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/

Airplane Prepositions Activities ESL/EFL

  This resource (Airplane Prepositions Activities for Elementary ESL / EFL Learners) is included in the Transportation unit for Elementary ESL at this link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Transportation-Unit-for-Elementary-ESL-4049752

Prepositions provide clarity and precision in language. They help learners describe spatial relationships, time, and direction accurately, which is essential for effective communication. Using the airplane theme helps engage students and give a concrete visual for abstract prepositions such as ‘next to’, ‘behind’, ‘between.

Lay out the prepositions of place ESL airplane flashcards and have students match them with written preposition words or sentences that describe the airplane’s location.

Show a transportation vocabulary ESL prepositions flashcard without revealing the word, and students must guess the correct preposition.

Cut the airplane themed grammar game ESL flashcards and give half the class preposition words and the other half flashcards. Students must find their matching partner.

Preposition Go Fish with the small cards. Print the picture cards in pairs (e.g., two cards of each). Students ask each other: “Do you have the airplane under the clouds?”
If yes, they take the card and make a pair. If not, the answer is “Go fish!”

Create Your Scene How to play: Give students airplane and cloud cutouts plus preposition cards. They place them on a blank paper or small mat and write or say the sentences.

Cutouts that come in b/w and colored version. Act It Out – Give students the airplane and clouds templates glued onto crafts sticks and have them place them in positions as they roll the dice.

Mini Diorama Placement. Provide students with the templates to cut and glue. Write the prepositions and then write a description of where the airplanes are in this interactive activity.

Worksheet 1: Read, Draw & Color. Students read the sentence and draw the airplane in the correct place around the cloud. Then they color the airplane and cloud to show comprehension of the preposition.

Worksheet 2: Fill in the Blanks. Students answer the question “Where is the airplane?” by filling in the missing preposition. Great for reinforcing vocabulary and sentence structure.

Worksheet 3: Color & Match. Students color the airplanes and match each picture to the correct sentence. This strengthens reading comprehension and preposition recognition.

Worksheet 4: Read, Color & Complete. Students read the simple sentence, color the airplane and clouds, and then fill in the correct preposition to complete the meaning.

 Matching Mat. Print the mat with labeled prepositions, and students place the airplane cutout in the correct spot on the mat.

Prepositions of place Puzzle Game. Students match a sentence with the correct picture.

Airplane Prepositions Flap Book. Students glue the printable onto another paper and cut the flaps. They lift each flap to reveal a space where they write their own sentence using the preposition.
 

 Students use transportation-themed flashcards and worksheets to count vehicles from 1 to 20. They match each quantity flashcard with the correct numeral flashcard, color the vehicles to show the quantity, and practice number recognition in an engaging, visual way, all included in the trasnportation pack. Take a look!   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/10/counting-vehicles-1-to-20-esl-number.html

  Go to the Transportation Unit BUNDLE for ESL/ELL in Kinder and Elementary! CLICK: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Transportation-Unit-BUNDLE-for-ESL-Kindergarten-and-Elementary-7677380

Check out my Pinterest board for printable materials and creative activities!
From flashcards to worksheets, you'll find tons of useful resources to make your lessons fun and interactive.
Visit the board here: https://www.pinterest.com/ei98srl/esl-transportation/

Thanksgiving Hat Prepositions of Place Activities for Elementary ELLs

 This printable, ready-to-use resource is part of Clothes Theme for elementary ELL/ESL learners. Click here:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Clothes-Theme-for-Elementary-ESL-2987481

The Thanksgiving Hat Prepositions  ESL resource is an engaging way to use prepositions of place while celebrating the Thanksgiving season. Simply print and go! The resource can be used for warm-ups, mini-lessons, or as part of a Thanksgiving classroom center. Have the students master prepositions of place in a fun Thanksgiving hat theme.

Write sentences for each flashcard on slips of paper and have the students place them correctly.

Flashcard Memory Match. Cut the words out of the flashcards. Students take turns flipping two cards to find a match: e.g., a turkey with a hat on its head matches the “on” card.

Listen, Find, and Show. Spread flashcards on the floor. The teacher says a sentence: “The hat is in front of the turkey.” Students race to touch or hold up the correct flashcard.

Small cards. Match and Say. Give each student a set of small cards and a set of preposition word cards (cut the words out of the card). Students match the picture to the correct word (e.g., “on,” “under,” “behind”). After matching, they say the sentence aloud: “The turkey is on the hat.”

Mini Memory Game. Use two copies of the small cards. Place them face down.  Students flip two cards at a time to find a matching pair. Every time they find a match, they read the sentence: “The turkey is between the hats.”

For advanced learners, ask them to write the sentence after matching.

Spin and Match. Use the spinner with prepositions. Place a clip and a brass fastener to the spinner template. Students spin, find the small card that matches the preposition, and say the sentence aloud.

Cutout Activities for Turkey and Hat Prepositions. Listen and Place. Give each student a set of cutouts: the turkey, the hat in the colored or b/w version. The teacher gives commands aloud: 👉 “Put the turkey under the hat.”

Students listen, move the cutouts, and repeat the sentence.

As a Variation: Have a student act as the “teacher” and give the commands!

Play like this: 

Students roll the Prepositions Dice and color the picture on the worksheet that matches the preposition shown. Each side of the dice includes a turkey and a hat in different positions to represent words like on, under, next to, behind, in, between, and in front of.

Read and Color – Turkey Prepositions Worksheet. Students read each sentence carefully and color the picture that matches it. For example:
👉 “The turkey is under the hat.” — students find the correct image and color it.

Fill in the Blanks – Turkey Prepositions Worksheets .Students complete each sentence by filling in the correct preposition that describes the turkey’s position.
Example:  “The turkey is ___ the hat.” → on

Each worksheet helps students read, think, and apply the correct preposition while reinforcing sentence structure.

Interactive Notebook – Turkey Prepositions Worksheet. They place the hat cutout first, then place and insert all the turkeys with preposition words (on, under, behind, next to, in, etc.) in the correct positions — some may require cutting small slits to fit the turkeys properly, Previously, students color each turkey. At the end, they write complete sentences to describe their work, such as: “The turkey is behind the hat.”

Label the Turkey’s Body Worksheet. Students identify and label the different parts of the turkey’s body, such as the head, wings, tail, and feet.  They read each word and write it in the correct blank space on the turkey.

Turkey Prepositions Matching Mats. They cut out the word cards and match each preposition to the correct turkey and hat picture.

As they match, students read each sentence aloud — for example,
“The turkey is behind the hat.”

Turkey Prepositions Sentence Puzzle. Students build complete sentences. They read each picture on the mat, find the correct word cards, and arrange them to form sentences such as: “The turkey is next to the hat.”

Turkey Prepositions Board Game. Students roll the dice and move their token along the path, saying a sentence for each space they land on — for example,

“The turkey is on the hat.”

They practice prepositions of place while having fun racing to the finish!

Interactive Turkey Prepositions Book. Students read each page and move the turkey cutout attached with yarn to match the sentence — for example,
 “The turkey is under the hat.” They slide or lift the turkey to the correct position on every page, bringing the sentences to life in a fun, hands-on way!

Here I am reading the book:

Teaching **prepositions of place** like *in, on, under,* and *next to* can be a challenge for young English learners — but this **Rabbit and Mitten Preposition Activity Pack** makes it fun and memorable! These hands-on printables and games help students practice spatial vocabulary through colorful pictures, engaging worksheets, dice games, and speaking tasks that reinforce meaning in context, all in the complete clothes pack.  Go to the blog post: 

https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/03/rabbit-and-mitten-preposition.html

Follow me on Instagram for creative activities, freebies, classroom tips, and exclusive sneak peeks of my teaching resources! Click here: https://www.instagram.com/rosamelia_eslteacher/