5 Ideas to Teach Prepositions to Your Esl Students

It doesn't have to be difficult to teach prepositions to your Esl students. Granted, prepositions are a limited bit harder because they are more of a view than a mere vocabulary word. However, students are probably customary with these words in their native language, so they can catch on quite quickly.
Here are five of my popular ideas for teaching prepositions:

1. Use flash card games. You probably have some flash cards illustrating the dissimilar prepositions. If not, then you can beyond doubt print some out for free or make your own. You can use these cards to play bingo, memory, or any of your popular games.

2. Say the Opposite. Most prepositions have opposites. It's a good challenge to have the students say the opposite. For example, if you say "in", they must say "out". It's extra intelligent if you show them a card and have them say the opposite because your first reaction is to say what's on the card.

3. Place the toy. Give each learner a toy. I like to use small plastic animals. Sit in a circle and, as a group, custom using prepositions by having everyone put the animal "in front of you", or "on your head". Then, tell each learner to put their animal somewhere colse to the classroom--"under the chair" or "in front of the door". If your students are more advanced, you can have them tell other learner where to put their animal.

4. As a Group. One thing that I have found to be very fun is to direct the students colse to the room. Say "Everybody stand next to the sink!" and when everyone has gone there, turn to a new place. If you're very daring, and have fairly young students, you can instruct them to "Jump over me." or "Stand on me."

5. Generate an Obstacle Course. Set up a small obstacle course colse to the classroom using tables, chairs, and whatever else you might have in the classroom. Students enjoy getting active and being told to "crawl under the table" and "walk colse to the chair three times".

These are just a few of my popular ideas to teach prepositions to your Esl students. Hopefully you'll be able to find something that works with your students.