EAL/ESL literacy learners typically thrive in an oral- and aural-focused language learning environment. Learners have a strong need to develop their listening and speaking skills in English for two reasons:

1. To meet settlement needs
   
   
   • Housing
   • Access to basic services
   • Medical care
   • Children’s education
   • Employment
   • Involvement in the community



2. To support the development of literacy skills
   
   
   • The sounds of English
   • Vocabulary
   • Phonics

Literacy learners learn best when listening and speaking instruction does not rely on reading and writing skills and makes the most of their learning strengths. When teaching listening and speaking to EAL/ESL literacy learners, consider approaches that use:

1. Personally relevant content: Choose topics that are immediately relevant to learners, such as language that allows them to connect with the people around them and language that meets their basic needs in English. Literacy learners, like all Stage I learners, should work with material that is based on immediate need and personal experience.
   
   
   • Relevant topics such as housing, food, shopping, medical care, school supplies, children’s education, and the community
   • Local images and names of places in your community



2. Communication: Use activities that are communicative and reciprocal; learners should be working on real communication with the instructor and their classmates, with a primary focus on whole language and communication rather than grammatical accuracy.
   
   
   • Basic discussions
   • Dialogues
   • Questions
   • Tasks with other people
   • Role-plays
   
   
   
3. Music and rhythm: Music is naturally catchy and repetitive and is meant to be sung over and over again, and rhythm is a strong oral approach towards learning grammar by ear rather than by analyzing discrete elements of language. No musical ability is necessary to teach using music; songs can be led by the instructor or through video.
   
   
   • Songs
   • Chants
   • Clapping



4. Movement: EAL/ESL literacy learners typically do not have much experience in formal learning situations and often struggle to sit for long periods of time. They have often learned practical skills (sewing, crafting, building, repairing, gardening, cooking, etc.) in their lives informally, through watching and doing. Give learners lots of opportunity to move around and use movement in activities as much as possible. Vary activities so that reading- and writing-focused activities are broken up with activities that include movement.
   
   
   • Find someone who… activities
   • TPR (Total Physical Response)
   • Mingling with classmates to ask questions or find matches
   • Demonstrating choices by moving to different parts of the class (e.g. Do you like to cook? Stand here for yes and here for no.)
   • Role-plays
   • Finding information in different places in the classroom
   • Stations



5. Community: EAL/ESL literacy learners are often community-minded and learn well when working with other classmates. They tend to help each other with tasks.
   
   
   • Working with a partner
   • Working with small groups
   • Asking a classmate for information
   • Jigsaw activities
   • Role-plays
   • Dialogues



6. Plenty of recycling: Like all language learners, EAL/ESL literacy learners need plenty of recycling to effectively learn and internalize new words and language patterns. What is different, however, is that they can rely less on writing things down as an aid to memory and learning. They will need many opportunities to hear and say the language they are learning.
   
   
   • Building routine language into every class
   • Teaching thematically
   • Returning to the same vocabulary repeatedly over time
   • Using visual clues such as clear photographs on white backgrounds