3 All About Me ESL Activities for Getting to Know Your Students for Back to School

3 All About Me ESL Activities for Getting to Know Your Students

What Should I Do During My First Week Back in School with My ESL Students?

As educators, we often wonder how to effectively connect and engage with our students, especially newcomers and new arrivals, during the first week back in school. The challenge is even greater with multilingual learners who might be nonverbal or just beginning to learn English. How can we create an inclusive, welcoming environment while also helping them start their learning journey?

Differentiated and Scaffolded All About Me Activities

"All About Me" back-to-school activities are essential for welcoming and getting to know ESL students. These activities foster a sense of belonging and encourage self-expression. By sharing their  cultural backgrounds and information about themselves, students build confidence and cultural awareness, while teachers gain insights to create a more inclusive and supportive classroom. Building connections with multilingual learners enhances their learning experience and supports their emotional well-being. Finally, these "All About Me" activities help us teachers make our students' heritages VISIBLE and VALUED, as emphasized by Honigsfeld. By displaying their "All About Me" writing on our school walls, we welcome them into our school communities and show that we appreciate and celebrate their unique backgrounds.

                                                       

Here are three engaging "All About Me" activities designed to help you get to know your ESL students better while providing the necessary scaffolds for nonverbal and beginning learners. These activities use pre-generated images and words for cutting and gluing, vocabulary word banks, and sentence stems to ensure every student can participate and feel included.

1. ESL All About Me Class Quilt

The ESL Class Quilt is a collaborative project where each student designs a square that represents who they are. These squares are then assembled into a quilt that can be displayed in the classroom.

How to Do It? 

Here's how to create this activity: Give each student a square, have them divide it into 4 quadrants, and label each quadrant with something that makes them unique, such as "hello" in their language (read more about the importance of  translanguaging here), flag, favorite food, etc. Collect students' completed squares and glue them together to form a quilt. Have students share their writings and display them on your bulletin board 

Why It Works:

• Fosters Community: Each student's unique contribution creates a sense of belonging and unity.
• Cultural Awareness: Students share aspects of their cultural background, promoting mutual respect and understanding.
• Art Integration: Combines art with language learning, making it engaging and enjoyable.

2. ESL All About Me Passports

ESL Passports are personalized booklets where students share information about where they came from, as well as facts about their favorite things.

How to create ESL passports: Have your students fold a piece of paper and create a cover featuring a flag or passport symbol. Inside, write your name, age, and where you came from. On the second inside page, write about your favorite things. Once again, students share their passports, and you display them on the school walls.

Why It Works:

• Personalized Learning: Allows students to talk about their background and their preferences.
• Language Practice: Provides a meaningful context for practicing writing and speaking skills.
• Connection Building: Teachers gain insights into students' lives, helping to build stronger relationships.

3. ESL  All About Me Backpack Full of Goals

Description: The ESL Backpack Full of Goals activity involves students creating a backpack filled with their academic, social, and personal goals, alongside an "All About Me" section. This project is differentiated to cater to different proficiency levels.

Why It Works:

• Goal Setting: Encourages students to set and pursue goals, fostering a growth mindset.
• Differentiation: Accommodates varying language proficiencies, ensuring all students can participate.
• Continuous Engagement: The activity can be revisited throughout the year to track progress and adjust goals.

Carla Espana and Luz Yadira Herrera (2020) emphasize the importance of understanding, honoring, celebrating, and elevating bilingual students' experiences. Teachers who embrace these practices acknowledge and support students' languages, literacies, and cultural practices, validating them through diverse and multilingual learning opportunities (Pacheco et al., 77).

By incorporating all about me activities like the ESL Class Quilt, ESL Passports, and ESL Backpack Full of Goals, you can create a classroom environment that celebrates diversity, fosters personal connections, and supports your students' academic and personal growth.

Happy Teaching!

ESL Resource Meet