(Note that elsewhere on this site there are online exercises for ESL literacy students.)

ESL Literacy Smorgasbord

A collection of activities for students of English as a second language at the literacy and beginning levels

presented at City College of San Francisco, fall 2009 by Kurt Robinson

  1. Up, Down, Left, Right, Stop -- whole-class activity for quick vocabulary review. Display a group of pictures and/or words on the board, OHP, etc. Close your eyes. Randomly place a pointer of some sort amid the pictures. Say, for example, "Where's the cat?" The class guides your pointer to the cat by saying something like "Up up up up up up left left left left left left up up up stop!"
  2. Robo-teacher -- whole-class activity. A terrestrial version of the above, this provides practice in giving travel directions. Pull a hat down over your eyes, close your eyes, or in some other way obscure your vision. Spin around a couple times then ask, "Where is the door?" (or the whatever). Students guide you to the destination by shouting one of the following commands:
    • "Turn right." -- turn about an eighth of a turn right
    • "Turn left." -- turn about an eighth of a turn left
    • "Go straight." -- take one step forward
    • "Stop." -- stop
    Orderly version: students or some subgroup of them give commands one at a time in a predetermined order. Activity A can be done this way too.
  3. Circle, Square, Triangle -- a whole-class, pair, or group activity. Practices use of propositions of location and comprehension and pronunciation of letters and numbers. Draw a large circle, square, and triangle on your OHP or board. Have students do the same on paper. Then give instructions like the following: 
    - Please put the number 10 in the circle.
- Put the letter X under the triangle.
- Put the letter S on the square.
- Put the number 40 between the square and the triangle.
- Put the number 14 to the right of the triangle.
    Next, have students volunteer to tell you where to put the letters and numbers. Some ways to do this, in order of increasing difficulty: 
    T:  What is here? (pointing)   	S: 14 
T:  What is in the circle?   	S: 10
T:  Where is the number 40?  	S: Between the square and the circle.
T:  Help me. 			S: Put the number 14 to the right of the triangle.
    Other ways to reduce difficulty: 
    - Dictate only numbers, only letters, or only consecutive numbers or consecutive letters.
- Use only one or two figures (e.g., only a circle and a square).
- Use only one or two positions (e.g., only "in" and "under").
    After students get the hang of this activity, they can do it in pairs or groups, either coming up with their own numbers and letters or dictating based on completed pictures that you hand out.
  4. Guess the Card -- a small-group game for vocabulary practice.

    Materials: 6 to 10 cards, each with a picture or word on one side and blank on the back.

    Preparation: Students should already be somewhat familiar with all of the vocabulary on the cards. At least at the beginning, display all of the words (or pictures) on the board or OHP as the game is played.

    Number of players: 3 is ideal, 2 or 4 are fine.

    Basic idea: Players try to guess what's on the other side of a card. The player with the most correct guesses wins.

    How to explain the game: I suggest not explaining. Just model it. Pick two students to play with you, gather the class around, and play an entire game, or at least 3 rounds. If students don't get all the details, it doesn't matter; they will invent their own.

    Gameplay: Place all of the cards face down on the table and randomly mix them. Put two cards aside (3 cards if you have 4 players, 1 card if you have 2 players) in the "no winner" pile, then stack the rest. The dealer then takes one card off the pile and places it face down on the table. She asks the player to her right, "What is it?" That player makes a guess: "It's a ______". The dealer proceeds clockwise, asking each player. The dealer then makes a guess of her own (and perhaps verifies the guesses of the other players). She then turns the card over. If any player guessed correctly, that player gets to keep the card. If no one guessed correctly, the card is put in the "no winner" pile, face down. That's the end of the first round. The player to the dealer's right then becomes the dealer and the next round begins. After the last card has been guessed at, players count the cards they have won. The overall winner is the player with the most cards.

    Further details: 

    - The question, "What is it?" can be modified to suit the vocabulary set, e.g., "What day is it?"
- Some vocabulary sets I've used: days of the week, months, clocks showing various times, multiple's of 10 up to 70, pictures of fruits. Standard playing cards can also be used. You can use the numerical cards of one suit, or you can use three or four consecutive cards of two different colored suits, in which case players make guesses such as "It's a red 3" or "It's a black 2." 
- Additional fun vocabulary: I win, You win, Hooray!, Yes!, It's your turn, Congratulations!
- Note that depending on the boldness of your drawings, cards made from standard copy paper may be too transparent. Heavier paper or card stock may be required.
- The game can be adapted for use with two-sided flashcards. The cards, instead of being stacked, are placed inside a large paper bag. The "dealer" shakes the bag, reaches in and grabs a card. She elicits guesses from the other players and makes her own guess before removing her hand from the bag to find out who won.

  5. Guess the Distance -- whole-class or group activity. Provides practice using numbers and units of length. The teacher uses a tape measure to measure some distance in the classroom, e.g., from the door to the television. The teacher asks, "How many feet?" or "How many inches?" Students make guesses. As a group activity, students take a minute to discuss with their group what their guess will be, then the teacher asks each group for their guess. To make it more competitive, give the group with the closest guess a point on a "scorecard" on the board.
  6. Onset/Rime OHP tool This is a tool I occasionally use both to highlight the regularity in the pronunciation of many rimes (a vowel followed by one or more consonants) and to practice the pronunciation of initial consonants. It consists of a transparency with the most common initial consonants in a large font together with a piece of card stock with a 2" x 0.5" window cut in it. I put a word with a common rime on the OHP and have students pronounce it. I erase the initial letter(s), put the "window" around the word, and use the transparency to replace the initial consonant(s) with various new ones. For example, starting with the word "back", I erase the "b" then use the tool to make "chack", "dack", "gack", "hack" etc., having students attempt to pronounce each new word (or nonsense word).