Assess your students' English skills. Most ELL classes will have a mix of students with varying English-speaking abilities. Ask each student introduce himself in English, explain where he is from, and talk about his background, family and hobbies. Note each student's strengths and weakness as he gives his introduction.
Rank your students' English skills in order, from the strongest in the class to the weakest.
Pair your students by placing the strongest English speakers with the weakest. When possible, pair native English speakers with ELL students.
Start your class each day with paired warm-up exercises which require partnered students to perform an exercise in English. Choose an exercise that includes a specific phrase or common idiomatic expression. Ask your students to figure out what the expression means. Call on different student pairs for the answer.
Conduct think/pair/share exercises with your students. Assign a reading passage to the whole class. Arrange for students to pair up with their partners to share what they learned with each other. Ask different sets of partners to report their conclusions to the rest of the class. Allowing students to speak from their seats can help minimize anxiety which distracts from learning.