A good teacher of English as a second language (ESL) uses a variety of different activities within each lesson. This maintains students' interest in the class and helps cater to different learning styles. Activities for the classroom can be reused in various guises and adapted for different language levels. This is especially useful as it cuts down on the time you take preparing the lesson and on explaining the activity to the class.

Find a Student Who...
"Find a student who..." activities provide extended speaking practice. Prepare worksheets with written prompts related to the language point you are teaching. For an elementary class learning the present simple tense, for example, you might write: "gets up early," "likes coffee," "smokes," "watches TV every night" and "hates dogs." Give each student a worksheet. Students take turns asking other students questions from the prompts, for example, "Do you get up early?" "Do you like coffee?" When a student answers "Yes," he writes the student's name next to the prompt. After 15 minutes or when most of the students have a name next to most prompts, put the them into groups of three or four to relate what they have learned, for example, "Sanjay hates dogs," "Christopher gets up early" and "Maria watches TV every night."

Text Jumbles
Use "text jumbles" to introduce or consolidate new language and to practice reading comprehension. Select a text with language appropriate to the level of you students. Cut this text into sentences, sets of three or four words or individual words. Divide the class into groups of three of four and hand each group the cut-up text. Set a time limit and ask students to reassemble the text. You can, if you wish, award points for each group based on the speed and accuracy with which they reassemble the text.

Quizzes
Quizzes provide an excellent opportunity for students to consolidate language they have learned during the lesson or class. To consolidate the present perfect tense, for example, divide the class into groups of three and ask the groups a series of general knowledge questions using the present perfect tense, for example, "Which country has entered the most wars in this decade?" "Which animal has eaten the most humans in this century?" and "Who has won more Olympic gold medals than anyone else?" Award points to each team for correct answers. Now ask each group to write five general knowledge questions of their own using the present perfect tense. Circulate and assist students where necessary. When each group has finished ask them to read their questions to the class. Award points for each correct answer.

On Your Feet Dictations
"On your feet" dictations give excellent practice in reading, listening and writing. Divide the class into pairs and ask them to sit on one side of the room. Select a text appropriate to the level of your students. Pin this text to the opposite wall to which they are sitting. One student from each group must run to the text, read a section of it, run back to her partner and dictate what she has read. Her partner writes this down while the first student runs back to the text to read the next section. Students continue in this fashion until one pair has written down the complete text. Award this team 10 points. The team with the second-most amount receives eight points, and so on. Take away a point from each team for spelling mistakes, missing words and grammatical errors. The team with the most points is the winner.