Standing upon the Shoulders of Giants

ESL Resources for Secondary English Learners.

“It’s good for ALL students” 

 “YOU know better what’s good for your students.” 

The truth is I did not know what was good for ALL of my students. Early enough in my career, I realized that what was good for my native speakers barely scratched the surface for my secondary English learners. My ELA department was a powerhouse – abundant support, top-notch materials, and a common PLC period, so it was tempting to take the lesson plan we created for general ELA classes and run with it. It would have been justified because I was given carte blanche to do “what was good for my students.” But it didn’t feel right.

Becoming literate adults was the primary goal for ALL of my English learners, and teaching plot structure and inferencing was not going to cut it. Addressing grammar as needed was as far from teaching a language as I could possibly imagine, and the grammar companion books I found in the book room were written for native speakers – not for English learners. 

So, if you are an ESOL/ ESL teacher at a secondary campus, and you are wondering if there are resources created just for you and for your students, the answer is YES!

During the following years as a classroom teacher, with the support of my amazing ESL program specialists, I was fortunate to implement several highly acclaimed ESL grammar resources. Written by authors whose experience and reputation leave no room for doubt about the quality, these books provide a thoroughly sequenced approach to language teaching and learning, but they have to be implemented with fidelity.

I have always enjoyed having a vetted resource in my hands simply because I would rather stand upon the shoulders of ESL giants than wander blindly through the thicket of Teachers Pay Teachers.

Before we discuss specific books, let’s look at some major differences between traditional grammar resources and  ESL grammar books. Here are some that I have noticed! 

Grammar books for
native speakers
Grammar books for
English learners 
Teach ABOUT language Teach LANGUAGE
Aim to analyze or correct a language structure Teach to produce a
language structure
Grammar rules are taught in isolation

Mentor texts may be used, but more frequently lessons include a series of disconnected sentences. 
Grammar rules are embedded in communicative situations

Lessons are taught through examples of how the language is used in a particular situation  (text, dialogue, visual)
Organized by grammatical or syntactic categories (parts of speech and types of sentences). Organized by language function of a language form (describe a past event, ask for a  permission, show differences) 
Focused on conventions and correctness  (capitalization, punctuation)
Focused on language forms needed to reach the communicative goal.
(verbs in the past tense, word order in questions) 
Types of exercises
Locate and correct errors Insert punctuation marks Identify parts of speech Identify types of sentences
Types of exercises: 
Fill in the blank (cloze)
Complete sentence stems
Unscramble a sentence
Combine words into a sentence

Side by Side

English Grammar through Guided Conversations 

Side by Side series is appropriate for newcomers and ESOL classes only. These are NOT for long-term English Learners.  I taught adult ESL classes using the blue book (beginner) at a community college, and used red, green, and gold books to supplement my high school ESOL curriculum. 

You might look at the table of contents and think, “Oh, it’s all about grammar! I don’t know if my kids will understand those terms!” The truth is your students never have to hear those terms. Students learn grammatical rules and syntactic constructions through picture-based conversations, and it is fun! 

I did not skip any lessons and followed very simple routines. For about 10-15 mins at the start of every class, we practiced the dialogues orally. This is the key! Practicing language patterns ORALLY through several communicative situations (images) helps cement the grammar without the drill-and-kill of traditional exercises. Rotating partners and having fun is a must! 

I used the workbook (a combination of sentence frames and cloze activities like the ones on the page below) for homework only. It served as a quick check of the skill we practiced orally in class and extra practice.   

With daily oral practice and homework, it took one semester to complete each level, so we moved up to the next level around Christmas. 

Because the resource has been around for almost four decades, there are videos created in the 80s 90s, and they are hilarious! You can find them on YouTube.

Side by Side may feel dated, but its format is timeless. That was the only grammar book a student has ever asked to take home to teach English to her parents. “Miss, this book is so easy! You don’t have to explain anything. Just look at the pictures!” I am sure that is exactly what Bill Bliss and Steven Molinsky intended!

Grammar and Beyond 

Grammar and Beyond was suggested by my district director, and I fell in love with it at first sight. This resource is a gold mine for the 2-3 year newcomers and long-term English learners.  I used it in my ESL writing class – an elective that ESL students took in addition to ESOL or an ELA class to improve writing skills. 

Again, let’s look at the table of contents and a quick snippet of some lessons, and you will see how amazing it is!  In addition, you may watch a webinar by the author!


You might think, “Present Progressive! I don’t even remember what it is. How am I going to teach it?” Don’t worry!  The lessons are self-explanatory, and it’s not about the terminology! So don’t be put off by the chapter titles. Take a look at the content!

Every lesson starts with a high-interest text and focuses on the specific syntactic form the students will be studying. These texts are perfect for a choral read, partner read, tracking the text, and noticing specific expressions that accompany syntactic elements. 

The grammar-focused texts are vocabulary-rich, and the high-interest topics are engaging and relevant, so it’s all about meaning. In the first text “Balancing Time”, we are learning to notice the verbs in the simple present tense. The second text “A Healthy Brain” emphasizes the contrast between verb tenses previously introduced. The lessons on verb tenses also include adverbs of frequency that students at first notice in the text and then practice using in the skill sets. Taught in tandem, the vocabulary in context and the grammatical structure build a unit of meaning. 

These texts are created with the purpose to highlight a language form through its function. Students will benefit from encountering the same structure frequently and in multiple contexts, so using these texts as models is far more effective than pointing out an element once in a random sentence or looking for it in a random book you are reading. 

Every lesson contains grammar tables followed by a few application skill sets. The workbooks have more writing sets, and there is also a digital version. All skill sets are research-based and focus on the specific needs of English learners.

The author of Grammar and Beyond is Dr. Randi Rippen. She is a Professor of Applied Linguistics and TESOL at Northern Arizona University, and you can read her blog here.

The Great Writing 

The Great Writing series is created by Keith Folse. I have never used this resource with my students, but I worked with districts that implemented it. These books are of high quality and very engaging! 

National Geographic is known for its breath-taking illustrations, but these books are not just pretty. They are full of activities that address sentence and paragraph level skills of emergent writers. 

Abundant practice is a must. Keith Folse states that writing exercises help with vocabulary acquisition due to the increased “word retrieval opportunities” (2006). According to Dr. Folse’s findings, completing sets of cloze (fill-in-the-blank) exercises is even more effective than writing original sentences (Folse, 2006). So, while focusing on a certain grammatical form, students at the same time are acquiring vocabulary at a much higher retention rate than they would during a free writing! 

As you might have noticed, every page of the resource contains a healthy balance of text and visuals – not to overwhelm the English learners with unnecessary information. The directions are clear and concise. 

Keith Folse is a professor of TESOL, and he is currently teaching ESL classes at the University of Central Florida. He is well-known in the TESOL world for his research in the area of vocabulary acquisition and writing, and when I see his name on the book cover, I know my students are in good hands. 

Sequence, Practice, Patience  

These books are not there to replace the grade-level  ELA curriculum but to systematize and supplement your efforts of addressing the language development needs of your students.

Have you noticed the features that all ESL resources have in common?   Focusing on one skill at a time, sequencing, incremental progression, and abundant practice bring long-lasting results. There is rhyme and reason to teaching and learning a language. As students master these blocks of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary, they build the foundation for future success through developing functional literacy. As an ESL teacher, you are a content teacher. Language is your content, and your role in the students’ success should not be underestimated!

References

Folse, K.S, (2006) The Effect of type of written exercise on L2 vocabulary retention. TESOL Quarterly 40 (2), 273-293 https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8Qonzu8AAAAJ&hl=en

Folse, K. S., Solomon, E. V., & Muchmore-Vokoun, A. (2014). Great writing: NGL https://ngl.cengage.com/search/productOverview.do?N=201+4294918395+2,8&Ntk=P_EPI&Ntt=206085876248445131717135176731031330960&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchallpartial&homePage=false

Molinsky, S. J., & Bliss, B. (2001). Side by side: Book 1. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall.https://www.pearson.com/english/catalogue/general-english/side-by-side.html

Reppen, R. (2012). Grammar and beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.https://www.cambridge.org/us/cambridgeenglish/catalog/grammar-vocabulary-and-pronunciation/grammar-and-beyond

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