advanced ESL

line drawing of four wrists and hands

Purpose:  A simple kinesthetic way to help learners count syllables and practice word stress  

Preparation Time:  none

Materials Needed:  a list of weekly vocabulary words


clipart of crystal ball containing the word predict

Purpose:  An important reading skill that fluent readers possess is the ability to make predictions about the text. Predictions may be based on prior knowledge and experience around the topic, information from the unit content or established learning structure, or clues from the text itself, such as the title, subtitles, graphics, and/or highlighted key words.

Preparation Time:  10 minutes

Materials Needed:  A reading text with 3 pictures or objects which are connected to the text


outline of a man thinking

Purpose:  K-W-L is an instructional strategy that helps guide learners through a reading text. This activity helps to activate prior knowledge, sets a purpose for reading, and helps learners to monitor their reading comprehension.

Preparation Time:  5 minutes

Materials Needed:  copies of the K-W-L chart (attached below)


a row of voting booths with the American flag and the word Vote

Five classroom lessons for adult English language learners, adult basic education, and citizenship classes that are based on stories for students to read, using a ‘real-life’ approach to learning. Follow Hawa, Fatima, Carlos, William, Nhong, Mai and Tran as they register to vote, learn about the candidates and issues, make choices, and finally cast their vote in the 2018 election.


three words with large and small circles behind them to show the stress patterns

Purpose:  To help learners become familiar with the word stress patterns of their vocabulary words through using a visual support

Preparation Time:  None

Materials Needed:  None


A red pencil making editing corrections on a typed paper


Preparation Time:  10 minutes


hand writing in notebook

Purpose:  To help learners improve their writing skills and practice grammar tenses

Preparation Time:  10 minutes

Materials Needed:  sets of comprehension questions (see example below)

Example 1:

  1. What was Ahmed’s job?
  2. What does he do at his job?
  3. Why does he like his job?
  4. When does he go to work?
  5. What does Ahmed do after work?

Example 2:

two stick figures with overlapping speech bubbles

Purpose:  To practice using vocabulary words in a conversational setting

Preparation Time:  10 minutes

Materials Needed:  list of 5-10 vocabulary words, one copy per learner


Copies of guided reading prompts booklets

This blog post from ( contains excellent teacher practices and materials that can be adapted for improving reading comprehension at any level. The post includes printable PDFs of a teacher reading prompt booklet, bookmarks, for learners, and guided reading question cards that learners can use to interact with a reading text independently or in small groups. The reading prompts are written for a third grade reading level, which can easily be used with intermediate and advanced adult ESL learners.

multi-colored speech bubbles

Purpose: To facilitate students speaking to each other, to get to know classmates and to use vocabulary related to the day’s lesson

Prep Time: 3-15 minutes

Materials: copies of the conversation grid (see link below)

Version 1: print the grid, write a title on it, and write four questions related to today’s lesson on it, and then make copies of it

Version 2: print the grid, write a title on it and make copies of it



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