I’m all about ESL warm-ups. It’s hard for our students if we lead right into the main lesson without giving them a chance to warm-up their brains, and start thinking, talking, reading and writing in English. It’s also the perfect opportunity to do some review of the things I’ve taught in previous classes.
Although it does take a few minutes to do a warm-up, I find that the rest of the class goes much more smoothly if I do one, so I do!
Many of my warm-ups you’ll see online are loud, active, partner or group focused and require speaking. I like to use a few quieter, individual ones that I know some of the more introverted students appreciate. Proof-reading and editing is one of these quieter activities.
Proof-Reading & Editing: An ESL Warm-Up Activity
Skills: Writing
Materials Required: Worksheet/whiteboard/PowerPoint, workbook
To keep proper grammar usage fresh in your students’ minds, they should practice frequently. This doesn’t need to be a full grammar lesson; a quick warm-up can do the trick.
You can give your students a variety of errors to correct: word choice, subject and verb agreement, word order, punctuation, passive vs active voice, capitalization, modals, etc. You can give them a worksheet if you have time to prepare it. Otherwise, put a few sentences up on the PowerPoint and students can write the correct sentence or passage in their notebooks.
Editing and proof-reading makes an excellent ESL warm-up activity for kids as well as adults. It can take only a minute, or up to 10, depending on how difficult you make it. This activity can also reinforce a huge number of concepts—spelling, punctuation, grammar, vocabulary, etc. Just about anything really!
Teaching Tips for this ESL Warmer:
Begin by asking students a few review questions about whatever rules they are practicing. (“When do you use capital letters?” or “What is a run-on sentence? How can you fix it?”)
Also do one example sentence with them so they have a clear idea of what they need to do for the rest of them.
- Bolen, Jackie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 72 Pages - 12/09/2019 (Publication Date) - Independently published (Publisher)
Procedure for Proof-Reading & Editing Warm-Up:
1. In advance, prepare a worksheet or PowerPoint, or write several sentences on the whiteboard. You could even take a previous workbook activity and reproduce it.
2. The sentences or passage should practice previously studied points of grammar by having errors of that sort: word choice, word order, punctuation, capitalization, transitions and conjunctions, etc. (more conjunction activities here).
3. Have students correct the errors. If they are working from a PowerPoint or the white board, have them write the sentences or passage correctly in their notebooks.
4. Go over the answers quickly as a class.
You can also use this exercise as a homework activity, or you can use it as a quiz or test. Need more ideas? Check out these Whiteboard Games.
Like this ESL Warm-Up Activity?
- Bolen, Jackie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 50 Pages - 07/30/2015 (Publication Date) - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (Publisher)
If you liked this proof-reading and editing ESL warm-up activity, then you’re going to love this book: 39 ESL Warm-Ups for Teenagers and Adults. Get your classes started off in style and help your students focus on the lesson ahead. There is a wide variety of ESL warm-up games and activities to keep your students excited about what you’ll come up with to start off the class for an entire semester!
39 ESL Warm-Ups: For Teenagers and Adults is available on Amazon in both digital and print formats. The (cheaper!) digital copy can be read on any device by downloading the free Kindle reading app. Yes, it really is that easy to have a ton of great ESL games and activities at your fingertips anywhere you go.
Have 39 top-quality ESL warm-ups with you anywhere you go. It’s lesson planning made simple and easy. You’ll have the first few minutes of your lesson taken care of already.
Check out 39 ESL Warm-Ups on Amazon today, but only if you want to get yourself some serious ESL awesome in your life.
—>39 ESL Warm-Ups for Teenagers and Adults<—
An ESL warm-up activity
Have your Say about this ESL Warmer
What are your thoughts about this warm-up activity for English learners? Or, did you use it for an ESL writing exercise? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.
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Last update on 2020-02-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
It’s seems so simple, but you’re right in that it can be a really helpful ESL activity for improving writing skills. Thanks for the tips and recommendations.