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Bridging the Gap: Teaching ESL Strategies When Students Lack Prerequisite Skills


Assumptions vs. Reality in ESL Instruction

In many education systems, including those guided by frameworks like the Quebec Education Program (QEP), there’s an expectation that students progress through grade levels with foundational skills already in place. This applies to ESL strategies, where students are presumed to enter each grade level equipped with techniques for reading comprehension, writing organization, vocabulary acquisition, and oral communication.

The reality, however, often tells a different story. Students may arrive in an ESL class without these strategies, leaving teachers to face dual pressures: bridging the gap in foundational skills while covering the current curriculum. This discrepancy poses challenges for elementary and high school teachers alike, especially when class time is limited.

Fortunately, with careful planning, teachers can integrate essential ESL strategies into their lessons, ensuring students develop these tools without falling behind on the prescribed content.

The Importance of Teaching ESL Strategies

ESL strategies are the backbone of language acquisition. These are the tools students need to decode unfamiliar words, structure their thoughts, and understand complex texts or discussions. Without these strategies, even highly motivated learners struggle to meet expectations, leading to frustration and disengagement.

By embedding strategy instruction into everyday lessons, teachers can help students:

  • Gain confidence in their ability to learn and use English.
  • Develop autonomy in tackling new material.
  • Meet curriculum standards without compromising depth or quality.

The following sections outline practical approaches for elementary and high school teachers to teach ESL strategies, even with minimal class time.

Elementary ESL Classes: Addressing Gaps in 30 Minutes a Week

In elementary school, ESL instruction is often limited to just 30 minutes a week. This short timeframe makes it critical to integrate strategies into engaging, multi-purpose activities.

The Gap: 

Students may struggle with basic vocabulary retention, phonics, or recognizing patterns in language. The QEP assumes they’ve already begun learning how to deduce meaning from context, follow simple instructions, and participate in basic exchanges.

Solution: Focus on Layered Learning 

To teach strategies while covering the curriculum:

  • Use Songs and Rhymes for Contextual Vocabulary: Select songs that introduce high-frequency words or phrases (e.g., numbers, days of the week). Teach students to identify patterns, such as rhyming words or repeated structures. Example: Use “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” to teach body parts, then add a TPR (Total Physical Response) element.
  • Visual Anchors: Create quick, reusable tools like flashcards or word walls. For instance, when introducing animals, group flashcards into categories (e.g., farm animals, wild animals) and show students how to associate words with visuals.
  • Quick Comprehension Checks: Teach strategies like identifying key words in a question. Example: “Where is the dog?” prompts students to focus on “where” as a clue to look for location.

Scheduling Tip:

  • 5 minutes: Warm-up song or vocabulary game.
  • 20 minutes: Core activity with embedded strategy (e.g., TPR for vocabulary or storytelling with comprehension questions).
  • 5 minutes: Review by asking students to demonstrate the strategy, such as pointing to objects or answering simple questions.

High School ESL Classes: Tackling Gaps in 45-75 Minutes

High school ESL students face even greater challenges, as they are expected to manage academic language, analyze texts, and express complex ideas in both speech and writing. Yet, many students enter secondary school without the foundational strategies they need.

The Gap:

The QEP assumes that by high school, students can:

  • Take notes effectively.

  • Analyze and compare information.
  • Use contextual clues to understand unfamiliar words.

When these skills are absent, students struggle to keep up, especially in subject-specific ESL contexts like analyzing a poem or writing a report.

Solution: Teach Strategies Through Curriculum Content

To avoid falling behind:

  • Start with Scaffolding: Break tasks into smaller steps while explicitly teaching strategies. For instance, during a close reading, highlight how to find the main idea by underlining the first and last sentences of a paragraph.
  • Focus on Collaboration: Use paired or group activities to teach brainstorming, sharing ideas, and summarizing. Example: Have students read a short article, then use a graphic organizer (e.g., a T-chart) to list pros and cons before debating a topic.
  • Incorporate Digital Tools: Leverage technology to reinforce strategies. For example, apps like Grammarly or Quizlet can teach students editing or vocabulary acquisition techniques that they can use independently.

Scheduling Tips for 45-Minute Classes:

  • 10 minutes: Warm-up (review vocabulary, discuss homework using sentence starters like “I think…”).

  • 25 minutes: Core strategy-based task. Example: Teach students to use context clues by providing a paragraph with unfamiliar words. Model how to infer meaning using nearby sentences, then let students practice independently.
  • 10 minutes: Exit ticket (a quick reflection or quiz on the day’s strategy).

Scheduling Tips for 75-Minute Classes:

  • Add a second layer of practice, such as a group activity or creative project. Example: After analyzing a short story, students work in pairs to create a visual summary (e.g., a comic strip) that demonstrates their understanding of the plot.

General Strategies for Avoiding Curriculum Delays

When students lack foundational ESL strategies, teachers can take additional steps to manage the curriculum effectively:

  1. Integrate Skills Across Subjects: Collaborate with subject teachers to reinforce ESL strategies in other classes. For example, a history teacher can encourage students to use graphic organizers, supporting ESL work without adding extra tasks.

  2. Prioritize High-Impact Strategies: Focus on a few key strategies, like contextual inference or paragraph organization, that students can apply across tasks and subjects.

  3. Leverage Homework: Assign manageable, strategy-focused homework to maximize class time. For example, ask students to watch a video in English and jot down key phrases they recognize, reinforcing listening strategies.

  4. Reinforce Repetition: Repeat strategies in different contexts to ensure mastery. For instance, practice using mind maps for both narrative writing and science reports.

Conclusion

The gap between assumptions and reality in ESL education can feel overwhelming, but it also offers an opportunity for teachers to make a lasting impact. By prioritizing strategy instruction and embedding it into curriculum tasks, teachers can help students bridge foundational gaps while meeting current learning goals.

Teaching ESL strategies isn’t about finding more time—it’s about using the time we have wisely. Whether it’s a playful song in an elementary class or a collaborative analysis in high school, each moment spent teaching strategies equips students with tools they’ll use for life.

With patience, creativity, and focus, we can empower all students to thrive in English, one strategy at a time.

References:

Books and Articles

  • Chamot, A. U., & O'Malley, J. M. (1994). The CALLA handbook: Implementing the cognitive academic language learning approach. Addison-Wesley.
  • Gibbons, P. (2015). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: Teaching English language learners in the mainstream classroom (2nd ed.). Heinemann.
  • Herrell, A. L., & Jordan, M. (2019). 50 strategies for teaching English language learners (6th ed.). Pearson.

Educational Frameworks and Guidelines

  • Ministère de l'Éducation et de l'Enseignement supérieur. (2001). Quebec education program: Languages [PDF]. Gouvernement du Québec. Retrieved from https://www.education.gouv.qc.ca
  • WIDA Consortium. (2020). The WIDA English language development standards framework, 2020 edition: Kindergarten through grade 12. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.

Online Resources

  • TESOL International Association. (n.d.). Best practices for teaching ESL/EFL. Retrieved from https://www.tesol.org

Research Articles

  • Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. E., & Short, D. J. (2017). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model (5th ed.). Pearson.
  • Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Pergamon.

Technological Tools and Strategies

  • Linse, C. T., & Nunan, D. (2005). Practical English language teaching: Young learners. McGraw Hill.

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