If you’ve ever stared at a group of ESL newcomers and wondered, “Where do I even start?” you’re not alone. English Language Development is a science when you are dealing with high school and adult learners. Understanding the right sequence is essential for effective teaching.
My Origin Story…
When I first began teaching ESL in Texas, I didn’t have my own classroom, let alone curriculum. What I had was an invaluable three years of experience teaching English as a foreign language in Istanbul. This experience taught me something important: language development follows a natural sequence, and if you skip concepts, high school students and adults will struggle.
I knew I had to begin with the basics: singular and plural nouns, followed by the verb to be, and then there is and there are. You need students to understand the concept of singular and plural before learning how to conjugate ‘to be.’ Just as we teach addition before subtraction, the English language builds on itself in a very real way.
But what if you’re new to teaching ESL? Or you were voluntold to be the ESL teacher and handed zero resources?
That’s exactly why I share my Beginner ESL Scope & Sequence.
This is a clear ELD outline to help you understand the essential skills your newcomer high school and adult students need and the sequence in which to teach them. Whether your school gave you nothing or handed you a curriculum that skips over the fundamentals, this free tool will help you start strong and stay grounded all while ensuring your students are on a path to success.
Why a Scope & Sequence Matters in ESL
A well-planned scope and sequence supports robust language growth. Here’s why it’s essential:
✅ It Covers Everything
After 15 years of teaching the English language, I have noticed that even if my team and I are given a curriculum to teach, it often skips over skills our students will not pick up on naturally like: possessive adjectives, adverbs of frequency, and the past tense of the verb to be. Teens and adults need intentional grammar practice. One day on these concepts? That’s not building fluency.
✅ It Aligns with Natural Language Development
Even worse, many curricula will be reading and writing-heavy, but skip the listening and speaking opportunities. Students leave the classroom understanding English, but they walk around with false confidence. When a teacher or administrator asks them a question, they freeze. They understand, but they don’t produce. That’s not building fluency.
This is why all the units in the beginner course I use follow a sequence that builds skills gradually, from receptive to productive language:
➡️ reading ➡️ writing ➡️ listening ➡️ speaking.
✅ It Supports Diverse Classrooms
If your class is filled with students at different English levels, which is sadly the norm in education, a solid scope and sequence gives you a plan for your different langauge levels all while still moving everyone forward. When the concepts are too high for one group or another group is not being challenged, that’s not building fluency.
✅ It Makes Your Life 100% Easier
You know what concept you will teach next as your students begin to show proficiency in the current unit you are teaching. Planning is done for you, so you can focus the time on other areas that matter more.
Pro Tip: Don’t Rush the Learning
I know that my sequence has a suggested time frame in which to teach the different units, but with that said, you know your students best. Some students have background knowledge which allows them to fly through the activities. Some students have never been to school before. I try to include a lot of free extras in my units, so teachers can add additional days of practice, if needed.
Because I have to be honest: even in our high school, the same curriculum is often taught at a different pace.
Our newcomer students who have never been to school before take the entire year to complete the beginner English course. Their teacher packs in a lot of repetition to ensure their foundation is strong before moving on. Other year 1 students may finish the beginner course around spring break. Some of our year 3 students coming from the middle school may start the year with a beginner review of the simple present tense and past tense before moving onto pre-intermediate concepts like modals or mixes tenses.
Bottom line: Our high school and adult ESL students deserve the time it takes to build foundational English, which is why this scope and sequence is flexible. I don’t mean to sound ugly, but you really can’t squeeze in years of language into months. If your district expects you to work miracles, you need to ignore them. Taking the time to ensure the skills are learned deeply is the only way to truly create fluency.
Grab My Other ELD Sequences Too!
- Pre-Intermediate Sequence: this course isn’t as long, but I love to teach it! It beautifully pre-teaches important concepts before students get to the intermediate level. A true bridge for success.
- Intermediate Sequence: some years, I don’t get this far with my students; however, it is here if you need it. These skills are what students need to finish out their fluency. And don’t be intimidated: I have YouTube videos that go over the notes if you would like to see how I explain and teach these more difficult grammar concepts.
If you need anything further, please don’t hesitate to reach out and email me. 😊
Need specific grammar strategies? Check these blogs out.
Here’s to starting strong and having the year planned out!
