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.
My Origin Story…
When I first began teaching ESL in Texas, I didn’t have my own classroom, a curriculum, or even a rough year-at-a-glance. What I did have was an invaluable three years of experience teaching English as a foreign language in Istanbul. That experience taught me something important: language development follows a natural progression, and if you skip concepts, high school and adult students will struggle. The foundation is weak. You’ll see cracks later on.
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. Just as we teach addition before subtraction, English language concepts build on each other 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, flexible outline to help you understand the essential skills your newcomer high school and adult students need and the order 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.
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. Our teens and adults need intentional, focused instruction, and often the curriculum will skip concepts like: possessive adjectives, adverbs of frequency, and the past tense of the verb to be. One day on these concepts? That’s not helpful. 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 admin asks them a question, they freeze. They understand, but they don’t produce. This is why all our units 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 the industry norm, a solid scope and sequence gives you a way to differentiate while still moving everyone forward.
Please, Don’t Rush It!
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. Our newcomer students who have never been to school before (yes, you read that correctly. We have 17-year-olds who enroll without knowing how to write their name), take the entire year to complete the beginner English course. Our students who are year 2 students may review simple present tense and past tense before moving onto the pre-intermediate concepts. Taking the time to ensure the skills are learned deeply is the only way to truly create fluency.
If you need anything further, please don’t hesitate to reach out. 😊
Here’s to starting strong!
