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/

School Places, Subjects and Time for ESL

The School Subjects product keeps getting bigger! (405 pages)

LINK: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/School-Subjects-People-and-Places-for-ESL-4548123

                         Watch the video with the complete resource:

Use the school places flashcards to teach the new words.

Place all the school places flashcards on the board to introduce to the class. Have them say which ones are in their school.

Teacher: Cafeteria!

Students: YES!

Teacher: Gym!

Students: NO!

Hand in the School places flashcards to several students and have them come to the front.

Teacher: Where are you?

Students: I am in the music room.

Teacher: Where are you?

Students: I am in the Science Lab.

Play a game. Hand in the school places flashcards to all the students in the class. They can’t show it to anybody.

Teacher: Maria, are you in the library ?

Maria: No, I am not. I am at the playground. (shows it to the class).

Then, it’s Maria’s turn to ask another student the question. The game keeps going until all then cards are shown to the class

Have the students identify the school subjects and where they take place in their school.

Teacher: Where do you have Art?

Students: in the art room!

Teacher: Where do you have I.T?

Students: in the computer room!

Have the students make more sentences.

Talk about where the places are using prepositions and the flashcards.

Teacher: Where is the Library?

Students: It is next to the water fountain.

Teacher: Where is the water fountain?

Students: It is between the library and the playground.

Have the students write similar sentences of their school setting.

Place this set of flashcards on the board and ask students questions.

Teacher: Where is she?

Students: She is in the Library.

Teacher: Where are they?

Students: They are in the cafeteria.

Have the students write these sentences on their notebooks.

I also made another game board for this specific grammar point.

Each player gets a student card as a marker. I placed a clip behind each one to make them stand. The first students throws the die and He/She has to answer: Where are you ?

Teacher: Where are you?

Students: I am in the computer room.

Now ask students where they are and at what time.

Teacher: Where are they at twenty to nine?

Students: They are in the computer room.

Teacher: Where is he at eleven o’clock?

Students: He is in the Science Lab.

Place the noun flashcards on the board and ask students questions.

Teacher: Where is the palette?

Students: It is in the Art room.

Place the art room flashcard on or next to the palette. Continue with the rest of the nouns.

The school theme is not over! There is more. Follow me!!

School Subjects and The Time

Link to the School Subjects product that keeps growing: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/School-Subjects-for-ESL-4548123978

                  Watch the video with the complete resource:

Students should be able to relate to the key or target language from this School Subjects and Nouns unit.

This is the link for the TIME cards and more.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Telling-the-time-for-ESL-4532035

Start by creating a timetable on the board with the words that they already know from previous lessons such as the subjects, the days of the week and the time. Use the flashcards.

Ask questions:

Teacher: When do you have Math?

Students: On Monday and Wednesday.

Teacher: What time do you have Math?

Students: at 9 o’clock.

Teacher: You have Math on Monday and Wednesday at 9 o’clock.

Have the students make sentences as you assign a subject.

Marcos: When do you have Music?

Students: I have Music on Tuesday at a quarter past one.

Where are you? Have the students where they are and other people at a specific time using the analog clock.

Teacher: Where are you at 10:25?

Students: I am in Math class.

Teacher: Where is Lily at 11:40?

Students: she is in Writing class.

Teacher: Where are James and Frank at 1:30?

Students: They are in P.E.

School starts and ends. Introduce the words start and finish using the flashcards.

Teacher: What time does school start?

Students: It starts at 8 o’clock.

Teacher: What time does school finish?

Students: It finishes at half past three.

Use the flashcards on the board to make more examples for sentences. Have the students make more sentences on their notebooks.

And for more practice make a game board.

 I found this cute clip art for game boards. It reminded me of Monopoly. I made a basic board ,each color on the board has its own cards to complete the task in order to move to other end.

If the student lands on the green space, he/she reads the question on the green space and answer looking at the first green card on the pile.

And so on.

Follow me! There is more on the School Theme.

Telling the time for ESL Learners

Here is the link to all the telling the time resources:    https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Telling-the-time-for-ESL-4532035

Watch the video of the resource:

                                                       

 
Start by reviewing the numbers 1 to 60 perhaps. Check my blog post with many ideas for a nice practice.  https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2019/01/numbers-1-to-100-for-esl-learners-part-2.html

As for my experience I teach both the analog and the digital clock. I made both in flashcards. Leave a comment as in which one you teach the most. 

Make sure that students understand the hands of the clock.

Start with o’clock. Place a random flashcard on the board.

                       Teacher: It’s one o’clock.

                       Students:  It’s one o’clock.

Have the students try with the other flashcards.

Then, place the flashcards in random places around the classroom.  Say a time and have a student go find it.

Teacher: (Patricia). It’s twelve o’clock.

Make a reference to the digital clocks.

Have the students match the digital clocks to the analog clocks.

Continue with more time telling flashcards.

I made a bigger analog clock to place on the board and write the vocabulary next to each number or the digital numbers. Students will create their own clock and words with a smaller worksheet.

Write different times on the board and have the students come to the front and put the corresponding flashcard.

Hand in the worksheet for multiple listening practice. Insert the worksheet into a clear plastic sheet for next use.

Or cut them and place contact paper on each one to write the time.

               And another worksheet for writing practice.

Listening is another skill that show be reinforced for teaching the time.

On the art side of the lesson plan include creating a clock. It will be fun to do an analog clock. Have them decorate their clock as they wish using glitter, sequins and any other decoration. Students can glue the printable onto construction paper, cardboard or fun foam. After cutting the clock hands, they can attach them using a butterfly clip.

Have the students play in pairs using the clock they made.

Student A: It’s a quarter to three.

Student B: (demonstrates using his clock)

           Or do a label the clock. Either digital or analog.

A game. Hand in a small clock and a slip of paper to each student. Have them write the time on the slip of paper. Get all the slips of paper and small cards.  Divide the class into two groups, one with the clock cards and another with the slips of paper. At your signal, students stand up and walk around finding the correct pair.

Dictation using the flashcards. Grab all the flashcards that you want to review and without showing them, dictate to the students the time. They write them down on the down on their notebooks. Then place them on the board and have the students correct their work.

        Match the digital clock and the analog clock cards.

              A worksheet that is game board. Play with dice.

After all this, model a small role play and then have students practice in pairs.

Teacher: Excuse me, What time is it ?

Student A using his clock: It’s three o’clock.

Teacher: Thank you.

Student A: You’re welcome.

Take extra time for teaching: Morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night, midnight. Use the flashcards and the digital cutout clocks. You might want to point out Good morning! And I defined some hours. Usually morning starts at sunrise and night starts at sunset but it varies depending on the country.

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