Teacher Discussion Forums

I'm teaching ESL for the first time to a Hmong gentleman who knows very little English, and I'm having some trouble with my lesson planning. I simply don't know where to begin with my student: whether to teach him phrases, or what verbs to teach him, etc. His goal, a bit vague yet certainly appropriate and understandable is to chat with his co-workers. Does any one have any ideas or sample lesson plans? I haven't been able to find much online after much searching. Thanks for your help.

RonJ

Publishers often provide online samples of their textbooks, and if you aren't sure which textbooks to use (or simply don't want to buy any!), such links can be very useful when you're stuck for ideas.

Some titles from Cambridge University Press:
http://www.cambridge.org/elt/resources/adult/

From the above are links to:
http://www.cambridge.org/us/esl/nic/support/default.htm
http://www.cambridge.org/us/esl/IC3/teacher/unit.htm

Then there is the breakdown of the lower levels of Language in Use:
http://www.cambridge.org/elt/liu/resour ... Skills.pdf

This might also give you some ideas:
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... php?t=4819

There is a text just for Hmong people with stories of their life in their own country and how they came to North America and the problems they found here in adapting to life. I will try and remember what it was called but you might check on Amazon.

That sounds like a great book, Sally! I imagine it would be very relevant to the OP's learner, and thus very motivating - would certainly beat overusing textbooks produced in the west (because despite the token efforts to make them less so, they can often still be a bit too Anglo-centric).

http://www.seacrc.org/media/pdfiles/HmongBk.pdf

http://www.moea.state.mn.us/ee/esl.cfm

Try this topic sequence according to Basic Global English:
1. Alphabet and alphabets sounds
2. Politeness strategies (common expressions)
3. Basic words
4. Grammar rules.

Personally I prefer this sequence:
1. Common expressions
2. Basic words
3. Word order ( Subject - verb sequence in sentences)
4. Basic grammar