Finding a Curriculum: Tips & Strategies

We are going to start off today’s blog with your reflection question. How are you planning to plan for your Language Learners this school year? Take a moment to reflect on this question. Think about this question and answer to yourself honestly where you stand. 

One of the biggest obstacles that many professionals who support Language Learners face is the lack of a curriculum. This is the biggest question that educators are asking themselves and others. The most frustrating part of this is that searching and looking for a curriculum can take so much of a teacher’s time. 

I know this because I have been there, and I am still in this place depending on what subjects I teach during the school year. I was at my breaking point with spending so much of my time looking for a curriculum that met the needs of my students. Like many of you I wanted and needed lessons that were engaging, differentiated, and met the needs of my students. Everything that I found was missing something. All I wanted was a curriculum that included everything that I needed for my students. I knew this was possible but was unsure of how I can achieve this reality. Especially since some of my peers in other subject areas were not having any problems finding a curriculum. 

I decided to confront this head on and discovered some strategies and tips I want to share with you all. The first step was to learn HOW to plan for my students. This included creating and designing a curriculum that met the needs of my students. This allowed me to have a clear path of what resources I needed for my students. It also cut back on my planning time. 

The next strategy I want to share is planning around monthly themes. For example, for the month of October you might want to include lessons about fall, season changes, and any special events that are happening your students might be interested in. This is called thematic planning. You can find resources on Teacher Pay Teacher and other sites that provide resources. I found this to be very helpful especially for my English Language Development classes. 

The next tip is to use the same curriculum that your school and/or district provides for English Language Arts teachers. This by far has been a life saver for me and my students. It also reduces so much planning time. The curriculum that is provided to many English Language Arts teachers includes so many amazing resources. For example, the one my school district uses has leveled readers, adapted text, phonics, and so much more. Just because it doesn’t say for Language Learners doesn’t mean that it can’t be beneficial to your students. 

 Let’s do a quick recap. First, learn how to plan for your students. I provide a course called “The ESL Teacher Master Plan” that provides you with steps and strategies on how to plan for your Language Learners. 

Second, create thematic units for your Language Learners. You can find thematic units online in my Teacher Pay Teacher store “My Adventures in ESL”. 

The third tip is to research and start using the same curriculum your school district is using for English Language Arts. This could save you so much time for your planning. Simply ask what textbooks the ELA teachers are using. If you are teaching multiple grade levels, consider planning around standards or picking a grade level. 

Now that you have some concrete strategies on how to find resources and lessons, pick one strategy and implement. You can start by planning out your own curriculum for the school year using thematic units. Also visit My Adventures in ESL for courses and lessons to help make planning for your Language Learners easier. 

How are you planning to use the tips and strategies you learned about today?

You can download the transcript here.