Many activities are effective in teaching ESL children English, as long as they match the level of knowledge the student already has with what he still needs to learn. By following some basics, anything taught can be learned. The first basic is to know what the student needs.

Evaluate the English the students do know beginning with the Roman alphabet. Use alphabet flash cards and ask them to pronounce the sound and name the letter.

Fold a piece of paper in two. Write the letters and sounds they know on one side, and those they do not know on the other. Do the same with the high-frequency words, or words used frequently like "yes" and "no."

Develop cards for the vocabulary high-frequency words they don't know, and some they do know. Keep the cards separated. Provide a proportionate mix of what they do know and what they struggle with. This will keep them from becoming frustrated with material that is always difficult. Place a small picture in the corner of each card, hinting toward its meaning.

Place the high-frequency words on a designated word wall, or a place where they always can be viewed as needed when students are writing and speaking. Continue to add to the word wall as they write and pursue activities.

Label objects around the classroom with other word cards.

Tape color cards onto corresponding colors throughout the room, labeled with the name of the color and a circle shaded in the color. If the room has blue shades, for example, place the card labeled "blue" on the shade. Distinguish the color cards by shaping them differently from the vocabulary cards so that students know the shade's color is blue, not that the shade itself is called a "blue."

Read a story that matches the students' level of word knowledge with enough of a challenge to follow up with activities later. Determine the book by the students' extent of vocabulary and knowledge of the Roman alphabet as noted on the two-column sheet. For example, a third-grade short chapter book might be appropriate for a student who has letter-sound mastery of the ABCs, but struggles with some of the high-frequency vocabulary words.

Make a copy of each word in the book that was read to the students on separate strips of paper. After reading it to them, have them go into groups to reconstruct sentences, or make "sentence strips." Give each group one or two sentences to build. Bring all the groups together to put the sentences in the order of the book.

The word wall also can be a word tree, with words on leaf cards throughout the branches.