Inclusive Strategies for Teaching English

Teaching English inclusively does not mean creating a different class for every student. It means designing learning experiences that offer different ways to understand, participate, communicate, and make progress. Here are some strategies that can help us build English classrooms that are more accessible, flexible, and respectful of different ways of learning.

One Class for Everyone Does Not Have to Be the Same Class for Everyone

In the same classroom, students may have different levels of English, learning paces, abilities, interests, ways of communicating, and support needs.

And this raises an important question for us as teachers:

How can we teach the same content without expecting all our students to learn in exactly the same way?

Inclusion is not only about making adaptations when a difficulty appears.

We can also think from the very beginning about classes that offer different ways to access learning.

Small decisions in how we present an activity, explain an instruction, or allow students to participate can make a big difference.

01 · Present Information in Different Ways

An oral explanation may be enough for some students, while others may understand better if they can see it alongside an image, an example, or a demonstration.

We can combine:

• spoken and written language;

• images, pictograms, or visual elements;

• concrete examples;

• gestures and demonstrations;

• audio and video;

• objects or hands-on materials.

The goal is not to use every resource in every activity.

It is to ask ourselves:

Is there another way of presenting this information that could make it easier to understand?

02 · Make Instructions Clear and Accessible

Sometimes the difficulty is not the activity itself, but understanding what we expect the student to do.

Short, clear, and well-organized instructions can reduce that barrier.

We can break a task down into smaller steps, show an example first, highlight important information visually, or check understanding before getting started.

Instead of simply asking:

“Do you understand?”

we can ask the student to show us what the first step would be.

This allows us to check understanding without turning it into a test.

Easy TIP · Simplifying an instruction does not mean simplifying the learning. It means making the path to that learning clearer.

03 · Anticipate What Is Going to Happen

Knowing what we are going to do, how long an activity might take, or what will happen next can make participation easier.

A visible class structure, a sequence of activities, or a short explanation before a change can help many students better understand the context in which they are learning.

Also, when certain routines are repeated and become familiar, students need to spend less effort figuring out what they have to do and can focus more on what they are learning.

04 · Offer Different Ways to Participate

Participating in an English class does not have to mean raising your hand and speaking in front of the whole group.

A student can participate by:

pointing to an answer, choosing between different options, writing, using visual supports, working with a partner, completing a digital activity, or expressing themselves orally.

Offering different possibilities allows more students to demonstrate what they know.

The goal is not to avoid developing certain skills, but to create gradual pathways for developing them.

05 · Use Visual Supports as Part of Teaching

Images, colors, diagrams, icons, or keywords can help us organize information and make it easier to understand.

In an English class, they can be used to introduce vocabulary, remember structures, represent concepts, or support understanding of an activity.

But it is important that these elements have a purpose.

A visually accessible classroom is not necessarily the one with the most stimuli, but the one in which every element helps students understand something.

06 · Give Time to Process and Respond

We ask a question.

We wait a few seconds.

There is no answer.

And we ask again, rephrase the question, or answer it ourselves.

Without realizing it, we may be taking away precisely the time that student needed to understand the question, find the words, and build their answer.

Giving students time is also an educational strategy.

Especially when we are working in another language, where listening, understanding, and responding may require several processes to happen at the same time.

Silence can also be part of learning.

07 · Turn Mistakes into Information

Mistakes tell us something.

They can show us what a student has understood, which strategy they are using, or what they still need to practice.

That is why mistakes can be much more useful when we look at them as information rather than simply something that needs to be corrected.

Not every mistake needs to interrupt a conversation.

At some moments, we will work on accuracy. At others, it may be more important to maintain communication and encourage the student to keep expressing themselves.

Creating a space where students can try, make mistakes, and try again also helps build the confidence they need to use the language.

08 · Connect Learning with Real Interests

Interests can be powerful allies.

Music, video games, animals, sports, movies, technology, art…

When we know what sparks our students' curiosity, we can use it to provide context for vocabulary, create examples, design activities, or start conversations.

The content we want to teach can remain the same.

What changes is the door we use to invite the student in.

09 · Observe Before You Adapt

A strategy does not work in the same way for everyone.

That is why, before deciding what a student needs, we need to observe.

What happens when we present an instruction orally?

Does their response change when we add visual support?

Do they participate more in a small group?

Do they need more time?

Are there certain activities in which they show greater autonomy?

Observing allows us to make decisions based on what is actually happening in the classroom.

And then we can observe again.

Observe → understand → adapt → support → review.

Adaptation is also a process.

10 · Design with Autonomy in Mind

Supports are important, but their purpose should not be to create unnecessary dependence on an adult.

A good strategy can also help students discover tools they can use independently.

Checking a visual reference.

Reviewing the steps of an activity.

Asking for help.

Using an example.

Checking a word.

Choosing a strategy when something feels difficult.

Little by little, students are not only learning English.

They are also learning what they can do when they need to keep moving forward.

Inclusion Starts with How We Design

There is no single strategy that can automatically turn a class into an inclusive one.

Inclusion appears in many small decisions.

In how we explain.

In the materials we choose.

In the time we give.

In how we respond to mistakes.

In the opportunities we provide for participation.

In our ability to observe and change what is not working.

At English For Us, we understand teaching as a system in which methodology, resources, technology, support, and teacher training need to work together.

Because adapting should not only mean asking ourselves:

“How can we make this student fit into our class?”

We can also ask:

“How can we design our class so that there are more ways to learn within it?”

Want to Learn More About Our Approach to Teaching?

In Adaptation and Personalization in Every Class, we explore how different learning paces, supports, and ways of participating can be integrated within the same methodology.

Read the article →

Teaching Also Means Continuing to Learn

At English For Us, we believe that an inclusive methodology needs teachers who can understand it, apply it, observe it, and continue developing it.

Discover how we approach training and support for the professionals who are part of the way we teach.

Discover Teacher Training →