As ESL teachers, we’re constantly looking for ways to create engaging, effective, and well-structured lessons that meet the diverse needs of our students. One strategy I’ve found to be a game-changer in my classroom is incorporating consistent, on-going weekly activities. These are short, targeted routines that I plug into my lesson plans each week—like phonics instruction, mini grammar lessons, vocabulary practice, and an idiom of the week. Most of these activities require minimal planning, and who doesn’t love that?!
Simplify Planning and Reduce Guesswork
One of the biggest advantages of consistent weekly activities is that they streamline the lesson planning process. When you know that each week includes a mini grammar lesson or a vocabulary-focused activity, part of your lesson structure is already mapped out. These activities become reliable “anchors” in your weekly plan, allowing you to focus your energy on differentiating instruction or planning out ELD lessons or units.
So, instead of reinventing the wheel every week, you can build on familiar routines that target specific skills your students/small groups need. For example, when I sit down to plan for the week, the first thing I do is plug in “phonics” for my Monday level 1-2 groups, Idiom of the Week on Friday for my level 3-4 groups, and monthly themed vocabulary for my K-1 and newcomer groups. Bam-done! These consistent activities free up valuable mental energy and give me more time to plan my instruction in other areas.
Build Predictable Routines That Lower Affective Filters
For language learners, predictability is powerful. When students know what to expect in your classroom, their anxiety levels drop, and they’re more likely to take risks with language. By incorporating familiar weekly activities, you create a sense of routine and safety.
When students walk into small group time and know they’re going to work on a mini-grammar lesson or practice vocabulary in a specific way, they don’t have to worry about the unknown. Their affective filter—the mental block that inhibits language learning due to anxiety or stress—is lowered, making it easier for them to engage, participate, and retain information. Consistency creates a learning environment where students feel confident and in control.
Foster Independence
When students become familiar with weekly activities, they gain confidence and begin to take ownership of their learning. They know what’s expected, they understand the structure, and they can engage with the material more independently. As these routines become part of your classroom culture, you’ll notice that students require less prompting and can transition between tasks more smoothly.
Weekly Activity Examples
Here are a few examples of on-going weekly activities I incorporate into my weekly lesson plans…
✅ Phonics
This weekly routine for my beginning and some intermediate groups focuses on vowels and are targeted based on my students’ starting points (short, short vs long, long vowel patterns, vowel teams, r-controlled vowels). It starts off as a daily focus until my students learn the structure and expectations, then it becomes a Monday & Friday routine.
Monday – an explicit lesson on the vowel or vowel pattern and practice with a sorting activity
Friday – review activity
Throughout the week I’ll highlight the vowel pattern in my ELD lessons when the opportunity presents itself, and I try to incorporate text that includes the vowel pattern, but the main focus is reserved for Mondays & Fridays.
What makes this routine so manageable is, at the beginning of the month I print out all of the phonics materials I’m going need and get them prepped ahead of time. Then each Monday, I simply pull out the sort for the week, along with any other activity we do in the routine. Having it all at my disposal each week saves a ton of time with daily planning and prep work.
✅ Grammar
For my higher level groups, I incorporate a short micro-grammar lesson each week. It’s always best to teach grammar in context, but I find that micro-lessons on skills my students need extra practice with is beneficial.
I also try to keep in mind which skills my older ELs might’ve missed based on when they entered in the U.S. For example, my fifth grader who arrived at the beginning of 3rd grade might’ve missed possessive nouns when it was taught here in 2nd grade.
Or maybe I notice through informal assessments that my students need a lesson on the three sounds of -ed endings.
Lessons are intentional and target the skills my students need. They could be a one and done lesson, or a skill you carry over into your ELD lessons for that week.
✅ Idioms
Idioms can be tricky for language learners, so an Idiom of the Week is a fun activity that supports language comprehension; and my students always get a kick out of them;)
I pick one day of the week to introduce a new idiom. Students open their ELD notebooks to the Idiom of the Week section and on a new page draw a big plus sign, creating 4 sections to write in. I’m at the board doing the same. We include the idiom phrase, an illustration of the literal meaning, the actual meaning and an illustration of the actual meaning.
Then we discuss situations one might use the idiom, along with some real world example sentences. I have an Idiom of the Week display in the classroom, and as a warm-up on a following day, I might ask if anyone had an opportunity to use the idiom this week.
✅ Weekend Plans/Weekend Update
This is an oral language building activity that’s great for level 1 students. On Mondays I ask my students to tell something they did over the weekend, or on Fridays I ask them about their weekend plans. In the beginning they might be hesitant to speak, but through prompting, I can ask questions to solicit information and then model short simple sentences for them.
To build literacy skills, I’ll write the short sentence about their weekend on the board and they’ll copy it in their notebook, then they read it back to me. Eventually it becomes an effective tool for teaching a variety of skills, like verb tense, parts of speech, writing mechanics, etc. To read more about this activity, check out my blog post called, “3 Weekly Activities the Do Not Require Planning.”
✅ Monthly Themed Vocabulary
One of my students’ favorite on-going activities is actually a monthly activity. For one week each month, the focus is on building oracy and literacy skills around thematic vocabulary. This is perfect for primary K-1 groups and beginning English learners.
For each month, seasonal vocabulary is introduced. Then throughout the week that vocabulary is reinforced with activities that support listening, reading, speaking and writing skills.
Here’s a week-long sample format of seasonal activities:
Monday: introduce vocabulary – shared reading of a monthly themed book – matching game with picture cards and words
Tuesday: review vocabulary – sight word – chorally read the book – respond to reading (writing)
Wednesday: reread the book with less support – illustrate and share writing – letter formation or word work
Thursday: reread and talk about the book – sentence writing activity
Friday: fun day – seasonal read aloud – memory game with vocab cards – BINGO! game
One of the things I love most about this consistent activity is, at the beginning of each month I already have the first week mapped out with my K-1 and newcomer groups. All I need to do is print out the materials. I also love that my students get really excited about their new monthly books. 🤩
Get Started with Weekly Activities
If you’re ready to incorporate consistent weekly activities into your classroom routine, start small. Think about what activities your students need extra practice with, then plug them into your weekly lesson plans. Over time, you’ll find that these routines not only make planning easier but also create a supportive learning environment where your students can thrive.
Having a routine with a few meaningful consistent weekly activities for your ESL classroom to target the language needs of students makes the lesson planning process manageable AND instruction intentional.
Happy teaching,
👇 Below are resources found in this blog post.
