Reinforcement activities for ESL students
Although many ESL students have a good level of English, they need to continue practicing the language through different activities that allow them to achieve their language goals. In this way, they will not only maintain fluency but also improve their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.
First of all, most students need to mainly reinforce the grammar where the difficulties first appear. People tend to translate from their mother tongue to their second language, and this is where some doubts arise because we know that grammar is not the same in all languages. Students are not used to learning the second language as their native language; they tend to focus more on rules and a more structured way of learning. This causes language learning to be incorporated slowly. Second, in many cases they need to improve their listening comprehension and speaking skills.
ESL programs offer a wide range of activities to refresh and reinforce topics that have been covered throughout the year. These activities are available online as well as in handouts or study guides to practice in the comfort of your own homes.
When it comes to business English, where it can be essential for students to travel and where they will have to speak with native speakers, attend business meetings and close important deals, maintaining good fluency is extremely important. Business travelers have higher demands and need a constant practice of the language not only in class but with extra material and a large number of activities to do at home. Since some of the activities are done at home in the absence of a teacher, they should be clear, with detailed instructions, and something they can do on their own and bring to class later to correct.
You can see some examples below of different types of exercises that can be done at any level to reinforce any type of topic or grammar point.
Grammar
1. Multiple choice: it consists of choosing the best option
2. Fill in the blanks: it is also a constructive activity in which you have to complete with the correct tense.
3. Complete dialogues: complete a conversation, filling in the gaps with correct tenses, prepositions, auxiliaries.
4. Word order: consists of putting the words in the correct order to form a sentence.
5. Writing questions: students will write a question for each of the statements.
6. Match: It is an interesting activity in which you will have to join two halves to get a prize.
7. Answer questions: about yourself (practice all tenses, past, present simple, or anything else you want or need to improve)
8. Change from infinitive to past: you will see a list of verbs and you must change them to the past.
Reading
1. Students receive a title and drawings. They create a short story about what they think the story is about. Warm-ups are usually short paragraphs.
2. Students read the story.
3. There are comprehension questions about the story.
4. Fill in the blanks with tenses.
5. Look up words in the dictionary.
6. Write a summary about the story.
Writing
It is essential that students have guided instructions.
1. Write emails in English: you will see a set of words and expressions that you will have to use and write an email.
2. Write about your daily routines, where you will practice the present simple.
3. Write a story in the past tense: tell what happened; you have to use the vocabulary provided.
4. Role Playing – Great fun as it also facilitates interaction and improves speaking skills. A situation is presented and the students have to write the dialogues. They represent them later.
Speaking and listening activities are available online, where you can practice pronunciation through repetition, for example.
