Teach Prepositions with Confidence: Hands-On Activities for Elementary ELLs

 Your Complete Prepositions Bundle to Support ESL Success is here at the link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Prepositions-Bundle-Hands-On-ESL-Activities-for-Elementary-ELLs-13387265

Use the bundle to help with the understanding and use of prepositions of place. All the activities allow differentiation — use simpler tasks for beginners and games or puzzles for early finishers.

The bundle keeps growing. These are 16 units or themes included until now: Rabbit and Mitten, Apple & Tree, Hamburger and box, crayons and crayon box, clock and mouse, robot and box, dog and the doghouse, monkey and box, crab and the sandcastle, rooster and the barn, fireflies and jar, tree and kite, monsters in bed, airplane and cloud, Halloween cat and hat, Thanksgiving turkey and hat.

 What’s Inside the Prepositions Bundle

Flashcards with clear visuals for each unit or theme.

Small cards for small groups play.

worksheets for hands-on practice

games that reinforce vocabulary and sentence building

Mini-books for reading + comprehension

This Bundle serves in Your Classroom as Small Group Centers, Whole Group Warm-Ups, Assessment or Homework.

The bundle works for you as it saves preparation time, Works well with diverse English levels. It also encourages active learning and student participation. It is Perfect for grades 1–4 and adaptable for early finishers or extension tasks. Most activities are printable and ready to go — just add scissors, glue, and dice for games!

Pets at School – ESL Flashcards, Worksheets & Games

 This resource is included at this LINK: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pets-Unit-for-Elementary-ELL-Starters-10780015

Pets at School is a hands-on resource filled with flashcards, small cards, printable games, and worksheets that help students speak, describe, and build sentences with confidence. With cute visuals and low-prep activities, this resource is perfect for centers, whole-group lessons, and daily review—making learning engaging and meaningful for young English learners.

These flashcards make vocabulary learning clear, visual, and engaging for young English learners

Use as Action Flashcards. Students write simple actions for verbs related to each flashcard, it can be in simple present or present continuous.

Grid Description Activity.
The teacher places the Pets at School flashcards on a letter–number grid and calls out a combination (for example, B2). Students look at the board, find the correct picture, and describe it using a simple sentence such as, “The dog has a yellow pencil.” This activity builds vocabulary in a fun, interactive way.

Question & Answer Flashcards

The teacher shows a flashcard to the class and asks simple questions. Students answer orally.

• Teacher: What’s this?
  Students: It’s a cat.
• Teacher: What color is the cat?
  Students: Brown.
• Teacher: What does the cat have?
  Students: A calculator.
• Teacher: What color is the calculator?
  Students: It’s blue.

To finish, the teacher models a complete sentence and students repeat:
“The brown cat has a blue calculator.”

There are also school items flashcards that can be used on their own to review and reinforce vocabulary.

Small Cards Grammar Activity: Possessive ’s

Using the small cards as the teacher models the sentence and students repeat.

• Teacher: It’s the dog’s backpack.

Students repeat and then try with other combinations:
It’s the cat’s book. / It’s the dog’s pencil.

Practicing the possessive ’s helps students understand ownership in English.

Writing with Small Cards Activity

Each student receives one small card. Students look at the picture and write a short text describing it. This activity encourages students to observe carefully, practice writing, and use complete sentences based on visual support.

These worksheets give students structured practice to reinforce the vocabulary and sentences introduced with the flashcards.

Students read the simple sentences and color each school item using the correct color. This worksheet helps learners practice reading comprehension.

Students read the sentences and color each cat and school item according to the information given.

Students read the clues, match each picture to the correct number, and complete the sentences by writing the school item and its color.

Students read the prompts and complete the sentences by identifying the pet, counting the crayons, and writing the correct color words.

Students read each question and answer using Yes, it does or No, it doesn’t, based on the picture.

Sorting Cards Activity
Students sort the picture cards into the correct pockets by matching each pet to its school item. As they place the cards, students say the word or a simple sentence, such as “The dog has a pencil.”

How to Prepare the File Folder Sorting Activity

1.   Start with a standard file folder and open it flat on the table.

2.   Print the pocket (envelope) templates and cut them out in advance.

3.   Apply glue only along the left, right, and bottom edges of each pocket.

4.   Glue the pockets onto the file folder, making sure the top remains open so cards can be inserted easily.

5.   Let the folder dry completely before use.

 

Find more ideas and resources for the pet unit at my Pinterest Board:

https://www.pinterest.com/ei98srl/esl-animals-unit/esl-pets/

Teaching Health Vocabulary Made Easy: Sickness Flashcards for ESL Classrooms

 Find it at my TPT store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Holistic-English-Resources-By-Rosa-Amelia

These sickness flashcards make health vocabulary clear, visual, and meaningful for English language learners. These flashcards are perfect for interactive activities such as surveys, role-play, TPR, and question-and-answer practice (“What’s the matter?”).  Because the cards are versatile, reusable, and classroom-tested, teachers can use them across multiple lessons and grade levels—making them a practical, time-saving resource that keeps students engaged and confident.

Use the flashcards for Q&A.

Teacher: Look! He ‘s in bed. He has a fever. Do you have a fever now?

Students: No, I don’t. (students touching their forehead)

Act It Out (TPR)

Show a flashcard (e.g., He is coughing).
Students act it out: coughing and saying the sentence together.

Say & Point

Place several health items flashcards on the board. Fold the word part. Say a sentence: It’s a band-aid.

Students point or touch the correct card.

Doctor Role-Play

Use the cutouts of stethoscope, thermometer and medicine, provided in the resource.

Teacher: “What’s the matter?”  Student: “He has a fever.” Student mimes the sickness.

Match with Items

Match flashcards with pictures related to the sickness:  Fever → thermometer, Cough → syrup, etc. This builds meaningful connections.

Draw on the flashcard & Say. Place the flashcard of the boy or girl on the board, previously insert into a clear plastic sheet. Students draw any sickness and say: “He has a headache.”

Mini Health Talk

Use flashcards to ask: Does he have a stomachache?

Talk about injuries and body sides

The teacher shows two flashcards to help students identify the injury and say whether it is on the left or right, for example:
“She has a broken arm. It is her left arm.”
“He has a broken leg. It is his right leg.”

This activity builds left–right awareness for sickness.

Do this!

The teacher shows the sore throat flashcard and asks, “What’s the matter?”
Students look at the picture, identify the problem, and respond by holding up the medicine flashcard and saying, “Take the medicine.”

This activity helps students with speaking and comprehension in a visual way.

Class survey

The teacher starts by asking questions such as, “Have you had a toothache?” or “Have you had a stomachache?”
Students who answer yes come to the board and write their names under the correct column. The teacher places the matching sickness flashcard at the top of each column to guide students.

This activity encourages speaking and listening, builds health vocabulary, and helps students understand simple surveys and data collection in a meaningful, hands-on way.

Teachers — if you enjoy hands-on ESL activities, games, and classroom resources, follow me on Pinterest! Just here: https://www.pinterest.com/ei98srl
You’ll find pin-ready ideas you can use right away in your lessons.

How I Use Thematic Units to Teach Elementary ESL Students

 Teaching English Language Learners in elementary school can  feel overwhelming to plan meaningful, language-rich lessons every week. That’s exactly why I use thematic units in my classroom with all you need to write your lesson plan.

 You can explore the 10 thematic units here:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Elementary-ESL-Teaching-Units-EXPLORE-Bundle-10-Thematic-Units-14383276

My Elementary ESL Teaching Units- EXPLORE- Bundle, which includes 10 ready-to-use with minimal prep thematic units are designed specifically for elementary-age ELLs (typically grades 2–5).  These units are: transportation, town,farm, beach, routine verbs, weather, seasons, time,community helpers, adjectives.

This Bundle Supports Mixed Ability Levels. In one class, you might have newcomers alongside students who are ready for richer tasks. Thematic units allow you to differentiate easily—with visual supports, simple worksheets, and extension activities all in one place.

 Each unit includes:

Flashcards vocabulary cards for visuals and frequent review to introduce vocabulary. They are included in every unit to give students clear visual support, and make language practice interactive, hands-on, and easy to reuse throughout the lesson.

Transportation unit blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2024/12/transportation-flashcards-for.html

Small cards are included in each unit for hands-on practice, games, sorting, and sentence-building activities that encourage active student participation.

 town unit blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/03/town-small-cards-for-elementary-esl.html

Cutouts are included to promote hands-on learning through matching, sorting, and interactive language activities. Adjectives blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/06/adjectives-craft-stick-puppets-sorting.html

Worksheets help students reinforce vocabulary and language structures through guided, independent practice and review. Farm Unit blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/04/hands-on-farm-vocabulary-activities.html

Engaging games for production in group or partner interaction.They are important in this resource because they keep students motivated while providing meaningful, repeated practice of language skills in a low-stress, engaging way.

Beach Unit blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/05/beach-unit-games.html

Spelling activities are important because they help students connect sounds to letters, reinforce vocabulary, and build confidence in reading and writing English words.

Seasons Unit blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2020/03/seasons-and-nature.html

Printable books to support thematic literacy. They give students a meaningful way to practice reading, vocabulary, and sentence structure while creating a take-home product they feel proud of. 

Transportation Unit Blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/02/transportation-layered-book-for.html

Holidays: Christmas.  The bundle includes themed units for popular holidays, helping students practice language through familiar, engaging celebrations and seasonal vocabulary.

Weather Unit blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/12/christmas-snowglobes-numbers-120.html

Use the unit materials in centers where students can practice vocabulary through:

Matching games.  Telling the time blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2019/04/telling-time-for-esl-learners.html

Memory cards. Community helpers Unit blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/07/community-helpers-jobs-and-occupations.html

Sentence Association. Routine Verbs unit blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/07/routine-verbs-small-cards-for-eslefl.html

Students rotate through activities.

There are add ons:

Activities focusing on numbers 1–20 help students develop counting skills, number recognition, and number vocabulary through visual, hands-on, and engaging practice that supports early math and language development. Farm Unit blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/10/counting-120-cows-numbers-activities.html

Prepositions of location is also found in several units. It will help students understand how objects relate to each other in space (in, on, under, next to, etc.) through visual and hands-on practice. This is especially important for ELLs, as prepositions are challenging to learn and are best taught in context, supporting clearer sentence building, better comprehension, and more confident oral language use.

Beach Unit blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/09/beach-prepositions-activities-with.html

Finally, Teaching tips to make planning easier and more effective. The 3ps lesson plans are ready to follow.

Follow me on Instagram for creative activities, classroom tips, and exclusive sneak peeks of my teaching resources! There Hands-on games and activities for young learners, freebies and more:   https://www.instagram.com/rosamelia_eslteacher/