Perhaps more than anything, a person's ability to speak English will be the most valuable skill they learn in an ESL classroom. If you're teaching a beginner's group, work on basic conversation skills to help them learn how to talk to people in English. While proper grammar, spelling and comprehension will be handy later on, an individual's ability to converse in English will come in handy quickly. Conversation practice can include basic greetings, how to introduce yourself or someone else, talking about current events, asking for directions or assistance, talking about the weather or expressing thanks for something.
Give the group of students a short passage to read. The language used in the passage should directly relate to the group's skill level. Give the group a short length of time in which to read the passage, and then lead the group in a discussion about the passage's content to gauge each student's reading comprehension. Ask each student a question pertaining to the text, such as, "What did the man buy at the store?" for example. When you have finished the group discussion, talk about each new word in the passage, giving the students a brief definition for each.
In the early stages of learning English as a second language, students should be tested for grammar by using a multiple-choice system. Because proper vocabulary is one of the most difficult elements of language to master, students may have greater initial success if they see the correct phrase in front of them. An effective way to test for grammar is to give the student a written or oral question with four potential answers. A question could be, "What does Bob like to eat at lunch?" One of the four answers would be written correctly. For example, the answer could be, "A sandwich." False answers could be, "At noon," "With a friend" and "In the kitchen."
Give simple spelling tests to the students in your ESL class to determine how their skills are progressing. To administer a test, pick 20 words that they've discussed in class or that you feel are within their skill range. If the students are in the very early stages of learning English, do not pick words with silent letters, such as "gnome." Read each word aloud to the group and give the students several seconds to write the word on a piece of paper. Once you've read all 20 words, collect the papers to grade them, or get students to switch papers with a classmate and share the answers with the group.