Alien cultural references, unknown idioms and strange vocabulary make teaching English literature to ESL students especially challenging. Engaging the students while teaching the story and its significance is a tall order, but with a bit of creativity, imagination and a good attitude, both the ESL students and teacher can find success.

Listening Activities
Play a recording of a conversation in the book before reading. This will expose students to natural speech patterns, syntax and speaking speed. Don't give students any background. Split them into groups and tell them to try and figure out, based on what they heard, who is speaking, what they are talking about and how they are feeling (angry, excited, etc.). Or, give students a list of famous couples, then play the recording. Ask them which of the couples they think could have this conversation. Discuss why they think so. If you have a group of outgoing students, split them into pairs and play the recording. As soon as it stops, pick a pair to re-enact the conversation. Check for correct intonation -- a sign that they understand the meaning of the words. Make it competitive; the pair that remembers the most correct information gets a prize.

Speaking Activities
Role-playing is a tried-and-true way to engage students, spark creativity and build vocabulary. Spice it up even more with improv: after reading, split students into teams of three or four and assign each student a character from the story. Give every group the same situation; for example, if you're reading "Little Women," the situation could be that Jo and Laurie have just gotten engaged. Tell everyone to stay in character and be creative, but to behave as they believe their character would. This checks for comprehension, not only of the words, but of the more subtle character descriptors the author supplies.

Or, ask students which parts of the book they didn't like, and why not. Allow them to form groups and act out the scene the way they prefer. You could also have students act out a new ending for the book; for example, maybe Mr. Wickham from "Pride and Prejudice" marries Elizabeth instead. You could also split students into teams and have a debate about a point of contention in the book. This will test students' reasoning and comprehension skills. Or, split students into pairs. One will be a character from the book, the other will conduct an interview with that character.

Writing Activities
Test students' understanding of the characters by having them write a new story about them. Give students a location or scenario to get them started (for example, Jane and Mr. Rochester from "Jane Eyre" in a shopping mall). Or introduce poetry as a form of writing, and challenge students to write a poem about the book with a simple AABB rhyme scheme. Let students be literary critics for the day and have them write a critique of the book. Encourage them to give strong opinions, but require them to back up their opinions with facts from the book. This goes beyond simple yes-or-no questioning and challenges students to draw conclusions from what they've read.

Reading Activities
Choose short passages from the book, make a copy of each and give one to every student. After all have read their passages, tell the students to get up and talk to classmates about what their passages say. Tell students they must put the passages in chronological order. Or, copy 20 pages or so from the book, one for each student, and put students into teams of eight to 10. Say that they have 15 minutes (or some other impossible time) to read before you ask questions. When they protest, tell them to split the work among themselves. They should figure out that each person needs to read a couple of pages, then they can all discuss what they've read. This activity strengthens students' skimming and summarizing skills and listening comprehension. It's also a great teamwork activity.