Popular & Evidence-Based ESL Strategies for Teaching English Learners

How you set up your classes can make a huge difference in the impact you have on your students. Helping students improve in English is only part of the challenge of being an ESL teacher. 

We Need ESL Strategies That:

  • …scaffolds that help bridge the gap between where students are and where they need to be.
  • …ways to create welcoming, safe environments that foster risk-taking and honesty.
  • …ways to help students take responsibility for their learning rather than expecting a teacher or parent to do things for them.

 

ESL Strategies Not Based on Personality

I try to avoid strategies that rely on a teacher’s personality to implement. 

I remember watching a teacher once who had this incredibly engaging personality that the students couldn’t help but be drawn in by. 

That is not my personality. 

I am much more introverted and could never pull off the kinds of activities that guy did.

Fortunately, teaching is not a personality contest and students won’t love or hate you based on how funny you are or how much energy you have.

But our strategies do matter. Some strategies eat up lots of time but deliver poor results. We need strategies where we can get the most bang for our buck, strategies that help the the most students get the most out of the time.

Other ESL Resources

There are other resources available here for you as well.

If you need games and activities for your classes, click here

If you need ESL teaching resources, click here.

Kid-Inspired Teacher Book Cover

Kid-Inspired Teacher – A Book About How to Organize Wildly Productive ELL Classes

If you need to tie all your activities and strategies together for wildly productive classes with your English language learners, you will want to start with the book Kid-Inspired Teacher.

Learn More ->

Fluency Reading Passages for English Learners Social

You'll receive this FREE Fluency Readers Pack as well as other great free resources, tips, & strategies.

Close

Basic Plan & Student Portal Plans

  • Everything in the Basic Plan
  • Create Student Accounts So That Students Can Practice on Their Own Outside of Class for Better Results and Less Pressure on Your Time
  • Fun, Social-Media-Like Features That Can Be Used in a Wide Variety of Ways to Engage Your Students, Manage Homework, and Communicate Outside of Class
  • Engage Your ELLs. Save Time. Close the Gap. Online.
  • Time-Tested, Teacher-Loved, Kid-Inspired Lessons to Get Your Students Amazing Results
  • Fun, Effective, & Interactive Online Activities & Games
  • Share Your Screen During Lessons. 
  • Give Control of Your Screen to Students Using Tools Like Zoom or Koala

Basic Plan

Student Portal Plan

$12.99 Month /

$129.99 Year

$15.99 Month /

$159.99 Year

Starting At

Scroll to Top