using a keyboard on

a phone, computer and/or tablet, and other ways of creating texts, such as voice

recognition, voice recording.

KK&S 7: The language experience approach

The language experience approach is one of the most powerful techniques for helping

beginner readers and writers. It combines all four skills, and develops reading and writing

out of natural spoken interaction. It is learner-centred, and draws on the learner’s

experiences, stories and lived context /life world. It is infinitely adaptable to different

settings, learners and levels.

Procedure

• Engage the learner(s) in a conversation about a meaningful topic to them. This topic

can be chosen by yourself, or the learner(s).

• Use visual images as prompts where necessary. You may have to introduce new

vocabulary, but do not teach this in any formal sense yet - just use it to enable

communication. It may be helpful to some learners to use L1 at this stage.

• As conversationally as possible, and depending on the topic, elicit a few opinions

(such as likes/dislike/ preferences) or facts (such as elements of a personal narrative

or lifestyle) from the learner(s).

• Once you have enough learner-based material to form 3-4 sentences, you, or a/the

learner, can scribe this (i.e. write this for the learner). You now have a short written

text.

Using the text

Typically, this text will be used to practise reading first, then may be used for copying/

gap-filling. But you can adapt this in many ways to suit different learners’ needs.

• Read the text aloud a few times first: on your own if necessary, and then chorally

with the learner(s). Use your finger to indicate where in the text you are as you

read. Point out any phonic/spelling features that need highlighting.

• Copy each sentence onto a separate strip of card. Read these together again.

• Put the sentence strips in a pile and ask the learner(s) to try and put them in the

right order.

• Now use a pair of scissors to cut the sentences up into single words (or phrases).

Cut full stops as separate pieces.

• Now ask the learner(s) to try reassembling and reading a sentence, and then the

whole text.

• The learner(s) can take the cards home for more practice.

• After the reading/reassembling stage, you can move onto asking the learner(s) to

copy or gap-fill the text or create their own text

In practice

You can watch an example of the language experience approach being used here:

https://www.learningunlimited.co/publications/free-resources.

KK&S 8: Spelling

Key points

- Recognising spelling patterns is part of decoding (reading) as well as encoding

(writing).

- Learners will need to know the names of the letters of the alphabet in order to

spell out words.

- Don’t teach homophones at the same time, for instance, it’s confusing to tell

beginner learners that pair can also be spelled pear.

- Don’t teach spelling ‘rules’ although giving guidance about general tendencies can

be helpful such as adding ‘s’ or ‘eses to form a plural.

Suggested approaches for teaching spelling

Phonics can help learners to spell words with regular spelling patterns. Focus on groups

of words with similar spelling patterns (word families) such as saw, jaw, and law, or read,

meal, and lean, for example:

- letter combinations: th, sh, ch, qu, wh, aw, ew, ow, kn, ph

- a final –e follows a long vowel: make, sale, hide, hope, cute

- common prefixes and suffixes: pre-, co-, de-, un-, -ing, -ed, -ize, -ous, -ive, -ese, -tion

- common vowel combinations and what sound they make: ea, ee, ie, oa, oo, ou

- double consonants after short vowels before adding an ending: stop - stopped

Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check (LSCWC) is a method of learning to spell specific

words, ideally ones that learners need to know such as their name, address, family

names, key words, etc. LSCWC is a method which helps learners learn spellings by

focusing on the ‘difficult bits’. The recommended process is as follows:

Take a sheet of paper divided into columns, as in Template 3:

• Write a word the learner needs/wants to learn to spell in the left-hand column.

• Encourage the learner to say and look at the word carefully, thinking of ways to

remember it (see suggestions below).

• The learner covers the word and writes it in the second column.

• The learner checks if it is spelled correctly, letter by letter.

• If there is a mistake, focus on it and use one of the methods below to help

remember the correct spelling.

• The learner covers the word and writes it again in the third column.

• Check and repeat the process using the fourth and fifth columns.

• The last column can be used later to check the learner can remember the spelling.

Suggestions for ways to help memorise spellings

Visual, for example:

- highlight particular parts of words or letter combinations which the learner finds

difficult to remember, e.g. Tuesday

- look for words within words, e.g. friend

- look for patterns in words (phonics), e.g. doing, eating, sleeping

Motor, for example:

- teach joined-up handwriting for letters that are easy to join such as ‘er’ or ‘the’ as

the flow helps the spelling to be memorised

- write the word in the air, trace it or use a keyboard

Auditory, for example:

- break words into chunks and say each chunk, even if you/the learner needs to

pronounce it in a strange way, e.g. Wed – nes – day

- say the word aloud in an unusual way such as a rhyme

- clap or beat the number of syllables or sounds

Other ways, for example:

- use mnemonics such as big elephants can’t always use small exits (because)

- remove/add prefixes such as un – happy, watch – ed

- link a new word with one the learner already knows such as rain – train.

Dictionaries, bi-lingual dictionaries and translation apps can be helpful if learners are

literate in their first/other language and know the first letter of the word they want to spell.

However, for most new ESOL learners, making their own dictionary (digital or notebook)

will be more useful as it will contain words the learner has used in their own writing, is

more meaningful and a useful way to introduce alphabetical order.

KK&S 9: Name cards

Name cards can be an extremely useful classroom resource. Just fold a piece of card

into three and write your first name clearly in the middle section. The card can then stand

on the desk/table in front of you. In the first class, show learners an example name card

you have made for yourself and invite them to make one for themselves using the name

they would like to be called by. Give lots of choice for colours of card and felt pens so

everyone can make their name card really distinctive with decorative borders etc.

You can then use these in a wide range of ways in subsequent classes:

- Learners can develop scanning skills by sorting through and looking for their card

at the beginning of each class.

- Learners can take it in turns to give out the name cards at the beginning of each

class.

- Having name cards in front of each person in the class, helps learners to read,

recognise and learn each other’s names.

- Copying/handwriting practice (upper and lower case)

- Saying the names of the letters in their name, i.e. spelling aloud

- Sounding out the letters in their name, blending and identifying syllables - for

phonics practice

- Learners can add useful information/important words on the other sides of their

name cards, e.g. their country of origin, the languages they speak, in family

learning settings – the names and ages of their children.

- Learners can use the cards to practise sorting into alphabetical order.

- Name cards can be stuck onto large sheets to show learner’s individual responses

to questions in class surveys.

Some teachers also use the inside of these cards for learning goals and individual

feedback. This can be particularly useful for classes with different teachers/volunteers

working with the same group.

KK&S 10: Reading activities

Ideas for using different text types

Here are some suggestions for using the different text types which don't require much in

the way of additional materials or preparation as the basis for reading and follow-up

activities. Please also see the Top Tips as well as the references and links to other parts

of the Guidance, Screening resources and Topics/Units which explain or illustrate an

approach/activity.

You can apply many of these suggestions across different text types.

Social sight words and signs

BINGO

Print and laminate one copy of the text as a Bingo card for each learner. Print and

laminate another set for each learner (or you) to cut up. Call out the sign. Learners put

the correct card over the same image on the Bingo card.

SORTING AND CLUSTERING

Use sets of laminated word cards for regular review practice. As learners build up their

vocabulary, encourage them to jumble, sort and cluster word cards on tables or walls.

You can vary the task, for example clustering words into lexical sets/word families such

as signs, food, places, or words beginning with the same letter, or rhyming words.

CIRCLE THE WORD

Give learners a copy of the social sight sheet, call out words and ask learners to circle

the word they hear.

FILL IN THE MISSING LETTERS

Filling in the missing letters can follow on from phonics practice with letters and sounds.

It can reinforce the value of decoding initial sounds to support reading, as well as

supporting familiarity with upper- and lower-case letters.

B C E S

_ XIT

_ US _ TOP

_ ASH

More ideas

- Support learners to slowly build up their repertoire of key social sight words/

environmental print, e.g. DANGER, TELEPHONE, WOMEN, LADIES, MEN,

GENTS, OPEN, CLOSED, PUSH, PULL.

- Ask learners to take photos of signs they see and use these.

- Create different versions of the card with different images for the same sign

and/or different images on each card to create more challenge and

competition.

Forms

CUTTING AND CROPPING

• Cut/crop one reading text, such as a form or narrative, so there are 3 to 4 versions

- each increasingly longer. Encourage learners to choose which one they would

like to read. If they choose one of the simpler versions and can read this

confidently, encourage them to try the next longest and so on.

MATCHING

• Print some extra copies of the key words on the form and ask learners to find the

same key words on the form/text and place the key word cards on the same word.

• Make a sheet with key words in both lower case and upper case for learners to

match. (See Topic 2, Unit 2 for an example).

NAME

address

ADDRESS

phone number

PHONE NUMBER

name

• Teach learners how to play Pelmanism. This can be used to practise/revise words

and pictures as well as identical words in upper and lower case.

• On Key words sheets with images and words, print a few sheets for self-checking,

then edit to jumble the order of the words before printing. Learners then draw a

line to match each word with the correct picture.

SEQUENCING (1)

• Use common questions that learners know and recognise orally. Cut into cards for

learners to practise reading and sequencing.

What’s

your

name?

What’s

your

address?

What’s

your

phone number?

More ideas

- If you are using forms, remember to use them as a speaking, listening and reading

activities, before asking learners to practise filling them in.

- Make sequencing activities using sentences that learners know and recognise –

including their own texts (see Language experience in the Guidance document).

- Use colours to highlight key words/patterns.

Digital literacies

PERSONALISATION

• Find out which technology, apps and social media learners use to communicate

and include class-based activities around the most popular.

• Include the metalanguage for digital literacies which learners will need as a key

part of language learning and practice, e.g. understanding, reading and

recognising simple, high frequency words such as text, Skype, WhatsApp, email,

search, delete, save. See Topic 5 Unit 3 for example activities.

• Make sure you follow your organisation’s policies on using digital technologies.

There is some general guidance here: https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-

centre/teachers-and-school-staff

More ideas

- If all learners are in agreement, set up a class messaging group such as

WhatsApp and encourage learners to send short messages to each other and

reply to yours.

- Use text or WhatsApp messages to remind learners about their classes, send

reminders about homework, trips or things to remember to bring in.

- Encourage learners to show and support each other in learning how to use

different technology, apps and social media.

Dates and times

SEQUENCING (2)

When working with a set of words or numbers that have a recognised correct sequence,

e.g. days of the week, months of the year, numbers or numerals 1 to 10, give learners a

set of cut up cards to place in the correct sequence. This can be a kinaesthetic activity on

a large table, wall or floor. (See Topic 4, Unit 4 for example activities)

MATCHING (2)

Give learners reading activities to match the same content in different formats, e.g.

- dates in words and numbers and numbers only (12

March 2010 and 12/03/10)

- times in digital and analogue form

- days of the week in both full and abbreviated forms.

CIRCLE THE DATE/TIME

Give learners a sheet with several days, months, dates and/or times, call some out and

ask learners to circle the day/month/date/time they hear.

Instructions

FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS

Get copies of some simple instructions at your centre, ideally with visual as well as

written information, e.g. fire exit route and assembly point, and ask learners to read and

follow the instructions.

More ideas

- If you have a class budget, buy everyone a Kinder egg and ask them to

follow the instructions to make the object inside.

SEQUENCING (3)

Cut text into sentence strips cards for learners to practise reading and sequencing

Packaging, labels and instructions

USE OF REALIA

Bring in a wide range of relevant realia linked to the topics you are covering and

encourage learners to find relevant symbols and words, e.g. recycling symbols, traffic

lights on food labels etc.

PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES

Many participatory tools, activities and projects (such as rivers, flowers, class surveys

and displays) lead to learner generated text including labels and captions. Use these as

the basis for reading practice and follow up discussion. (See Topic 5, Unit 4 for an

example).

Simple narrative texts

Learner generated texts (individual and class) can provide a rich, authentic resource of

narrative reading which can be supplemented with a number of follow up activities.

MULIPLE CHOICE

Create a simple multiple-choice question sheet for learners to fill in individually or in

pairs.

Circle the correct answer

Habiba and Helen are … sisters friends neighbours

Where does Habiba live? Canada Eritrea England

What is Habiba’s job? cleaner doctor teacher

How do Helen and Habiba keep in touch? Email Skype WhatsApp

Habiba is my close

friend. She lives in

Canada. She is a

doctor.

By Helen

From reading to writing

Some example reading activities which lead into related writing tasks:

FORMS

Create a simple form to record key information from a text

WRITING FRAMES

Use texts to create a simple writing frame to generate personalised writing.

Write about your close friend:

…………………………..………… is my close friend.

………… lives in ……………………………………………….

………… is ………… ………………………………………

Habiba is my close

friend. She lives in

Canada. She is a

doctor.

By Helen

Imran

I am from Syria.

I am 28

I live in Bolton

Fill in the form for Imran

Name

Age

Country of origin

Now fill in the form for you

Name

Age

Country of origin

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Name of

organisation

or resource

Website

Key features

Suitability for new to

ESOL and Entry Level 1

learners

British Council/

ESOL Nexus

Website

https://esol.britishcouncil.org

This website offers learners an opportunity to improve their

knowledge through free videos, listening activities, texts and

grammar exercises for various levels of ESOL learners. It

covers relevant topics such as speaking, listening, writing and

reading, grammar and vocabulary. Learners can browse

through a range of useful information which covers UK Life and

English for Work. ESOL Learners and others who have started

a new life in the United Kingdom also tell their personal stories

Covers all levels. There

are some downloadable

resources for teachers of

new to ESOL & Entry

Level 1 learners (study

skills, lesson plans and

materials to support

these)

Busy Teacher

https://busyteacher.org

This resource offers access to over 17,200 free worksheets

and lessons for English teachers and facilitators. The printable

worksheets cover an extensive range of topics including:

vocabulary, grammar, listening, reading and writing.

Some resources for new

to ESOL and Entry Level

1 learners

Centre for Adult

English

Language

Acquisition

http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_res

ources/index.html

Canadian site which contains links to a number of quality

resources available in print and online which provide

background information and suggest approaches, techniques,

and activities for teachers working with beginning- and literacy-

level adult English language learners.

Strong focus on new to

ESOL learners

Centre for

Canadian

Language

(2015) ESL for

Adult Literacy

Learners (ALL)

https://listn.tutela.ca/wp-

content/uploads/ESL_Literacy_J

an_8_2015_e-version.pdf

The Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) framework is a

descriptive scale of language ability in English as a Second

Language (ESL), containing 12 benchmarks or reference

points, from basic to advanced. Within the CLB framework, this

document addresses the needs and abilities of adult ESL

Literacy learners. The primary audience for this document is

instructors of adult ESL Literacy learners. It can inform

classroom instruction, observation of progress, and curriculum

development across a range of educational contexts.

Includes useful

information about the

needs and abilities of

ESOL learners with

limited literacy.

Education and

Training

Foundation

Excellence

Gateway’s

English for

speakers of

other languages

https://esol.excellencegateway.o

rg.uk

This exhibition site brings together some of the most effective

resources for ESOL available on the Excellence Gateway

including key materials created as part of the Skills for Life

strategy, such as the Adult ESOL core curriculum (2001). Most

of the resources were developed as part of government-funded

projects that have now closed but many of the resources from

these projects are here. These include Move On and

ReadWritePlus, which were closed in 2015 and the Talent

website, also closed in 2015. There are resources for

practitioners, managers, learners, research, vocational and

embedded learning.

Highly relevant content

suitable for Entry Level 1

learners (and some for

new to ESOL). Also

includes materials for

those working with

refugees and asylum

seekers (in managers’

resources section).

Elder Literacy

Initiative

http://elderliteracy.org/

This curriculum was designed by the Elder Literacy Initiative in

the US for volunteer tutors to use in one-to-one settings with

low-literate elders, but guidance states that it can be used with

any adult learner, and many of the activities can be adapted for

use in small group or classroom settings. The curriculum

includes 12 units across themes which are meaningful to older

adults. There is an additional unit titled Working in the US, to

complement the goals of elders with limited English proficiency

who are interested in finding paid employment.

Potentially – and

particularly for use with

older people. Developed

to support English

language learners with

limited literacy, this

curriculum is free and can

be adapted for use in a

range of settings.

ELT Well

http://eltwell.com/

ELT Well brings together best practice from the fields of

English language teaching and specialist support for

neurodiverse learners. Includes free resources as well as paid

for development opportunities and assessments for learners

who may have dyslexia or other SpLDs.

A useful resource for all

ESOL teachers but not

specific to this level

English File

https://elt.oup.com/student/engli

shfile/?cc=gb&selLanguage=en

This resource offers access to a wide range of interactive

exercises, downloads, games and web links. It offers learners

the opportunity to practice and improve their grammar,

vocabulary, pronunciation, listening, and reading in a fun and

informal way. The resource is suitable for all levels from

beginner to advanced.

Includes a section for

‘beginners’

English for

Action

http://www.efalondon.org/esol/re

search-and-media

Includes links to EFA's various projects and research relating

to participatory ESOL. Also includes information about the

training and development opportunities they offer

A very useful resource for

all ESOL teachers but not

specific to this level

English My Way

https://www.englishmyway.co.uk

This resource provides a range of materials for tutors to

support and teach adults with no or low levels of English.

Tutors register for access to teaching materials, videos, course

guides and information about help and training. Modular

teaching materials cover ten topics with enough content to

cover 8 hours of teaching on each topic. The project provides

pre-Entry level ESOL skills through a structured 24-week

blended learning programme, improving English language

skills to help people better integrate with their local

communities. It combines tutor-led sessions, rich multimedia

online learning and volunteer-supported ‘Learning Circles.’

Designed for new to

ESOL learners

ESL Computer

Lab

eslcomputerlab.weebly.com

Canadian site with a range of resources on various ESOL

topics, and links to other organisations and websites, to

support teaching and learning

Discussion is focused new

to ESOL and pre-literate

learners, therefore

providing useful context.

But it does not include any

T&L materials.

ESL Library

(Canada)

https://esllibrary.com/

Subscription site provides a library of student-focused content

for students at a range of levels. New content is added

each week.

A subscription would need

to be purchased. Includes

lessons for 'beginners' but

not targeted at new to

ESOL

ESOL Access

for All

https://www.excellencegateway.

org.uk/content/et356

ESOL Access for All is intended to support inclusive learning

for bilingual learners with learning difficulties or disabilities. It is

modelled on the original Access for All but directly linked to the

ESOL Core Curriculum. In addition, it updates the original

content of Introducing Access for All2, expands it and includes

issues that are particularly relevant to bilingual learners and

their teachers.

A very useful resource for

all ESOL teachers but not

specific to this level

ESOL Activities

Pre-Entry with

Audio CD:

Practical

Language

Activities for

Living in the UK

and Ireland

(Cambridge for

ESOL)

Paperback book available from

£31.99

This resource is one of a series of three books and audio CDs

which provide a wide range of lesson planning activities for

students. The activities include teacher’s notes as well as

helpful strategies and suggestions for different activities.

There are also exercises linked to every activity for students to

self-study which come in the form of ready-made homework

tasks.

Would need to purchase.

Aimed specifically at ‘pre-

Entry’ Level learners. Has

largely

EU speak 3 -

European

Speakers of

Other

Languages:

Teaching Adult

Immigrants and

Training Their

Teachers

https://research.ncl.ac.uk/eu-

speak/eu-

speakbooks/english/English%20

M-

Event%20volume%20done%20

29%20Oct%202018.pdf

Published in 2018, drawing on a wide range of research and

input from partners in six countries. A compendium of module

content for LESLLA (Literacy Education and Second Language

Learning for Adults) learners. Its focus is teacher training and

professional development. It contains the text from six online

modules, which are self-contained and can be taken in any

order.

Chapter 1: Working with LESLLA Learners

Chapter 2 Language and Literacy in their Social Contexts

Chapter 3: Bilingualism and Multilingualism

Chapter 4: Reading Development from a Psycholinguistic

Perspective

Chapter 5: Vocabulary Acquisition

Chapter 6: Acquisition and Assessment of Morphosyntax

Focused on how to teach

learners who are new to

literacy.

First Resort and

First Resort

Extra by R

Picking & M

Prudden

https://www.gatehousebooks.co.

uk/products/first-resort

It provides a wide-range of activities covering reading and

writing on topics including: numbers, time, days, seasons,

weather, the body, the house, and food and drink. The most

recent edition has been updated to include full-colour

illustrations. It can be purchased from the website for £30.00

and is available as a PDF download.

Designed for ‘beginner’

learners

Future Learn

course on

Dyslexia and

Foreign

Language

Teaching

https://www.futurelearn.com/cou

rses/dyslexia

Free online course designed for current and trainee teachers of

additional languages. It offers practical tools, as well as

theoretical insights, to best accommodate and meet the needs

of students with dyslexia in foreign or second language

classes.

Not specific to ESOL

learners but relevant for

language teaching

generally

Handwriting

practice sheets

https://www.handwritingpractice.

net/

Sheets that teachers can adapt and print out, to help learners

practice their handwriting

Useful for handwriting

practice

Improving

Language,

Improving Lives

(Bell

Foundation)

http://www.bell-

foundation.org.uk/research-

report/esol-tutor-resource-pack/

The project aims to improve access to ESOL in prisons, though

better identification of ESOL needs and supporting

practitioners to deliver relevant and engaging ESOL learning.

The T&L resources combine language learning with embedded

wider capabilities in numeracy, digital, health, financial and

civic (including elements of personal and social development),

designed to make learning engaging and relevant to life in

prison and in the community.

Contains material suitable

for Entry Level 1-3

ISLcollective

https://en.islcollective.com

A large number of free activities, worksheets and exercises for

practitioners teaching English are available to use interactively

or to download. Resources are available for all levels of

English students from beginner to proficient.

It also provides materials for students with Special Educational

Needs.

Has resources for all

levels of ESOL learners

Klik2Learn

http://www.klik2learn.com

Klik2learn is a digital design company specialising in education

through technology. It produces a range of online, interactive

resources which can be purchased covering: literacy and

numeracy for beginners, digital self-study, English skills test

and pronunciation. Would need to be purchased

Has resources for all

levels of ESOL learners

L&Ws Citizen’s

Curriculum

model

https://www.learningandwork.or

g.uk/our-work/life-and-

society/citizens-curriculum/

Has been successfully used to inspire ESOL learning materials

for the secure estate, and a range of adult basic skills projects

in England and in Europe. The Citizens’ Curriculum is an

innovative and flexible approach to language, literacy and

numeracy provision which places the needs of learners and

communities at its core. The underpinning principles of the

Citizens’ Curriculum are:

A holistic, strengths-based approach to provision for adult

learners, interpreted through the local context

Learner involvement in determining the curriculum to meet their

needs and interests

Suitable for all levels

Language and

Literacy

Education

https://www.youtube.com/watch

?v=rHnHgDGCuAI&t=24s

Short introductory video of a module about literacy practices

from James Cook University

Useful overview of literacy

as a practice

Language

Support for

Adult Refugees

Council of

Europe Toolkit

(2018)

https://www.coe.int/en/web/lang

uage-support-for-adult-

refugees/home

This toolkit is available in seven languages and aimed at

volunteers who provide linguistic and intercultural support for

adult refugees in a wide range of pre-departure, in transit and

on arrival settings across the Council of Europe’s member

states.

Useful for both T&L

materials, and for building

expertise amongst

teachers and volunteers.

Strong new to ESOL and

Entry Level 1 focus

Learning

Unlimited (LU)

https://www.learningunlimited.co

This website contains many useful resources including:

- ‘Welcome to the UK’, ‘Preparing for life in the UK’ and

‘Parents integration through Partnership (PIP)’ free to

download toolkits

- ‘Teaching Basic Literacy to ESOL Learners’ - teacher

development programmes and a publication addressing

the needs of practitioners working with pre-Entry Level

ESOL learners.

- ‘Literacy for Active Citizenship’ series of graded ESOL

readers based on ESOL learners’ and volunteers’ own

stories. Each story available at Entry 1 and Entry 2+.

The graded readers can be bought directly from LU and

free supporting materials are available to download

from the LU website.

A range of resources both

paid and free many

targeted at new to ESOL

learners.

Lelmeducation

https://lelmeducation.wordpress.

com/2016/02/03/esol-lgbt-

teaching-resources-and-

materials/A50

Includes a range of resources focusing on how to embed

LGBT+ into the ESOL curriculum.

A very useful resource for

all ESOL teachers but not

specific to this level

LESLLA

https://www.leslla.org/materials

LESLLA (Literacy Education and Second Language Learning

for Adults) has been working since its inception in 2005 to

increase the knowledge base around working with the most

vulnerable second language learners – those with low or no

literacy in their native language. Curriculum and materials

available on the site include:

ESL Literacy Readers – a collection of forty theme-based

readers utilizes authentic photographs and stories to explore

topics immediately relevant to adult newcomers. The site

includes an instructor's guide to support lesson development.

Some books (topics) are reproduced at multiple levels to allow

for easy differentiation in multilevel classes.

Eye on Literacy – Wordless Books. To provide quality visuals

as instructional resources that capitalize on oral language skills

of adult second language literacy learners with limited

schooling. Moving the learner from oral language to print

through visuals creates an environment where, together, the

teacher and learner can build meaningful contexts and

decoding skills. The emphasis is on oral language which

becomes the stepping stone to the reading and writing

process.

Very relevant. There are

links to ESL Literacy

Readers and Wordless

Books (available free)

Literacy pack by

Lisa Kahlsen

https://www.gatehousebooks.co.

uk/esol-literacy-resource-pack-

cd-rom/

This CD-ROM resource offers a package of different teaching

and learning materials for students who have no or very low

levels of English literacy, and is suitable for asylum seekers,

refugees and other immigrant groups. It includes learning

materials, a guide for tutors or teachers, and a student’s record

of achievement. It contains 13 different units for students to

develop their reading and writing skills from a beginner level.

This resource uses a multi-sensory approach. It can be

purchased directly from the Gatehouse Books website

Would need to purchase.

Aimed at those with no or

very low levels of English.

Literacywork

International

(USA)

http://literacywork.com/Literacyw

ork.com/Resources.html

Literacywork International is a small literacy-focused research

and development company in the US. The website is intended

to be of use to policy makers, administrators, and, most of all,

teachers. All materials are available to be used freely by

teachers for non-commercial purposes.

The ESL by Design section is a comprehensive and integrated

approach to teaching ESL, which includes a recommended

lesson flow and concise descriptions of key strategies. These

strategies are linked to instructional materials and teacher

videos found on other parts of this site. The Resources section

offers a wide variety of materials from research papers to

student readers that teachers may use freely. The Videos

section shows examples of teachers in classrooms using

effective strategies.

The ESL by Design

section in particular

contains a wide range of

strategies and guidance

which may be relevant to

new to ESOL and Entry

Level 1

Making it real –

teaching pre-

literate refugee

adult students

http://www.tacomacommunityho

use.org/wp-

content/uploads/2014/08/Making

-it-Real.pdf

Guide for teachers of pre-literate adult refugees arriving in the

USA. It addresses the complexities of working with pre-literate

adults learning English. It focuses on teaching adults from

cultures that do not have a written language, such as the

Somali Bantu, but the approaches, techniques, and activities

described are useful for teaching other learners as well. The

guide is divided into sections on teaching speaking and

listening skills and reading and writing skills.

Highly relevant, and free.

Aimed at refugees with

little or no English and low

or no literacy skills.

Mental Health in

Further

Education

https://mhfe.org.uk/

Includes information about mental health and learning

including toolkits, case studies and research reports.

Not specific to ESOL

learners but contains

useful general information

about mental health in

relation to learning

Minnesota

Literacy Council

Classroom

Activities for

Adult ESL

Learners video

series from the

http://mnliteracy.org/classroomvi

deos

The Minnesota Literacy Council has developed the Classroom

Activities for Adult ESL Learners video series, which features

professional teachers leading adult ESL classes through

common classroom activities. The videos include both

volunteer-led and teacher-led classrooms, to help teachers and

tutors to develop their own teaching practices and become

more comfortable introducing new activities to their learners.

Each featured activity has a PDF description of the activity

The activities featured in

these videos are from the

Pre-Beginning and

Beginning Level ESL

Curriculum Units. Website

also has curriculum and

lesson plans including

those for new to ESOL

directions and two videos: a full version, which shows the

entire activity from beginning to end, and a short version, which

gives an overview of the activity and highlights the instructions

and teacher-led transitions. The videos have accompanying

lesson plans.

and Entry Level 1

learners.

NALA

handwriting

pack

https://www.nala.ie/sites/default/

files/publications/better_handwri

ting_for_adults.pdf

Tips and ideas to improve handwriting.

Not specific to ESOL

learners but include some

useful exercises.

NATECLA

https://www.natecla.org.uk/conte

nt/654/ESOL-teaching-

resources

NATECLA is the National Association of Teaching English and

Community Languages to Adults. They provide training,

publish a journal and include a list of teaching resources and

tips of the trade on their website

A very useful general

resource for all ESOL

teachers but not specific

to this level

National Adult

Literacy Agency

Irish ESOL and

Literature

Material

https://www.nala.ie/tutors/esol

This resource offers an extensive variety of workbooks,

teaching books, online resources and information. The agency

is an independent charity which is committed to ensuring

people with literacy and numeracy difficulties are able to fully

participate in society and learning opportunities that meet their

needs. It provides a significant amount of information,

resources and sign-posts learners and facilitators to many

relevant resources and opportunities.

The downloadable

materials look to be

suitable for a range of

levels, including new to

ESOL & Entry Level 1.

One Stop

English

http://www.onestopenglish.com/

esol/

A diverse website which provides a wide range of resources

tailored for ESOL. A lot of the materials are aimed at students

who are living in an English-speaking country. It also has a

range of readymade resources for effective and time-efficient

activities for ESOL practitioners.

This resource includes a

specific section designed

for beginner level students

who have little or no

knowledge of English.

Photo

Dictionary –

Longman

Print book costs £14.97

This resource provides 1,000 colour photographs to help

students to learn words in context. It also provides 3,500 words

of everyday life topics – for example, food, housing, jobs,

sports, etc. There are different conversation-based activities for

learners to practise as well as different writing activities for

students to learn vocabulary and help to construct full

sentences. Three audio CDs are also included for help with

pronunciation.

Very relevant– but would

need to purchase. Looks

to be particularly useful as

an additional resource

Reflect

https://www.skillsforlifenetwork.c

om/article/reflect-for-esol-

resource-pack/964

These materials will enable learners to gain English language

skills alongside other skills in an empowering participatory

process. By linking language learning to the analysis of

broader issues in learners' lives Reflect can help break down

the walls of the classroom, helping participants to develop and

strengthen their language skills through practical use. The

pack has three sections: Section One provides an overview of

Reflect; Section Two is made up of a series of themed sheets

for use in the classroom; Section Three contains a selection of

the participatory tools used in Reflect, including graphics such

as the Tree, Matrix and River. The materials can be used to

develop a specific scheme of work based on the Reflect

approach, or dipped into to supplement an existing ESOL

course. The tools and themes described can be adapted for

use at any stage in the learning process.

A very useful resource for

all ESOL teachers but not

specific to this level

Regional

Strategic ESOL

Co-ordination in

the South East

https://www.secouncils.gov.uk/w

p-content/uploads/2012/04/Pre-

entry-ESOL-guide-FINAL.pdf

This project has focused on mapping ESOL provision,

identifying barriers to provision for resettled refugees, and

improving information about ESOL to support commissioning.

The project recently developed a pre-Entry ESOL Guide.

Aimed at local authorities, resettlement coordinators and other

stakeholders, the guide provides information best practice in

commissioning and delivering pre-Entry Level ESOL provision.

It was launched to local authorities, providers and practitioners

in October 2018, to support sharing of practice in pre-Entry

Level ESOL provision in the SE region.

Provides strategic and

contextual information

rather than being a T&L

resource.

Developed for those

involved in working with

refugees who are new to

ESOL and Entry Level 1

SEN Teacher

https://www.senteacher.org/Print

/Literacy/

Various worksheet and flash card templates that teachers can

use to make their own, e.g.:

• Word search

• Handwriting

• Word and picture cards

• Word bingo

• Picture bingo

• Word spinners

These worksheets are

aimed at Special

Educational Needs

teachers but could be

useful for developing

Literacy for learners new

to ESOL

Skills Workshop

ESOL E1 pre-

Entry

introductory

lessons

https://www.skillsworkshop.org/e

sol

Two introductory lessons for ESOL at pre-Entry level to help

build learner confidence and introduce them to college rules

and expectations. The lessons cover welcoming learners,

asking and responding to questions about personal

information, recognising letters of the alphabet, and classroom

equipment.

PowerPoint resource,

submitted to the site in

2018, targeted at pre-

Entry and E1 ESOL

learners.

SQA National 2

ESOL (literacy

focus)

https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/730

04.html

ESOL literacies National 2 Learning Support Materials

Unit specifications

Support materials for teaching: topic focused resources

Assessment materials

Materials to support the

Scottish ESOL curriculum

Teach abc

English (USA)

http://www.teachabcenglish.com

abc English is a curriculum for adult English learners that

teaches basic English communication and reading skills,

starting from the abc sounds. abc English was created

especially for adult refugees and immigrants who are not

literate in their native languages.

Targeted at the right

learner audience, includes

free and paid for

resources

Teaching Basic

Literacy to

ESOL Learners

(Spiegel and

Sunderland,

2006)

http://www.learningunlimited.co/

product/teaching-basic-literacy-

to-esol-learners

A unique practitioner manual which integrates theory with

practical suggestions for teaching ESOL learners with basic

literacy needs. It is aimed at both practising ESOL teachers

and teacher trainees. Integrates theory with lots of practical

suggestions for teaching. Includes chapters on: • where to start

• models of reading and writing acquisition

• approaches to teaching basic reading & writing

• assessment & planning

• learning styles

• dyslexia

• materials

• differentiation

Costs £19.95

Designed for ESOL

learners with basic literacy

needs.

Teaching

refugees with

limited formal

schooling

(Canada)

http://teachingrefugees.com/

This website provides access to information (publications,

educational materials) that promote effective programming for

refugees with limited formal schooling. It draws on experience

of practitioners and research and best practice literature from

Canada and other English-speaking refugee resettlement

countries, such as the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand,

Although designed for the Alberta, Canada context, these

resources would be helpful to jurisdictions in other areas. They

would also be of interest to other services.

Website provides

information about

refugees (in Canada), and

provides resources for

those working with

students with limited

formal schooling, who

require more intensive,

targeted interventions and

support.

TES – Refugee

Education Hub

https://www.tes.com/refugee-ed

A range of resources can be downloaded for refugee

education. Tutors can upload comments on how they have

used the resources. This site also provides a free repository for

any new resources that teachers wish to share.

Of some relevance

Tips for

teaching ESL

beginners and

pre-literate

adults. The

Internet TESL

Journal (10) by

H. Andrew

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Andr

ews-Beginners.html

ESL teaching professionals put into practice the theories of

applied linguistics in a “real world” sense. The article contains

some useful tips for new teachers, e.g.

• Make sure personal connections come first

• Try to minimise the students’ cognitive burden

• Avoid using books that are too childish

• Review constantly

• Don’t assume students know why you are teaching them.

Discussion is focused on

beginner learners, and

pre-literate learners,

therefore providing useful

context. But it does not

include any T&L

materials.

USA Language

experience

lessons

https://www.newamericanhorizo

ns.org/training-videos

The New American Horizons Foundation aims to enhance the

development of teachers through the creation of a series of

training videos:

Teaching ESL to Adults: Classroom Approaches in Action is a

series of twelve videos, which can be viewed online on this

page or purchased as four DVD volumes. Titles include:

Lesson Planning for Life Skills

Building Literacy with Adult Emergent Readers

Growing Vocabulary with Beginning Learners

Working with a Multi-level Class

Developing Listening Skills with High-intermediate Learners

Teaching Grammar in Real-life Contexts

Cultivating Writing Skills at the Intermediate Level

Developing Reading Skills for Intermediate/Advanced Learners

Assessing Learning in the Adult ESL Classroom

Tasks to Promote Critical Thinking and Learning Skills

Effective Grouping Strategies in the Adult ESL Classroom

Tasks to Develop Oral Skills: From Accuracy to Fluency

Videos can be viewed

online for free and several

are very relevant

What non-

readers or

beginning

readers need to

know:

performance-

based adult

ESL literacy by

S.Brod

http://www.springinstitute.org/wp

-content/uploads/2016/01/What-

Non-Readers-or-Beginning-

Readers-Need-to-Know.pdf

This article looks at performance-based literacy instruction, a

pragmatic approach to a widespread problem. Part 1 discusses

some of the factors that affect learning, and the differences

between literate and non- literate learners. It suggests some

ways in which teaching reading to native speakers is, or should

be, different from the process of teaching reading to adult ESL

learners. Finally, it examines some critical factors which impact

motivation and retention.

Discussion is focused on

beginner learners, and

pre-literate learners,

therefore providing useful

context. But it does not

include any T&L

materials.