As many as 3.5 million students in classrooms throughout the United States speak English as a second language (ESL). Despite this reality, most schools offer few or no programs that specifically address the unique set of problems these students confront each day in the classroom.

Their limited knowledge of English makes it much harder for them to understand a teacher's instructions. Students may also feel lost because of cultural differences. The American-style of teaching may go against the accepted behavior in their countries. For example, they may think volunteering an answer in the classroom is being boastful. Instead, they expect to wait until a teacher directly addresses them.

Navigating these potential issues takes patience from ESL teachers and students.

An article by Shelley Vernon at Teaching English Games offers "golden rules" on managing an ESL classroom. Foremost, she says, teachers must be mentors, not friends. It must be established that the teacher is in charge.

Maintaining a professional relationship doesn't mean teachers must keep their distance from students.  They should show they care. There are several ways to do that: chat with students outside the classroom; sit next to different students in the classroom and ask how they are doing; offer praise and encouragement; and make the teaching style engaging and fun.

Games are one way of making learning fun for an entire class while teaching vocabulary.  Here are some that have become popular recently:

• Crossword puzzles can be found at Lanternfish. They teach independence and how to use a dictionary. For example, a puzzle on "Your Body" asks students to fill in the blanks as in "Your hand has five ____" or "How Many Eyes Do You Have?"
• Grammar Hunt at Sharpen That Pencil is a team game that builds vocabulary. Students divide into teams of four to six, adopt a topic such as animals, and name their team – for example, "rabbit." They then move around the room collecting slips of paper with adjectives that describe a rabbit.
• Guess That Word at Dave’s ESL Café is another team word game. Relying on only yes or no answers students must guess a "secret" word. The winning team then can ask the opposing team to perform an activity or exercise, such as singing a song in English or doing jumping jacks.
• Learn a Song at BusyTeacher offers a library of song worksheets that teach vocabulary through various word-game activities and singing songs, such as "We Are the Champions" or "Lemon Tree."

Michael Perez is a writer for The University of Scranton, one of AAE's university partners. Click here to read more about The University of Scranton on AAE's tuition discounts page. 

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