Goal setting is extremely important for your ESL students. It helps them see their language learning progress as well as keeps them organized.
After all, according to one of my favorite quotes by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: “A goal without a plan is just a wish” .
And this is where ESL goal setting worksheets come in.
When do we set goals for ESL students?
There are several times a year that both teachers and students can set goals.
First, at the start of the new school year. Everyone is fresh from the summer break, and your ESL students are eager to set goals for themselves.
Second, right after the New Year. A lot of people create resolutions, but I have found that resolutions tend to have a nasty habit of not sticking.
Have you ever been in a place where you said you will lose 10 lbs or become organized by February 1? Yeah, me too. And let me tell ya, it doesn’t stick because it is too vague.
In addition, the start of a new trimester or semester also provides a perfect opportunity for ESL goal setting.
Finally, ESL goal setting is perfect once you receive your Access testing scores. It provides you with an opportunity to sit down with the student, review the scores and decide where they want to go on their language learning journey next year.
How does ESL goal setting work?
As with everything ESL teaching, goal setting has to be broken down into bite-size pieces.
And this is where ESL goal setting worksheets come in.
To make a goal, it has to be somewhat tangible.
For example, you may want to ask your students: what do you want to achieve this year?
In my experience, most English learners immediately chime in: “I want to speak better English!”.
Then you can ask other questions. For example: “What does “better English” mean to you?” or “What do you think you can do to speak better English?”
Human brain is wired in such a way that as soon as you ask a question it begins searching for an answer.
You may also want to see if your ESL students know HOW to set goals.
One of the more understandable ways to do that is to go over SMART goals.
Specific
Measurable
Actionable
Relevant
Timely
Take the time to explain this concept to your ESL students, and goal setting will become much more real and, dare I say achievable to them.
The ESL goal setting worksheets
One of the best ways to set goals is to actually set aside a time during your lesson to first, decide what it is your students want to achieve, and second, to revisit the goal.
If you set the goal for the year, you may revisit it every quarter, for example.
If you are working on a weekly goal, check in mid-week and then do a reflection at the end of the week.
I have created the ESL goal setting packet specifically with English learners in mind.
It contains simple yet easy-to-implement goal setting activities and consists of three parts.
Goal setting part one: My word for the year
Sometimes coming up with one word for the entire year yields better results than making a rigid resolution.
For example, instead of making a resolution to “get organized by February 1”, which is general and does not offer many incentives, one might choose the word “organization, organized”.
That way in whatever they do during the year, this word can be applied. Organized binders, organized digital files, organized homework process, etc.
How to use it?
If you assign this ESL goal setting worksheet in Google Classroom, you can make a copy for each student and they can type it right inside the slide. Perfect writing practice, if you ask me:)
If you are doing an online lesson, you can use this slide in Jamboard. For more information on what Jamboard is and how to use it, click here.
Part two: My vision board
A vision board is wonderful for goal setting. The traditional way of creating a vision board is to find pictures that represent what vision you have for your life – who you want to be, what you want to do and have – cutting them out of a magazine and gluing them on a poster board.
The important part of this process is to actually place the vision board where you would be able to constantly see it so you are reminded of where you are going.
Since we are living in an increasingly digital world, the vision board can also be created digitally.
A good way to introduce the vision board for your students is to show one that you have created and to explain that the pictures represent who you want to be, what you want to do, and what you want to have in the coming year, for example.
Then have the students use the “insert image” feature in the slides to complete theirs. You may also want to assign them to write a sentence about each of their pictures.
For more ideas on how to use a vision board in the classroom, check out this blog post!
ESL goal-setting part three: My weekly goal and reflection
As the title suggests, these ESL goal setting worksheets can be reused every week.
Students in middle and high school are frequently overwhelmed with all the work they have to do, and breaking it down to no more than three bullet points per week makes it more manageable.
As mentioned earlier, it might be a good idea to do a separate lesson on how to create goals, what a SMART goal is, and how to measure if they have achieved it or not.
Part four: My celebrations
All work and no play is never fun. This part of the ESL goal setting worksheet is to show students that creating their goal, working towards it, and reaching it is best when you have something to look forward to.
Celebrations can include anything like a game, story, treat, etc. if you are celebrating in the class. Encourage students to think of other little things they can personally do to celebrate their achievements.
You can find the ESL goal setting worksheets right in my TpT store.
You can find ALL of my Teachers Pay Teachers lessons and exclusive materials insideThe ESL Teaching Roadmap – a membership for middle and high school ESL teachers who work primarily with newcomers and mixed level classes.
Do you set goals with your students? If so, how do you do it? I’d love to hear – share with us in the comments below!