Mary Poppins bag

Mrs. Linda was here with me this week, and she went with me to several of my classes. She suggested that I do a blog post about my ESL bag.

I have a bag that I take to all of my ESL classes. Whenever I plan for a class, I keep my plan book and any supplies for the lesson into my bag. I also keep extra supplies in there at all times. I don't know if this happens to everyone, but it happens to me ALL the time: I plan a lesson, targeting it toward one ability level, only to have students of a vastly different level show up. This drives my planning nature insane. So, in my bag, I keep supplies/games/activities that can be adapted for a lot of different lessons. This helps me keep my sanity.

Here's a list of things I almost always have in there:
1. scissors
2. tape
3. extra dry-erase markers
4. several sets of "Scrabble" tiles: I use the letter to play either Speed Scrabble or the spelling game

If you want to make your own set, click here to find a rubric.

5. a ziplock full of Starburst candy
6. a few sets of word searches or crossword puzzles

7. a few sets of matching cards: I use these for lots of activities. Sometimes, the students actually match the cards, sometimes play "Memory", sometimes use the activities as sentence or question prompts.

8. blank paper: these can be used for the interesting fact game, Hannah's letter game, or tons of other games that you may create in a moment of desperation.
9. extra pens
10. cards that have words written on them to play Charades or Pictionary
11. candy- to be used as a) prizes or b) bribes (kidding...sort of...)

I trade other things in and out periodically, but these are the staples. My Mary Poppins bag has saved my life...er...lesson (and attitude) on many occasions.