The goal of most ESOL classes will be to help improve oral fluency. English language learners will require practice in generating original sentences and spontaneous self-expression, so you will want to spend more time teaching oral fluency than reading and writing. Some students may not even be interested in learning to read and will only be interested in conversational English. Literacy students will most likely be fluent in spoken English and many will be native English speakers. With your native English speakers, literacy classes will focus heavily on reading comprehension and pronunciation of written materials.
You may be required to teach various levels of literacy to those with different language goals. Some ESOL students may only require basic literacy skills necessary to adjust to life in an English-speaking country. Literacy students may be native speakers of English but have little to no reading and writing ability. A literacy student may be a native speaker who can carry on sophisticated conversations and desires the ability for his writing and reading skills to match his oral ability.
ESOL students often advance faster in reading comprehension than in making grammatically correct sentences. Plan class activities and homework assignments accordingly. Your ESOL students can do much of the reading and writing work at home, so most of your class time will be dedicated to oral practice. Your literacy students may not possess the skills to practice reading and writing on their own time and will want to have as much guided literacy instruction with a teacher as possible.
Research the backgrounds of your students and why they have come to you for help in improving their language skills. ESOL students may have first-language interference, meaning that they may have language habits learned with their first language that will affect how they process English. With native speakers looking to learn or perfect reading and writing skills, you will be teaching the basics of English phonetics. With literacy, you may be teaching students with learning disabilities or learners from disadvantaged backgrounds who have received poor or limited instruction. The more you know about the educational and cultural backgrounds of your students, the better you can create effective and dynamic class sessions catering to their needs.