Blog

Help your students improve their speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills in English.

I love to share valuable learnings, teachings, and tips & tricks that will help you personalize your teaching approach and create a supportive and engaging learning environment for your ESL students.

Monica Lopez Monica Lopez

10 Authentic Writing Practices for ESL Students in Secondary English Classrooms 

Discover ten compelling ways to incorporate authentic writing opportunities into your secondary English classroom for ESL students. From pen pal exchanges to mock job applications, these practices foster real-life language application, encourage self-expression, and empower students with practical language skills, making the learning process engaging and meaningful.

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Monica Lopez Monica Lopez

10 Effective Strategies for Differentiating Instruction for ESL Students

Learn ten effective strategies tailored to ESL students, making language learning engaging and inclusive. From pre-teaching vocabulary to providing scaffolded assignments and promoting real-life language application, empower your students with a customized approach that fosters success and confidence in the English classroom.

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Reading Monica Lopez Reading Monica Lopez

Reading Comprehension Strategies: The Power of Questioning

Here’s a teaching strategy that can make a world of difference in your students' reading comprehension: questioning while reading. In this blog post, we'll explore why asking questions during reading is such a game-changer, break down the types of questions, and provide you with examples to promote deeper comprehension.

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Monica Lopez Monica Lopez

6 Ways to Help Your ESL Students Read

Students learning English as a second language benefit tremendously from pre-reading strategies, the use of visual aids, and other supplementary materials. In this blog post, you’ll find 6 ways you can help your Emergent Bilingual students succeed in comprehending grade-level material

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Monica Lopez Monica Lopez

10 Interactive Ways to Teach Adjectives

As an ESL teacher, I've found that the key to making adjectives come alive for students is through hands-on and enjoyable experiences. In this blog post, I'm going to share 10 interactive activities that are sure to engage and educate your ESL students about adjectives.

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Monica Lopez Monica Lopez

7 Tips for Efficient Lesson Planning

Here are some handy tips to make your weekly planning a breeze while staying sane. Assign a day for each of your administrative tasks. These include lesson planning, grading, parent communication, and other administrative tasks.

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Monica Lopez Monica Lopez

Engage ESL Students in Subject and Predicate

It's amazing how similar the grammar curriculum is throughout the years starting from first grade all the way to high school. Unfortunately, we still get students who need the basics, and even worse still is that the resources available for the basic skills, such as subject and predicate, are geared toward younger children.

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Monica Lopez Monica Lopez

All About My Country Project: A Way to Connect with Students

This "All About My Country" project sparks curiosity and helps build rapport with your students. In this blog post, I'll walk you through the ins and outs of implementing this project in your classroom and share how it can transform your teaching experience.

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Monica Lopez Monica Lopez

5 Best Back to School Classroom Routines

Having routines in place provides the structure and familiarity that you and your students need in order to feel prepared every day.

In this blog post, you’ll find 5 of the best back-to-school classroom routines that will save your sanity throughout the school year.

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ESL Writing Monica Lopez ESL Writing Monica Lopez

10 ESL Activities to Teach Chronological Organization in Narrative Writing

Get your ESL students to master organization skills in writing so they can create captivating stories with a logical flow of events that engage readers from start to finish. Through the use of effective strategies, your students will for sure bring their experiences to life. Here, you’ll find 10 ESL teaching strategies for chronological organization in narrative writing.

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Monica Lopez Monica Lopez

Teaching ESL students to Write Personal Narratives

Teaching ESL students to write personal narratives is the easiest way to get them to write. Personal narratives give them the opportunity to bring out the stories that make up who they are. So, let's discover some ways to help our ESL students bring those stories to life in a way that makes sense to them and to the reader.

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