Are you wondering how to teach advanced ESL students?
Teaching advanced students requires a special set of skills. The teacher needs to create activities and materials that will keep students challenged and engaged. The focus should be on building fluency and keeping topics relevant to students’ future academic or professional goals.
Here are some ideas for how and what to teach advanced-level English learners.
Connect to Students’ Interests and Goals
Students at this level are ready to use English to write and speak about their personal interests. Your students might be interested in entering a professional field or getting a degree. They will likely be very motivated to do assignments or projects that interest them help them reach these goals. Along with this will come new vocabulary and language having to do with the topic.
Give students a questionnaire about what specific goals and interests they have and what English skills align with these goals and interests. Here is an English questionnaire from my TpT store that I use every quarter – check it out!
Teach Figurative Language
Students at an advanced level are ready to learn idioms and figures of speech that native English speakers use all the time. Idioms are frequently used in everyday conversations, media, and literature. English learners don’t want to feel in the dark when hearing these expressions! Understanding and using idioms can help learners comprehend spoken and written English more effectively and sound more fluent. By integrating idioms into their language repertoire, English learners can achieve a more natural and native-like proficiency, enhancing their overall language skills and making their interactions more meaningful and effective. Here are some Business English Idioms lessons to get you started!
Hone Research Skills
Many advanced-level ESL students have an academic goal in mind. Advanced students will be able to come up with a research question, conduct research, determine credible sources, write essays or make presentations on the information they find, and cite sources appropriately. Honing research skills requires explicit instruction, modeling, drafting, and taking multiple steps to get to the final product.
Practice Impromptu Speaking
Since advanced students have a larger vocabulary and feel more confident in their speaking abilities, push them further by practicing impromptu speaking. Practicing impromptu speeches will help students build confidence, reduce speaking anxiety, and prepare for real-life situations. Here are common situations that require impromptu speaking:
- – a job interview
- – a speech at a wedding
- – when the teacher calls on you in class
- – when your boss asks you a question during a meeting
Impromptu speaking practice reinforces good public speaking skills: quick thinking, organizing ideas, argumentation, engaging delivery, and strategic word choice. It is also a good way for students to demonstrate their speaking skills to the teacher.
Here is my impromptu speaking guide with over 50 prompts!
Teach Advanced Grammar
Advanced students are ready to start using more complex grammar structures for communicative purposes. Here are a few grammar points for this level:
- – Reported speech (also called indirect speech) (They said that we needed a car.)
- – Past unreal conditionals (If I had known, I would have brought an umbrella.)
- – Passive voice (The apples were put on the table.)
- – Tag questions (This movie is great, isn’t it?)
- – The past perfect verb tense (He had seen the ghost before.)
- – The past perfect progressive verb tense (She had been listening to music for an hour.)
- – The present perfect progressive verb tense (She has been eating for an hour.)
Teaching advanced and complex grammar structures can be daunting, especially for new teachers. For no-prep advanced grammar lessons, check out my Advanced Grammar Lesson bundle on TpT!
Teaching advanced ESL has its challenges, but it can be so much fun and enjoyable. If you are wondering how to teach Advanced ESL, try the tips and topics above. Advanced students have the vocabulary and language to do some incredible things!
Looking for advanced ESL lessons? Grab the bundle below and save big!
