Graphic organizers usually include boxes for writing information and pictures to help students organize information they read from a text. Below is a picture of a historical timeline which is a perfect example of a graphic organizer to help students organize important dates from a historical text. ![ESL-Teaching-Graphic-Organizers6.jpg](https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/VJjCVlXBck/resources/ZMOnaK5ADk/ESL-Teaching-Graphic-Organizers6.jpg) Graphic organizers are incredibly helpful tools for organizing information, regardless of whether students are English learners or not. For our English learners who are attempting to access grade-level materials, they can be crucial. In the ESL Curriculum Membership, you can find a growing library of graphic organizers you can use to scaffold learning for your English learners. [Click Here to Check Out the Graphic Organizers](https://kid-inspired.com/paths-to-fluency/graphic-organizers/)

Graphic organizers usually include boxes for writing information and pictures to help students organize information they read from a text. Below is a picture of a historical timeline which is a perfect example of a graphic organizer to help students organize important dates from a historical text. ![ESL-Teaching-Graphic-Organizers6.jpg](https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/VJjCVlXBck/resources/ZMOnaK5ADk/ESL-Teaching-Graphic-Organizers6.jpg) Graphic organizers are incredibly helpful tools for organizing information, regardless of whether students are English learners or not. For our English learners who are attempting to access grade-level materials, they can be crucial. In the ESL Curriculum Membership, you can find a growing library of graphic organizers you can use to scaffold learning for your English learners. [Click Here to Check Out the Graphic Organizers](https://kid-inspired.com/paths-to-fluency/graphic-organizers/)

As native speakers, we were never really taught formal English tenses. We just learned them naturally, by speaking a lot. If you ever took Spanish or French though, you'll know all about tenses. The verbs in a sentence change based on the time frame in which they occurred. That is a tense. And there are six major tenses in the English language. (There are lots more than that, but the others aren't as common and they are fairly easy considering they are just variations of the six major tenses.) Here they are: 1. Present Simple 2. Present Continuous 3. Future ("will" & "going to") 4. Past Simple 5. Past Continuous 6. Present Perfect I've had people argue with me that there is no such thing as a future tense, just a heads up. In our case, considering we speak about the future using a particular grammar structure, for all effective purposes, it is a future tense, and our students need to know it in order to communicate effectively. Now... The next issue is how to teach these tenses. Well, don't over-explain them. Children learn English tenses just fine by interacting with their parents without their parents needing to give long, drawn-out grammar explanations. Kids repeat everything they hear. Over and over. Parents correct them at times by telling them how to say it correctly. That's how we want to teach as well. Tell the students what they need for a tense - a quick grammar explanation. Then get them practicing it by hearing, speaking, reading and writing it A LOT. That's it! And that is exactly how the materials in the ESL **Curriculum Membership** are set up. **You'll find speaking pages with sentence starters that you can use with your students.** * Start by using the example sentences, repeating them until the students have become familiar with the structure. * * Then they can start changing words in the sentences to make them their own. * * Then they can start making their own sentences in little back-and-forth Q&A activities with partners. * * By the end of a class period, they will have said so many sentences in a particular tense that they will be doing it without thinking about it!!

As native speakers, we were never really taught formal English tenses. We just learned them naturally, by speaking a lot. If you ever took Spanish or French though, you'll know all about tenses. The verbs in a sentence change based on the time frame in which they occurred. That is a tense. And there are six major tenses in the English language. (There are lots more than that, but the others aren't as common and they are fairly easy considering they are just variations of the six major tenses.) Here they are: 1. Present Simple 2. Present Continuous 3. Future ("will" & "going to") 4. Past Simple 5. Past Continuous 6. Present Perfect I've had people argue with me that there is no such thing as a future tense, just a heads up. In our case, considering we speak about the future using a particular grammar structure, for all effective purposes, it is a future tense, and our students need to know it in order to communicate effectively. Now... The next issue is how to teach these tenses. Well, don't over-explain them. Children learn English tenses just fine by interacting with their parents without their parents needing to give long, drawn-out grammar explanations. Kids repeat everything they hear. Over and over. Parents correct them at times by telling them how to say it correctly. That's how we want to teach as well. Tell the students what they need for a tense - a quick grammar explanation. Then get them practicing it by hearing, speaking, reading and writing it A LOT. That's it! And that is exactly how the materials in the ESL **Curriculum Membership** are set up. **You'll find speaking pages with sentence starters that you can use with your students.** * Start by using the example sentences, repeating them until the students have become familiar with the structure. * * Then they can start changing words in the sentences to make them their own. * * Then they can start making their own sentences in little back-and-forth Q&A activities with partners. * * By the end of a class period, they will have said so many sentences in a particular tense that they will be doing it without thinking about it!!

# Diphthongs, Blends & Digraphs I had no idea what these were when I first began teaching phonics. Not that I needed to know what these terms meant in order to teach phonics well, but it did help when it came to sorting out the different combinations in my head as I was teaching them. **Here are the basic differences between Diphthongs, Blends, and Digraphs:** * Blends - Consonant Blends include letter combinations like st, pr, and nk. You can hear the individual sounds even as you are blending them. * Digraphs - Digraphs include letter combinations like oo and ew. They only make one single sound when blended together. * Diphthongs - Diphthongs include letter combinations like ai and oa. They make one sound that morphs into a second sound when blended together. (For example, "ai" sounds like "aaaeeee" if you say it really slowly, like a long a morphing into a long e sound 😁 .)

# Diphthongs, Blends & Digraphs I had no idea what these were when I first began teaching phonics. Not that I needed to know what these terms meant in order to teach phonics well, but it did help when it came to sorting out the different combinations in my head as I was teaching them. **Here are the basic differences between Diphthongs, Blends, and Digraphs:** * Blends - Consonant Blends include letter combinations like st, pr, and nk. You can hear the individual sounds even as you are blending them. * Digraphs - Digraphs include letter combinations like oo and ew. They only make one single sound when blended together. * Diphthongs - Diphthongs include letter combinations like ai and oa. They make one sound that morphs into a second sound when blended together. (For example, "ai" sounds like "aaaeeee" if you say it really slowly, like a long a morphing into a long e sound 😁 .)

Here is a picture of one of the phonics practice pages from Beginners 3. ![Kid-Inspired ELL Beginners book 3 (full color)35.png](https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/VJjCVlXBck/resources/RhCsjSmhWs/Kid-Inspired%20ELL%20Beginners%20book%203%20%28full%20color%2935.png) The lists on these pages are quite short. I learned this the hard way, through experimenting with lots of students over a lot of years. **Longer lists of words are fine for stronger students, but weaker students feel overwhelmed when looking at them.** Also, stronger students who can read all the words on a simple list are probably ready for simple texts instead of lists. Use the short lists to help students master a new sound. Once they have mastered that new sound, you can have them try longer lists of words, but they are probably going to be more motivated to reaad simple texts instead.

Here is a picture of one of the phonics practice pages from Beginners 3. ![Kid-Inspired ELL Beginners book 3 (full color)35.png](https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/VJjCVlXBck/resources/RhCsjSmhWs/Kid-Inspired%20ELL%20Beginners%20book%203%20%28full%20color%2935.png) The lists on these pages are quite short. I learned this the hard way, through experimenting with lots of students over a lot of years. **Longer lists of words are fine for stronger students, but weaker students feel overwhelmed when looking at them.** Also, stronger students who can read all the words on a simple list are probably ready for simple texts instead of lists. Use the short lists to help students master a new sound. Once they have mastered that new sound, you can have them try longer lists of words, but they are probably going to be more motivated to reaad simple texts instead.

# Resource Codes Many of the resources have a little code in the title. For example, B1.03. This is a very special, insider code that is only for members of the Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum. . . . . **Alright, here is the top secret meaning of the codes:** B1 = Beginners Level 1 (B2 would be Beginners Level 2) .03 = This is the unit number that the lesson comes from, in this case Unit 3. **Other codes:** L = Low-Intermediate I = Intermediate **Now...** This message will self-destruct in 20 seconds.

# Resource Codes Many of the resources have a little code in the title. For example, B1.03. This is a very special, insider code that is only for members of the Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum. . . . . **Alright, here is the top secret meaning of the codes:** B1 = Beginners Level 1 (B2 would be Beginners Level 2) .03 = This is the unit number that the lesson comes from, in this case Unit 3. **Other codes:** L = Low-Intermediate I = Intermediate **Now...** This message will self-destruct in 20 seconds.

Because teachers' goals for their students as well as students' situations vary greatly from school to school, I've provided numerous ways to sort through a wide variety of resources and tools inside the membership. * One way is to use the **Kid-Inspired ESL Assessment** which you can download for free here: https://kid-inspired.com/english-language-assessment/ * You may also find the **Foundations for Fantastic Classes** course inside the membership helpful as well for deciding which materials to use with your students. * There is also a quick **Level Chooser Assistant** where you can answer a few questions and get an idea of leveling (You can find this on the homepage). * Finally, since you know (or will know) your students best, you can dig into the different levels yourself and test things out by starting a little low and working your way up to where students are productively challenged. You can sign up for the [Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum Membership here.](https://kid-inspired.com/esl-curriculum)

Because teachers' goals for their students as well as students' situations vary greatly from school to school, I've provided numerous ways to sort through a wide variety of resources and tools inside the membership. * One way is to use the **Kid-Inspired ESL Assessment** which you can download for free here: https://kid-inspired.com/english-language-assessment/ * You may also find the **Foundations for Fantastic Classes** course inside the membership helpful as well for deciding which materials to use with your students. * There is also a quick **Level Chooser Assistant** where you can answer a few questions and get an idea of leveling (You can find this on the homepage). * Finally, since you know (or will know) your students best, you can dig into the different levels yourself and test things out by starting a little low and working your way up to where students are productively challenged. You can sign up for the [Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum Membership here.](https://kid-inspired.com/esl-curriculum)

**The curriculum is differentiated by grade level and proficiency level.** Because teachers' goals for their students as well as students' situations vary greatly from school to school, I've provided numerous ways to sort through a wide variety of resources and tools inside the membership. You can learn more about [finding materials inside the membership here](https://kid-inspired-classroom.malcolm.support/faqs/how-do-i-find-materials). There are also lots of supporting materials to help your students access grade-level material from their gen ed classes if needed. I add new materials monthly, so if you ever need anything, let me know! You can sign up for the [Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum Membership here.](https://kid-inspired.com/esl-curriculum)

**The curriculum is differentiated by grade level and proficiency level.** Because teachers' goals for their students as well as students' situations vary greatly from school to school, I've provided numerous ways to sort through a wide variety of resources and tools inside the membership. You can learn more about [finding materials inside the membership here](https://kid-inspired-classroom.malcolm.support/faqs/how-do-i-find-materials). There are also lots of supporting materials to help your students access grade-level material from their gen ed classes if needed. I add new materials monthly, so if you ever need anything, let me know! You can sign up for the [Kid-Inspired ESL Curriculum Membership here.](https://kid-inspired.com/esl-curriculum)

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Why do phonics lists in the beginners levels have so few words?

Phonics practice pages only have a handful of words on them. Here's why.

Beginners Decoding Phonics

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