5 ESL Resources To Help Your First Week Run Smoothly

There’s nothing as exciting as stepping foot in a new country when you’re moving there for a while. But it’s normal to feel nervous as well. Between settling in, getting new classes and planning all your resources, it can be pretty overwhelming in that first week. In this blog, we will be looking to top 5 ESL resources that will help to survive your first week.

At Twinkl, we get it. Great educators like you want to make sure everything is sorted. But with only so many hours in the day, it’s easy to feel rushed off your feet.

Useful ESL Resources To Start

So to help, we wanted to share some resources that will make your first few weeks a lot simpler. With that in mind, grab yourself a drink and take a look at these absolute timesavers. They’ll work wonders, or at least save you the hassle of making them yourself.

Ready? Let’s make a start:

1) Display Materials

Most teachers start with a brand new classroom. It’s usually a blank slate as well. Displays are a great way to tell students about yourself, add a flash of colour to your classroom and help you feel a bit more at home. But a lot of time can be taken to make them.

Instead, make the most of some decorative borders and some lettering resources to get your display boards started without all the fuss of making everything yourself. Just click and print!

2) Worksheet Generators

The worksheet is a staple of most classrooms. But with awkward layouts and misbehaving text boxes, they can be a nightmare to make.

Say goodbye to hours of formatting with simple worksheet generators. With these at your disposal, you can make word searches, word wheels and brain teasers in a flash.

You can Google worksheet generators and find a myriad of them with ease. But you can’t go wrong with Twinkl Create either. It’s packed with illustrations and designs to make your resources and bring them to life.

For quick and easy download Twinkle Puzzled has also got you covered. Go ahead and take a look! They’re also a great way to create extension tasks and keep your classes engaged in case they finish early.

3) ESL Lesson Packs

Even lesson planning can take up a lot of time. If you’re making everything from scratch, it can feel like a daunting task to build an entire curriculum from the ground up.

So if you want a little head start or some ideas, there’s no shame in that. You can find lots of lesson resources and even our own ESL curriculums on our website. The first few are free and will give you enough time to get your bearings.

Then if you like them, you can subscribe to them all.

4) Games

Education is all about engagement. Games are a brilliant way to introduce new ideas and do some controlled practice or finish a lesson at the end.

Classic games like Pictionary, guess the Word, and Stop the bus are ideal when you need to improvise and you’re trying to save on paper

But if you’d like some other options, you’ll find plenty of inspiration online too. Twinkl is full to the brim with ESL games.

If you’re able to book a computer room now and again, there’s also a learning portal for students to log into where they can learn at their own pace as well.

5)   Flashcards / Conservation Cards

When it comes to role play and conversation practice, it can be hard to stay on task without some prompts.

This is why flashcards are worth their weight in gold. They can help give your classes a starting point, as well as prompt them with extra ideas for vocabulary while they’re practising.

You can find lots of templates online. But if you want some premade ones, there are some great examples of topics and vocab ideas here.

In Conclusion

A big part of travelling and teaching abroad is giving yourself the chance to explore new places, see new sights and experience a different culture too.

Getting settled within those first few weeks can make a difference. So use every resource you can to make the most of your time and focus on what matters most: the teaching. But also leaving a bit of room for yourself too.

At Twinkl, we’re big fans of saving teachers time. Take it from us. It’s all about balance. Having an extra activity up your sleeve is a useful way to keep students occupied when you need it.

Author Bio

This blog post was written by Adam Morris who works for Twinkl.