Great ideas for teaching collocations in the ESL classroom!


Collocations are words that are often used together, and they can be a great way to help your ESL students improve their English fluency. For example, the word "make" is often used with the word "coffee." When you "make coffee," you are not just putting coffee in a cup, you are making a drink. There are many ways to teach collocations in the ESL classroom.


Here are a few ideas to help you teach collocations in your classroom: 

Use a collocation dictionary. This can be a great tool for both you and your students. You can look up common collocations and then provide your students with examples and practice exercises.

Create collocation charts. This is a great way for students to visually see which words go together. You can create charts with common collocations or have students create their own. 

Use games and activities. Games and activities are a great way

Create a list of collocations for your students to learn. you can find lists of common collocations online or in ESL textbooks. 

Have your students work in pairs or small groups to come up with their own examples of collocations. play games with your students to help them learn collocations. for example, you can play a matching game where students match a collocation with its meaning. 


Use authentic materials: Use authentic materials such as news articles, songs, and movies to help teach collocations. This will help students see how the phrases are used in real life. 

Have students work in pairs to brainstorm a list of collocations. Then, have students use the collocations in sentences. Finally, have students write a story that uses as many of the collocations as possible.

Teach common phrases: Start by teaching students some of the most common collocations. For example, common English collocations include: make a phone call, take a break.





There are many ways to teach collocations in the ESL classroom. It is important to select activities that are appropriate for the level of your students. Many activities can be easily adapted to be more difficult or easier, depending on the needs of your students. With a little creativity, you can find many ways to teach collocations that will be both effective and fun for your students.

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