ELTWeekly Issue#14, Book of the week: Easy & Engaging ESL Activities and Mini-Books for Every Classroom

As a teacher of young learners, I struggle to find resources that truly meet the needs of my students, most of whom are just beginning to read and write in English. This book, however, has proven to be a goldmine. Kids and parents alike love the make-and-take books, while I love the flexibility of each unit. I’ve used the simple drawings to make charts, flashcards, games, etc. to accompany thematic units and have even used a few of the worksheets to review basic concepts with older kids. I’m giving the book a four instead of a five because the unit topics are quite basic. Once students know colors, numbers, letters, shapes, body parts, basic food items, and basic school terminology, this book basically goes back on the shelf until you get your next room full of beginners. But if you teach young learners with limited language skills, this book is a must have.

I recently taught ESL in China for a few weeks and found this book incredibly useful. Although marketed as being for grades 1-4, I found this book helpful for even high school students–it depends more on the level of language proficiency than anything else. For example, I used the “parts of the body” page to review what my students already knew, and then they filled in more complicated words such as thigh, shoulder, ankle, etc. The money page has very realistic drawings of the various coins, all of which were new to my students. The food pages were very helpful before moving on to more complicated lessons on ordering in a restaurant. A great book for a modest price!

Although this book is more for children, there are some pages I was able to use for my adult ESL course. There are some nice diagrams along with good ideas on how to begin a level one class.