Your search for fresh, effective activities for ESL students is over. At Top Teaching Tasks, our comprehensive collection of ESL teaching activities takes the stress out of lesson planning and puts the joy back into language teaching. From our popular inferring activities to advanced language exercises, we’ve covered every aspect of ESL learning.
Whether you’re teaching primary school newcomers or guiding advanced learners through complex language concepts, our ESL resources provide the perfect blend of educational value and engagement. Explore the collection of fun activities to teach English to second language learners below!
This resource contains 8 independent activity sheets designed for Year 6 students to practice literacy skills autonomously. These tasks are structured to provide student agency and to allow teachers to work with other groups without frequent interruptions. Please note: We’ve included a version with “Year 6” in the heading and a version without it….
Develop your students’ reading comprehension and writing skills with this comprehensive resource, focused on the pūrākau (Māori legend) How Māui Discovered Fire. Great as an addition to your structured literacy program. Enhance Your Students’ reading comprehension skills with Science of Reading Principles. This reading and writing teaching tool engages students in deep comprehension strategies,…
Enhance your students’ reading comprehension and cultural understanding with this comprehensive resource, focused on Brave from the Year 7-8 November 2025 School Journal. This teaching tool is a great addition to your structured literacy program. It engages students in deep comprehension strategies, vocabulary building, grammar, syntax, sentence structure, verbal reasoning, and content knowledge—key elements…
Develop your students’ reading comprehension with this comprehensive resource, focused on the fiction story “Pai Tū, Pai Hinga” in New Zealand from the Year 5-6 November 2025 School Journal. Great as an addition to your structured literacy program. Enhance Your Students’ reading comprehension skills with Science of Reading Principles. This teaching tool engages students…
Teach your students the essential modern skill of writing a clear and effective email with this complete, ready-to-use mini-unit. This resource uses vibrant, engaging slides and practical activities to guide students through the entire process, from planning to publishing. This mini-unit covers the crucial differences between formal and informal emails, making it the perfect…
Your search for New Zealand curriculum-aligned spelling activities ends here! Explore our comprehensive collection of activity sheets meticulously designed to enhance the teaching of 50 spelling rules at the Phase Two (Year 4-6) level. See the full list of included spelling rules below. The resource is organised by spelling rules and phonics concepts, so you…
We’ve put together a set of reading response activities for the NZ School Journal Year 5 and 6 June 2026. This resource has everything you need to dive into the story and articles within this publication. Three texts share the theme of future-proofing or taking action to ensure positive outcomes. Both a paper-based and digital…
Develop your students’ reading comprehension with this comprehensive whole-class teaching resource, focused on the article “One Giant Leap” from School Journal Year 4 June 2026. Great as an addition to your structured literacy program. Enhance Your Students’ Reading Comprehension with Science of Reading Principles. One Giant Leap from School Journal Year 4 June 2026 This…
Develop your students’ reading comprehension with this comprehensive whole-class teaching resource, focused on the article “The Future of Growing Kai” from School Journal Level 2 November 2023. Great as an addition to your structured literacy program. Enhance Your Students’ Reading Comprehension with Science of Reading Principles. The Future of Growing Kai from School Journal Level…
Enhance your students’ reading comprehension and scientific understanding with this comprehensive resource, focused on How Vaccines Work from the Level 4 November 2022 School Journal. This teaching tool is a great addition to your structured literacy program. It engages students in deep comprehension strategies, vocabulary building, grammar, syntax, sentence structure, verbal reasoning, and content knowledge…
Enhance your students’ reading comprehension and cultural understanding with this whole-class teaching resource, focused on Standing with the Ancestors: Fifty Years of Polyfest from the Year 7-8 November 2025 School Journal. This teaching tool is great as an addition to your structured literacy program. It engages students in deep comprehension strategies, vocabulary building, grammar,…
This Daily Maths Vocabulary Slides resource is your no-prep, 5-minute-a-day solution to building essential Geometry and Statistics vocabulary for your Year 4 students. These slides can be used in PowerPoint or imported into Google Slides. These 12 vocabulary slideshows are designed to be quick, engaging, and powerful. Aligned with Year 4 (Phase 2) of…
Develop your students’ reading comprehension with this comprehensive resource, focused on The Polish Refugee Children from the Level 2 November 2016 School Journal. Great as an addition to your structured literacy program. Enhance Your Students’ Reading Comprehension with Science of Reading Principles. This teaching tool engages students in deep comprehension strategies, vocabulary building, grammar,…
Your search for New Zealand curriculum-aligned spelling activities ends here! Explore our comprehensive collection of activity sheets meticulously designed to enhance the instruction of 46 spelling rules at the Phase One (Year 1-3) level. See the full list of included spelling rules below. The resource is organised by spelling rules and phonics concepts, so you…
Save time and know your students are completing follow-up activities that build a range of reading and literacy skills. This resource provides games and activities for the Ready to Read Phonics Plus Kākano Seed Level reader: I am In, found in New Zealand schools. ***This resource is provided in A4 paper size and British spelling.***…
Enhance your students’ reading comprehension and scientific understanding with this comprehensive resource, focused on A User’s Guide to the Brain from the School Journal Year 7-8 June 2026. This teaching tool is a great addition to your structured literacy program. It engages students in deep comprehension strategies, vocabulary building, grammar, syntax, sentence structure, verbal reasoning,…
Our foundation-level ESL activities create a supportive environment for new English learners. Speaking and listening exercises form the core of this level, transforming potentially daunting concepts into enjoyable learning experiences that reinforce fundamental language structures.
Our intermediate activities for ESL students build on basic foundations and focus on developing more complex language skills. Conversation practice materials include reading comprehension and interactive exercises that improve understanding and critical thinking. Guide students from basic sentence construction to confident paragraph writing and strong inference and composition skills.
Our advanced ESL activities offer sophisticated language development opportunities for learners ready to refine their English mastery. Challenge students to think critically while expressing complex ideas fluently with more complex language exercises.
If you’re looking for ESL teaching activities that deliver results, our comprehensive collection stands out in the New Zealand education landscape for all the right reasons.
Whether teaching a diverse classroom of beginners or guiding higher-level students, you'll find materials that can be easily adapted to suit your teaching style and students' needs. Our collection ranges from back-to-school activities that help students settle in, to advanced language exercises for confident learners.
Moving beyond traditional worksheet-based learning, we’ve created interactive activities that excite students about learning English—from speaking exercises that build real-world confidence to writing activities that develop academic skills. Plus, with regular updates and new additions to our collection through our membership subscription, you’ll never run out of fresh and fun activities to teach English and keep your ESL lessons dynamic and effective.
We comprehensively design our ESL teaching activities to support every stage of the English learning journey. Each resource is carefully calibrated to match specific proficiency levels, ensuring students are appropriately challenged without feeling overwhelmed.
Our activities feature built-in flexibility that makes them particularly effective when you need to adjust the difficulty level up or down to match your student"s needs. Every activity comes with extension options for quick learners and additional support materials for those who need extra practice.
We update our ESL teaching resources monthly, ensuring you always have access to current and engaging materials. When you sign up for a membership subscription, you receive automatic access to all new and updated materials, along with helpful notifications about fresh content. This means you"ll never miss out on new activities that could benefit your students.
Absolutely. Since modern language teaching happens in various settings—whether one-on-one with a student or managing a lively classroom of 30—you can easily adapt our activities for ESL students to suit your teaching environment, ensuring consistent learning outcomes regardless of the setting.
From building basic conversation skills to mastering academic English, our resources provide the perfect blend of educational value and student engagement. Transform your ESL teaching experience with our comprehensive collection of fun activities to teach English.
Join our community of successful teachers; explore fun ESL teaching activities from Top Teaching Tasks today!
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