Simple Election Conversations for Beginning English Language Learners

It can be difficult to find nonpartisan election resources for teaching adult English language learners, especially for beginning levels. The collection of voter conversations about election day, polling places, absentee ballots and more from ESL Fast are a possible option. Weigh the pros and cons of using this resource. 

The resource is free, but you pay the price in ads on the site. It can be difficult to dodge these, so prepare yourself, and project the site on a screen for the class, or work one-on-one with learners on a laptop so that they don’t click an ad and get off track. All of the short, simple conversations in print have an accompanying audio track, so you don’t have to act out the conversation on your own. The conversations have authentic, natural speech that is easily understood due to their pace, but there are some idiomatic phrases like “of course,” “I see,” and “it slipped my mind.” This is a great opportunity to teach these common phrases that can be confusing to English language learners. Finally, some of the conversations mention candidates, so they could be construed as having a partisan angle; you may want to avoid these. 

While there are some drawbacks, these free, simple conversations from ESL Fast may make for good content for elections that could extend to activities where learners look at a sample ballot or find their polling place.  

For questions or comments on this Tutor Tip, contact Training Specialist Meghan Boyle at mboyle@literacymn.org. Please also contact Meghan with your best elections teaching resources for beginning English language learners.