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!
Boost reading comprehension, writing, and literacy skills while diving deep into New Zealand’s pivotal role in World War One. This comprehensive, whole-class teaching resource is the perfect addition to your structured literacy program and an engaging Anzac Day topic study. Unlock Historical Understanding & Literacy Growth Simultaneously! This meticulously crafted teaching tool seamlessly integrates the…
These activities have been created to specifically support the teaching and learning of six target sounds and letters. The sound and letters included in this set are the following single consonants: j, k, v, w, y, z With initial modelling and scaffolding, these activities are intended to be completed independently to build students’ skills…
Ignite Historical Understanding and Literacy Skills with the Anzac Day article ‘Grey Angels’. This ready-to-use resource, based on the captivating “Grey Angels” article from the Level 3 June 2014 School Journal, transforms learning about Anzac Day and World War I into an engaging experience. Perfect for structured literacy, it builds deep comprehension through the Science…
Practice reading CVC words, CCVC words, and CVCC words using our Cut and Match activities. Read each word and find the matching picture. Cut out the matching picture and glue it under the word. Use this resource as a reading activity, with your guided reading group, or as a whole class activity to practice…
These Phonics and Structured Literacy teaching slides have been created to specifically support the teaching and learning of the nine target sound and letters: l, e, c, f, u, b, g, r, h. This teaching tool could be used as a warm-up at the start of a structured literacy session, as revision or as a…
Practice blending and reading CVC words, CCVC words, and CVCC words using our Snakes and Ladders game. Children roll the dice and move their counter around the board. They read the word they land on (and can practice writing it down on a whiteboard as well). If they land on the red ladder, they…
These Phonics and Structured Literacy teaching slides have been created to specifically support the teaching and learning of five consonant digraphs: ch, sh, th, -ck, -ng. This teaching tool could be used as a warm-up at the start of a structured literacy session, as revision or as a whole class lesson. Both PowerPoint and…
Save your time and know that your students are completing follow-up activities featuring a range of reading and literacy skills. This resource provides games and activities for the Ready to Read Phonics Plus Kākano Seed Level reader: Nat and Pip found in New Zealand schools. ***This resource is provided in A4 paper size and…
Practice decoding and spelling CVC words using our Colour, Build and Write activity sheets. Students cut and rearrange the letter tiles to sound out the CVC word. They write the word and then colour the picture. We’ve created two versions of activities Version a) students trace the CVC word Version b) students write the…
These activities have been created to specifically support the teaching and learning of ten vowel teams. The vowel teams included in this set are: ai, ay, ea, ie, igh, oa, o_e, ew, ow, and ue. With initial modelling and scaffolding, these activities are intended to be completed independently to build students’ skills in…
Practice decoding and spelling CVC words, CCVC words, and CVCC words using our car park game. Use this resource as a reading activity, with your guided reading group, or as a whole class activity to practice decoding and spelling CVC words, CCVC words, and CVCC words. This resource contains: 132 CVC words across…
These Phonics and Structured Literacy teaching slides have been created to specifically support the teaching and learning of six target sounds and letters: j, k, v, w, y, z. This teaching tool could be used as a warm-up at the start of a structured literacy session, as revision or as a whole class lesson. …
This resource is designed as a decodable text for older readers (year 4 – Year 8). It focuses on earthquakes and their impact on New Zealand. Focus Phonemes and Graphemes: It has a particular focus on v_e split digraph words, including a_e, e_e, i_e, and u_e split digraphs. Examples include earthquake, plate, magnitude, shake,…
Practice decoding and spelling CVC words, CCVC words, and CVCC words using our Plant or Compost? game. This is a game to practice blending sounds into words. After reading the words, students decide if they are real or nonsense (made up). They ‘plant’ the real words in the soil, and place the nonsense words…
Practice decoding and spelling CVC words using our CVC spinners. Spin the spinners to create, write and read CVC words. Use this resource as a reading activity, with your guided reading group, or as a whole class activity to practice decoding and spelling CVC words. This resource contains: 12 spinners (a mix of consonants,…
These activities have been created to specifically support the teaching and learning of nine consonant patterns. The consonant patterns included in this set are ff, ll, ss, zz -tch, -dge, qu, wh, and x. With initial modelling and scaffolding, these activities are intended to be completed independently to build students’ skills in following…
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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