Diagramming sentences often seems boring, especially for those who are not linguistically inclined. Turn this dull exercise into a creative project by making a simple craft out of it. Give each student a single sentence, multi-colored construction paper, scissors and a marker. Place a sheet of poster board at the front of the class and label different sections with parts of speech, such as verbs, nouns, prepositions and conjunctions. Give each section a different color. Ask students to write and cut out each word in their sentence that coordinates with the color-coded part of speech on the board. When they are done, get the students to take turns pasting a word on the board. Students and the teacher can then discuss if the word they put matches the correct label.
A game involving matching helps students to memorize and stretch their vocabulary. Give each student a group of words and ask them to write each one out on a piece of paper. Instruct the students to cut the word out in a shape that represent the word. Use simple nouns like car, flower or cat to make the cutting process easy. Write a sentence on a sheet of poster board, leaving one word missing. The students can take turns reading the sentence aloud and then choosing a word from group they were given to complete the sentence. After the students finish speaking the sentence, ask them to glue the word on the board. When everyone has pasted their words on the board, talk about what words fit the sentence and what words don't fit.
Make dialogue tactile with a memorable cut and paste activity that ESL learners can take home with them at the end of the night. Hand each student an old magazine or newspaper. Ask them to cut out two famous people that they recognize and paste them side by side, several inches apart from each other on a sheet of construction paper. Instruct students to draw a dialogue bubble above each person's head. Ask the student to write a sentence in each bubble, with one asking a question and the other giving a response. Each student should show their conversation to the rest of the class and talk about the sentences they chose.
Help students understand the basics of a simple narrative essay or brief work of fiction by scrambling a story. Hand each student a short story and ask them to cut it up into single paragraphs. Each student must pass the cut up story to another student. Once everyone has a new story, the students should read the story and arrange it in the manner they think is correct. Ask each student to read their stories aloud to see if the parts fit correctly. Discuss why the story fits or doesn't fit and the meaning of a paragraph. Students can then rearrange the story in the correct manner and paste it on a sheet of poster board.