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 with our “All as One” Whole-Class Teaching Resource Elevate your students’ reading comprehension skills using Science of Reading principles with this comprehensive resource. These activities focus on the “All as One” article from the Level 3 November 2020 School Journal. Ideal for structured literacy programmes and timely for Ramadan studies, this tool…
This resource is designed as a decodable text for older readers (year 4 – Year 8). It focuses on cricket and contains factual information about it and personal stories of the narrator and their love of the sport. Focus Phonemes and Graphemes: The text emphasises the following phoneme-to-grapheme correspondences: /k/ phoneme represented by -ck,…
Enhance your students’ reading comprehension and knowledge of NZ history content with this comprehensive resource, focused on Kei te Tāone Nui – Māori and the City 1945-1970 from the Level 4 May 2021 School Journal. This teaching tool is great as an addition to your structured literacy program. It engages students in deep comprehension…
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,…
This Daily Maths Vocabulary Slides resource is your no-prep, 5-minute-a-day solution to building essential Measurement vocabulary for your Year 4 students. These slides can be used in PowerPoint or imported into Google Slides. These 11 vocabulary slideshows are designed to be quick, engaging, and powerful. Aligned with Year 4 (Phase 2) of the New…
This comprehensive, ready-to-use vocabulary kit provides everything you need to target critical Who, What, Where, When, and Why questions, build descriptive language, and practice inferencing skills with your students. Based on six vibrant, high-quality “busy scenes,” this resource is great for oral language and vocabulary development. What’s Included in This Kit: 1. Six High-Quality…
Boost your students’ speaking and listening skills with this engaging pack of 5 Barrier Game Activities! This resource is a fun, hands-on tool designed to directly target the Oral Language strand of the New Zealand Curriculum for Phase 1 (Years 0-3). It provides a purposeful and playful way for students to express ideas and understand…
Enhance Your Students’ Reading Comprehension with Science of Reading Principles. This comprehensive resource based on the article ‘Kūmara – Behind the Scenes’ from Junior Journal 63, will develop your students’ reading comprehension while also developing key content knowledge. It is great as an addition to your Year 3 structured literacy program. Kūmara – Behind…
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…
This complete unit, built for the NZ Curriculum (Phase One, Years 2-3), provides everything you need to systematically and explicitly teach the nine most common suffixes using an evidence-based, morphology-first approach. The nine suffixes included are -ing, -ed, -es, -s, -er, -est, -ly, -ful, and -less. Built on the principles of the Science of…
Our Year 4 Tier 2 Vocabulary Teaching Slides offer an interactive, effective approach to expanding vocabulary knowledge. These slides are designed to integrate seamlessly into structured literacy programs, enriching students’ word comprehension—key to boosting reading and writing skills. Studies indicate that vocabulary development significantly enhances academic success, particularly in reading comprehension. The refreshed New Zealand…
This colourful set of 32 Verbs Tasks Cards helps students to understand one of the key building blocks of sentences. Print and laminate these verb and verb tenses task cards for regular use! These grammar-syntax activities align with the Science of Reading (SoR). This resource is a practical addition to your structured literacy programme….
This colourful set of 32 Pronouns Tasks Cards helps students to understand one of the key building blocks of sentences. Print and laminate these pronouns task cards for regular use! These grammar-syntax activities align with the Science of Reading (SoR). This resource is a practical addition to your structured literacy programme. Activities link directly…
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…
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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