ESL Jigsaws

Callan's Beginner Essentials with illustrations by Mark Perrault is a skill building book geared for literacy and low beginner ESL / EFL students with little knowledge of the sounds and letters or spelling conventions of English. 

The book uses mainly simple 2-6 letter words to exemplify English sounds and spelling conventions. Each picture page, where students listen and write the letter they hear, is followed by a grammar page where students practice one of the following questions and short answers, using the vocabulary from the previous page. 

• "What is it?"
• "What are they?"
• "Do you....?"
• "Is it a....?"
• "Are they....?"
• "Is there....?"
• "Are there....?"
• "How many....?'
• "Are you....?"
• "Is he/she....?"
• "Is it a.... or a ....?"

Up until page 75, students are given the template of how to answer. (eg. Yes, it is. / No, it isn't.) As of page 75, no template is given and students are required to answer mixed questions without guidance.

The book is "sanitized for your protection", meaning that you will not find odd, low frequency words or pictures students do not readily understand. Teacher and student frustration are thereby minimized.

Check below for sample pages. Check out these classroom matching cards and bingo cards with illustrations from the book here. 

The book may be ordered here:

You can find a table of contents HERE.

View a review of Callan's Beginner Essentials by Kelly Morrissey below: