Learning a language, particularly as an adult, can prove highly challenging. While youngsters' brains are still relatively malleable, by the time an individual reaches adulthood, acquiring new systems of complex information, such as a new language, is generally more difficult. For ESL adults, however, learning a language isn’t as much something they want to do as it is something they must do as a result of a move or the need to work with English speakers. If tackling the task of teaching ESL adults how to navigate English, engage them in an assortment of activities designed to help them become more fluent users of the language.

Newspaper Vocabulary
One of the most effective ways to bolster fluency is to build vocabulary. Present your ESL adults with a vocabulary activity that helps them not only learn new words, but also become more familiar with the world around them. At the start of each week, or the beginning of each class, give each learner a newspaper and ask him to select an article. Next, ask him to read through the article, highlighting any words with which he is not familiar. Assist the learner in looking up each of these challenge words and, in doing so, broadening his vocabulary.

Daily Dialogs
Get your learners speaking to each other, as if they don’t actually engage in conversation they will likely struggle to build verbal fluency. To do so, prepare a list of questions for learners to ask each other in pairs at the start of your lesson. For example, for a Monday class you could compose a list of questions including, “What did you do this weekend?” Pair your learners and give each duo a list of these questions. Monitor them as they pose them to each other and share their answers in English.

Listening Summary
Assist your students in building their listening skills, as doing so will help them more rapidly develop their fluency. Select a short passage from the news or another media outlet. In class, play this passage for your students. After they finish listening, ask them to write summaries of what information the passage contained. Allow learners to share their passages with each other to continue to build understanding.

Group Reading
Use a book group-style system to get your students reading and talking about their literary experiences. To begin this activity, select a book that your students would likely be interested in. Ask each student to read the text in the same manner she would if she were going to participate in a book group. At one class meeting, dedicate the entire time to discussing the text that learners are reading or have read. In doing so, you can make the tasks of reading and fluency development more enjoyable and social ones.