Toy boat. Try boat. Toy boat. Try boat.

I saw Susie sitting in a shoeshine shop—where she shines, she sits, and where she sits, she shines.

(Sedita 2000)

This game reinforces phonological awareness and supports listening and speaking proficiencies in ELLs. They will be better able to recognize, articulate, and distinguish different sounds in English. Additionally, this activity can aid in enhancing vocabulary and reading skills as students learn to associate sounds with written symbols.

Differentiation: The teacher introduces syntax tree diagrams to represent sentence structure visually. Beginner ELLs use simple sentences with visual cues and color coding. Intermediate ELLs learn complex structures and sentence types and analyze sentences from different areas. Advanced ELLs study content-specific language and vocabulary for complex sentences, fostering analytical and critical thinking.

This activity will help children learn about sentence structure and syntax while also improving their reading and comprehension skills

  Differentiation for ELLs: For beginners, the teacher can use basic verbs and nouns; for intermediate students, the teacher can introduce more abstract or complex vocabulary, and for advanced ELLs, idiomatic expressions or phrases can be included.

 Differentiation for ELLs: ELLs at the beginner could work with concrete nouns and basic adjectives, while intermediate students could explore more complex adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. The most advanced ELLs could be encouraged to incorporate idiomatic phrases or expressions related to the word.

 Differentiation for ELLs: For beginners, the teacher will provide sentence starters or basic subject-verb-object word sets; the intermediate students can work with more complex sentence structures and verb tenses, whereas the most advanced ELLs could incorporate clauses, conditional statements, and complex sentence structures.

Differentiation for ELLs: Beginners can contribute simple sentences with basic vocabulary; intermediate students can include more complex sentence structures and descriptive language while advanced ELLs can incorporate dialogue, varied sentence structures, and figurative language into their contributions.

These activities can be tailored to suit the language proficiency levels of ELLs, helping them engage with the material at a level that is challenging but still achievable for their language skills. 

Link: Semantic Feature BINGO Card (bingobaker.com)

How we speak tells a lot about our intended message. The teacher will ask the students, “How you are doing? The students might say “I’m fine” with a very sad voice, which shows that they are, in fact, not fine. For the main part of the activity, in pairs, students read dialogues from their course book using different moods, and other students attempt to identify the moods of the speakers. Following the reading of each dialogue, students talk about how language was used to convey certain moods. Observations often relate to features of language such as rhythm, intonation, or tone.

To differentiate the activity for ELLs at different levels, the teacher can simplify the dialogues and provide visuals for beginners, use more complex dialogues for intermediate learners, use authentic dialogues, and encourage reflection for advanced learners. For each level, provide opportunities for ELLs to practice using different tones and intonations to convey emotions and offer prompts or sentence frames to express observations.

In this activity the teacher will ask the students a question and allow them time to think. Students will record their thoughts/answers on paper. They will then share their thought with a partner.

To differentiate this activity for English Language Learners (ELLs) at various academic levels, the teacher can provide additional support and scaffolding as needed. For beginner-level ELLs, the teacher can simplify the question and provide sentence frames or word banks to help them express their thoughts. For intermediate-level ELLs, the teacher can provide more complex questions and encourage them to use academic language and sentence structures. For advanced-level ELLs, the teacher can challenge them to think critically and use higher-level thinking skills by asking open-ended questions and encouraging them to provide evidence to support their answers. Additionally, the teacher can pair ELLs with native English speakers or other ELLs at different proficiency levels to provide opportunities for peer-to-peer support and collaboration.

To differentiate for beginners, intermediate, and advanced ELLs, the teacher can modify the activity by using simplified texts with sentence frames and graphic organizers for beginners, grade-level appropriate texts with support for intermediate ELLs, and challenging authentic texts with opportunities for independent research for advanced ELLs. The teacher can also provide examples and opportunities for the practice of language functions such as summarizing and analyzing while encouraging the use of higher-level vocabulary and sentence structures (weebly.com).

Link: pragmatics_dec_teachers_corner.pdf (state.gov)

       ELLs (weebly.com).

2. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website (2022). Syntax. Skills for Early Reading: Syntax - Evidence Based Early Literacy (mass.edu)

3. English Learner Success Forum. Sentence Fluency Activities for Newcomer ELs.  

       5cca8d44b1f6b39426a9e2cc_Sentence Fluency Activities for Newcomer ELs.pdf 

      (website-files.com)   

4. Spivey, Becky, L. Teaching the Fundamentals of Grammar and Syntax at Home. Handy Handout #233:   Teaching the Fundamentals of Grammar and Syntax at Home (handyhandouts.com)

5. The Components of Language and Reading Instruction. Components of Language (unt.edu)

Linguistics for Teachers of ELLs. Semantics in the Classroom - Linguistics  for Teachers of ELLs (weebly.com)

 (2 n.d). Pp. 134-145. 

5. Everly, C., & Cai, G. (2020). Error Correction and Feedback for English Language Learners. TESL-EJ, 24(3), 1-11. From wrong word to right word: Equipping ELLs to make correct semantic choices independently (oclc.org)

6. American English. Teacher’s Corner Simple Ways to Incorporate Pragmatics in the EFL Classroom. Teacher's Corner: Simple Ways to Incorporate Pragmatics in the EFL Classroom | American English (state.gov)