EFL Elementary Teachers: Backpack-School Unit activities for elementary ESL

viernes, 14 de marzo de 2025

Backpack-School Unit activities for elementary ESL

Get the full Backpack / School Unit activity pack — printables, game cards, and step-by-step lesson plans to save planning time. PT store link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/School-Theme-for-Elementary-ESL-1707072

This material helps students reinforce common classroom object names (e.g., pencil, eraser, notebook) in the context of a backpack. TThese “Backpack / School Unit” activities make learning functional and fun by tying vocabulary to classroom games, collaboration, and structured speaking practice — helping students *see, say, and use* words confidently in real contexts.

All your students learn in different ways, but most of them are visual learners. Use these classroom objects vocabulary flashcards for any class level. Practice speaking in complete sentences. Place the flashcards in a real backpack. Model a sentence and the have a student pick a card and describe it: "I have an eraser in my backpack."

Use the manipulatives like the small cards included to make vocabulary learning more concrete. Cut the word out of each card to play match to each picture.

Reinforce Vocabulary with worksheets for recognizing classroom objects. Students match classroom object pictures to their correct word labels in the backpack mind map worksheet.

Develop Writing Skills to encourage students to write simple sentences on the worksheets, and practice spelling.

Reinforce basic grammar by helping students understand and correctly use "Yes, I do." and "No, I don’t."

Worksheets allow students to practice at their own pace as in this reading comprehension activity.

School vocabulary worksheet for ESL students

Spelling Bingo is a fun and interactive way to help students practice spelling classroom object names. Give your students a bingo board worksheet. There are two boards. You can use one just for writing a classroom object word. Place your calling cards into the backpack container that you can make using the templates. Students will cross out the words they hear, the first one to do so wins.

Another version is to print the blank template into different colored sheets and have the stduents complete the bingo board writing a color and a word. Place all the cards into the calling cards backpack container and start playing. The first player to cross off all the correct items on their bingo card shouts “Bingo!”

Make sure to pick the games that are right for the students that you are planning with. Make sure that you understand the games and that you know the rules to use with them.

Here is a 28-tile word-picture domino set for your School Unit Game using the words: notebook, pencil case, eraser, crayon box, glue, book, scissors. Each tile has a word on one side and a picture on the other. The goal is to match the word to the corresponding picture.