This activity is made ideally for an ESOL 1 class, but could be used across levels with some adaptation. I created this for ESOL 1 as part of the communications class for their unit on daily activities. Prior to this, students had studied family units, personal information, and time. This could be used as a creative assessment or as a follow up activity to a reading. It incorporates the compelling factor of personal information and creativity in asking students to write about themselves and illustrate their lives. Of course, teachers can always choose to offer this in a more imaginative way. 

Adaptations are listed with pertinent connections to the Comprehensible Input principals; connections to reading, writing, listening and/or speaking; level adaptations; and connections to other potential lesson aspects such as readings and cross curricular connections.​

     I inherited a few sets of supplies for maths related activities when I started teaching ESOL: some tens blocks, calculators, and some shapes. While these are useful and I did use them quite frequently, I wanted something that required students to create rather than simply identify. This particular year I had a class whose maths skills ranged from knowing basic algebra to never learning two digit addition. Further, many of these students were still learning basic vocabulary in English. The Wikki Stix/Monkey String, however, presented an excellent resource that got students active and creating, rather than simply memorising and identifying. Below you will find a quick list of ways you can use this resource in your ESOL classroom:

• multiplication/division - have students separate out and create the groups for a visual and tactile representation of a multiplication or division problem
• Shapes - have students race to create shapes using the string when they hear the shape name
• Numbers - have students race to create the number shape (8 as opposed to 8 sticks IIIIIIII) when they hear the number. (added bonus: this is a great way to include your vision students! While my vision student doesn't read the numbers the same way, they could feel the number the way I see it. They found this very fun and helpful). 
• tactile images - have students create tactile images of vocabulary words or sentences.
  
• rainbow and colours - students can sort them by colour and build a rainbow based on ROY G BIV.
  

What other ways can you use Wikki Stix/Monkey String to support ELLs?