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/

Town Unit Games for elementary ESL

 This resource for any ESL Instructor is included in Town Flashcards at this Link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Town-Flashcards-and-more-for-Elementary-ESL-3713783

Print the Town Unit games to create excitement and curiosity, making students more eager to learn and participate. Students repeatedly hear, see, and use town-related words, improving retention.

Town-Themed Card Game (Picture & Word). Students will connect written words with visual representations, improving retention and perfect for visual learners.

Match Pairs by spreading the picture cards and word cards face up. Players match a picture with its corresponding word. The player with the most matches wins!

Using letter tiles in your town unit gives students a hands-on way to practice spelling, phonics, and vocabulary. Students form town-related words by arranging tiles. Play Word Building Challenge: Provide students with a set of letter tiles. Say and show a town-related word ("PARK"), and students race to spell it with their tiles. Another option is to make crosswords in teams.

"Town Map Placement" Game. It builds listening & comprehension skills. It helps students process and respond to spoken instructions.
Students must think logically to place cards correctly. Students practice placing locations on a realistic town layout.

There are three printable streets as a hands-on, interactive way for students to learn prepositions, directions, and sentence structure. One student gives verbal instructions while another listens and places the buildings accordingly.

 Encourages Writing Practice when your students write sentences describing their town map. One student reads or creates a sentence using a location card (e.g., “The bank is next to the supermarket”). Students take turns being the dictator and the map builder. Students take turns being the dictator and the map builder.

Encourage Speaking & Listening using a board game. The players ask and answer questions (e.g., “Where is your car?” → “My car is at the supermarket.”).

Players roll a die and move their car marker along the town-themed board. The player must say the name of the place before ending their turn.

A variation is a Question & Answer Challenge. When landing on a space, players must answer a question: “Where is your car?” → “It is at the restaurant.”

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post: 

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

You're invited to visit my preschool blog for English language teachers! It’s packed with fun, engaging resources, activities, and ideas specifically designed for teaching young English language learners. Check it out and discover new ways to enhance your preschool ESL classroom! LINK: https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/

Town Worksheets for elementary ESL

 This resource for ESL-Bilingual Teachers is included in Town Flashcards at this Link:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Town-Flashcards-for-Elementary-ESL-3713783

Worksheets provide structured practice and reinforce town vocabulary and concepts.

Support Independent Learning by allowing students to work at their own pace, helping with retention. This is an easy matching the buildings to the words.

If done as a whole class dictate the color of each building.

Worksheets can be used for speaking! Take a look.

Enhance Writing and Reading Skills doing the reading comprehension worksheets.

Use the worksheets for Easy Assessment to check student understanding and track progress of the correct grammar of the expressions: there is/ There isn’t.

There is a worksheet for Labeling the Town Map, it comes with a blank map where students draw buildings on the streets. As an extension for advanced students, they can write simple sentences (e.g., "The restaurant is next to the library.").

Another worksheet will work on Prepositions with Town Buildings.

This worksheet helps students practice asking and answering questions using places in town with the correct prepositions and sentence structure.

Guided Worksheet Practice where students look at the pictures and complete the sentences using the correct place.

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post:

  https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/03/town-unit-games-for-elementary-esl.html

Be the first to know about sales, freebies, and new product launches for ESL classrooms. By following my Instagram account, you will get engaging, easy-to-use ESL resources that help your students succeed while making learning fun! 🚀✨https://www.instagram.com/rosamelia_eslteacher/

Town Small Cards for elementary ESL

This resource for ENL teachers is included in Town Flashcards at this Link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Town-Flashcards-for-Elementary-ESL-3713783

The small cards can be used for pair work, small group games, or individual practice, making lessons more engaging. Smaller size makes them more portable and convenient for teachers with limited storage space

Play "Listen and Number the Building".

Students will listen to name or descriptions of different buildings and number correctly the small cards using the number cutouts. Place the small cards with buildings on the streets.

Teacher: The restaurant is number 3!

As a variation students can play in pairs: One student describes, and the other numbers the buildings.

Look at the video:

Town Map Placement Game

Students will listen to location-based cues and correctly place their small town cards on a the designated space at the streets. Lay out the printable streets. Distribute the Small Cards.
The teacher calls out location instructions: "Place the park next to the school."
This kind of activity reinforces prepositions and directions in a hands-on way.

Just Like in this video!

Guess the Building!

 Students will listen to clues and guess the correct town building from the small cards or flashcards. Place the small town unit cards (e.g., hospital, school, park, supermarket, etc.) on the streets templates. Select a Game Leader who will be the clue giver. The leader secretly picks a building card without showing or telling the others. The leader describes the building without saying its name. The other students listen carefully and raise their hands or call out their answer. This game Improves listening and critical thinking as students analyze clues.

Video example:

Encourage speaking and writing as you ask questions:

Teacher: Where is the library?
Students: It is between the post office and the pet shop.
Students can also write the questions and answers on their notebooks.

Take a look!

Make sentences using the expression There is.

Students can describe locations using the cards.

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/03/town-worksheets-for-elementary-esl.html 

Get fresh ideas to create an engaging and fun learning environment by going to my other blog for younger learners, My Blog: EFL Preschool Teachers! At this link:  https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/

Town Flashcards for elementary ESL

 I made 190 flashcards for the Town theme and included places, community, stores, land features, neighborhood, places for leisure activities. And here are several ideas to promote speaking using flashcards.

Link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Town-Flashcards-for-Elementary-ESL-3713783

The language objective is to learn the name of the places in a town using the flashcards. Students will learn the vocabulary related to places they encounter daily such as, school, park, supermarket, making the lessons more meaningful and relevant.

Use the demonstratives "This" and "That" to build Understanding of Proximity.  Use the point finger to introduce this and that.

Teacher: This is a bank. That is the cinema.

Hand in the point finger and using more flashcards, have the students say the sentences.

Make abstract grammar rules more tangible by using visual aids like the town flashcards to start a Drill. Nominate an individual student to be the driller. The class or the group members have to read each flashcard.

Give the flashcards to individual students.

Teacher: Where are you?

Student: I am at the police station. (shows the card) This is the police station.

I use my Commands Flashcards for this activity. LINK: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classroom-Commands-Flashcards-1816475

Place a location flashcard on each seat or desk. Teacher: Pam, run to the police station.

Teacher: Kim, Go to the hospital.

Name more town places. Put several flashcards and have students name a place in your town or city. Write the place under each flashcard. Have the students make another list with more flashcards. Here I wrote examples of my hometown.

Sort the flashcards by buildings, stores, work places, nature.

Make it a hands-on learning experience. Speaking activity with- Let´s go ! -Have the students make sentences using Let´s go to.

Teacher: Let´s go to the museum!

Students: Let´s go to the park!

Identifying locations using There is. Play Guess game using interrogatives. Have 5 students come to the front and give a flashcard to each one and don´t let them show the flashcards to the class, but they do have to know what flashcards are playing. The class has to guess the buildings in town.
Students: Is there a library?
Student in the front: Yes, there is. (shows the card)
Students: Is there a museum?
Student in the front: No, there isn´t.

 Use of the structure There are to describe the town. Place several town flashcards on the board. Have a student come up one at a time and draw as you say. The students will draw the scene on their notebooks and write the sentences.

Teacher: There are two cars at the post office. There are four flowers at the restaurant. There are three giraffes at the zoo.

Where is the family? I added a set of family flashcards to make sentences with the town flashcards.
Teacher: Where is Mother?
Students: Mother is in the shoe store.

Or, you place more place flashcards and tell students where the family members are and have them attach the corresponding flashcard.

Teacher: Father is in the restaurant.

The unit naturally integrates location-based language (e.g., "next to," "between," "across from"), reinforcing spatial awareness and preposition use. Where?. Place several flashcards on the board.  Draw Main Street and start asking questions.
Teacher: Excuse me, It is on Main Street, between the fire station and the library.
Teacher: Where is the library ?
Students: It is on Main Street, next to the hospital.

 

Use of the adjectives On the left, on the right. Draw the street and arrows, place a flashcard on the right and another on the left.

Teacher: The bus station is on the right. The beauty salon is on the left.

Have students write questions to ask you about your street.

Student: Is there a bus stop?
Teacher: No, there isn´t.

Where and what number? A good review for the numbers 1 to 20.

Place several flashcards on both sides of the road and add a write on each one.
Teacher: Where is the apartment building?
Students: It´s on the right.
Teacher: What number is it?
Students: It´s number 14.

Use of the preposition At the corner of. Draw a street intersection, if it is a known one of your town the better. Add the flashcards.

Teacher: The school is at the corner of First Avenue and Main Street.

Have the students draw more examples and write the sentences. Then dictate to a student that will go to the board and place the flashcards.

Draw a street on the board. Give a set of flashcards to several students. Have them place the cards in the correct position on the street. Give them a written text where the cards should go. The students have to discuss how to place them.

The shoe store is on Main Street. The clothing store is next to the shoe store. The hotel is next to the shoe store. The shoe store is between the clothing store and the Hotel. The bowling alley is across the street. The planetarium is next to the bowling alley.

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/03/town-unit-games-for-elementary-esl.html 

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