3 Fun Assessment Tools for Your ESL Classroom

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about online resources that work really well for my ESL students. They are a combination of websites and apps and some of them were better for printing worksheets while others presented ideas and different ways to teach vocabulary and concepts to my students.

Today, I would like to share three more resources. This time, I will focus on vocabulary teaching and quick formative assessment, which, let’s face it, tends to become boring if the same definitions matching and “write-your-own-sentence-on-a- piece-of-paper” strategy is used.

With students on their phones and laptops most of the time, it is only natural that you want to bring learning where they hang out – online. Not all programs and websites are created equal, but the ones that I am about to share with you, are awesome and and work well. They are engaging, promote critical thinking, save paper and most of all, are fun. I have noticed that since I started using these in the classroom, the engagement has increased and I get an instant pulse of where my English learners are at. Plus, we all know that a little competition helps drive the information in:)

So without further ado, here are my picks.

Kahoot!

Kahoot! is a great interactive tool, where students engage in active learning. It works well for both reading and conversation. If you want to review specific vocabulary or concepts, it requires a bit of prep on the teacher’s part such as entering the words and definitions, possibly adding a picture here and there but it is totally worth it. But if you don’t have much time, or need to fill some time on a Friday before vacation or some school event that is likely to have your students bouncing around, there are plenty of ready-made Kahoots! Just type in your search terms into the search bar and a plethora of games created by others will pop up – you are bound to find something that suits your needs!

My students truly enjoy Kahoot! and ask to review whatever concepts we are learning (not only vocabulary) with it. Just as an example, for my intermediate students, I only wrote down a word and gave four definitions. For my newcomer students, I put a picture and gave words that we learned as choices. The best part is, that even in a mixed proficiency classroom, this is fun because students then begin to collaborate and explain concepts to each other, which is amazing learning in my book.

Here is a quick tutorial on how to use Kahoot! that will help you get started.

Pear Deck

Pear Deck is another program that allows you to utilize technology and quickly assess what the students have learned in the classroom. It is also interactive, which means that the students will receive a code from you that will allow them to join the particular pear deck you want to work on and the answers are in real time. With beginner level ELLs, you can assess vocabulary, ask yes/no questions or do sentence frames. With intermediate and advanced students, you can check new concepts or reading comprehension.

For your convenience, here is a short video that explains how to utilize Pear Deck so your ELLs (and you) benefit the most.

Quizlet

Gone are the days of thousands of flashcards that students have in their binders and have a hard time organizing them or better yet, finding them. Just like the other two platforms, Quizlet offers a way for students to work together and communicate as well as to organize vocabulary and concepts that they need to remember. It provides opportunities to practice in multiple ways, including games.

Quizlet can be used with students of any age and obviously, with younger ones a teacher is a bit more involved. One way to use this website with the older English learners (and those who are already able to write and read basic English) is to introduce new vocabulary and then either create a quizlet for them or have them create one and share with you.

This program is not just virtual flashcards. You can play games, too, which, again introduce some competitive spirit in the classroom, or you can do Quizlet Live (although there have to be more than 8 students in the classroom). And just like Kahoot!, there are sets of cards already made by others that you can utilize.

Here is a short video to help you get started with Quizlet.

What are your favorite ways to make learning fun for your ESL students?

What do you use for quick assessment in your ESL classroom?

 

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