Step-by-Step Curriculum Newcomers
An absolute beginner-level module of general English lessons to add to the existing Step-by-Step Curriculum.
The features mentioned in this article are available to all Teachers on paid and free subscriptions. However, only a limited number of lessons are available on free subscriptions.
Along with the original Step-by-Step Curriculum Newcomers, we also offer:
- Step-by-Step Curriculum for Schools: An adapted version of the existing Step-by-Step Curriculum covering the same language but using themes and content appropriate for students in US secondary schools.
- Step-by-Step Curriculum: A comprehensive general English curriculum covering language and skills for students of all proficiency levels.
All of these lesson groups include helpful resources that you can find here.
Table of contents
Target students
- Newcomers: Students who have arrived in the US within the last 3 years and who are still learning English. Most newcomers will have no previous experience with English and there may be little or no language support for them as they adapt to an English-language school environment.
- SLIFE: Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education. These students may have limited formal classroom or language-learning experience and will need significant support to function successfully in an English-language school environment.
Key features
All lessons in this module are based around the following elements and concepts:
- Focus on vocabulary and lexical chunks: Step-by-Step Curriculum Newcomers focuses almost solely on vocabulary and lexical chunks, such as greetings, basic questions, and set phrases. This approach gives students language they can use immediately. The explicit teaching of grammar is left until the next levels of the Step-by-Step Curriculum.
- Extensive audio and visual support: Absolute beginner-level students may struggle to understand their teacher’s instructions and explanations. To ensure all students can follow along from the very first lesson, all lessons in this module feature extensive audio and visual support throughout.
- Emphasis on topics relevant to school-age learners: The majority of absolute beginner-level students using Off2Class are still in school and have different language needs than those of adult ESL learners. Consequently, Step-by-Step Newcomers focuses on topics and themes especially relevant to school-age students.
- Non-sequential structure: The units within Step-by-Step Newcomers can be studied in any order, meaning teachers can dip in and out as required to address their students’ language needs without being locked into a defined sequence.
- Laying the foundations: Step-by-Step Newcomers, along with Foundational Literacy Lessons, establishes the essential language and skills required to explore the rest of the Off2Class Lesson Library. These lessons lay the foundations for language-learning success.
Lesson Details & Links
The unit, lesson name (with link), and objectives are listed below for a quick overview of each lesson. Click a lesson name to launch it directly from this article. To see a spreadsheet of all Off2Class lessons, click here.
Related lessons: Speaking for Newcomers and Reading for Newcomers.
| Unit | Lesson & Link | Objectives |
| A - Alphabet and letters | A0.A.1 | Introduce the alphabet |
| A - Alphabet and letters | A0.A.2 | Introduce the vowel sounds of Standard North American English |
| A - Alphabet and letters | A0.A.3 | Introduce the consonant sounds in Standard North American English |
| B - Numbers | A0.B.1 | Introduce numbers zero to twenty-nine |
| B - Numbers | A0.B.2 | Introduce numbers thirty to one thousand |
| B - Numbers | A0.B.3 | Introduce ordinal numbers and common fractions |
| C - In class | A0.C.1 | Introduce objects and actions in the classroom |
| C - In class | A0.C.2 | Introduce technology used in the learning environment |
| C - In class | A0.C.3 | Introduce objects and places in the learning environment |
| D - Color, shape and form | A0.D.1 | Introduce colors |
| D - Color, shape and form | A0.D.2 | Introduce shapes and forms |
| D - Color, shape and form | A0.D.3 | Introduce basic adjectives |
| E - People | A0.E.1 | Introduce people in the learning environment |
| E - People | A0.E.2 | Introduce people in the family |
| E - People | A0.E.3 | Introduce people in the community |
| F - Verbs | A0.F.1 | Introduce verbs for learning |
| F - Verbs | A0.F.2 | Introduce verbs for work |
| F - Verbs | A0.F.3 | Introduce verbs for leisure |
| G - Food and drink | A0.G.1 | Introduce food and drink vocabulary |
| G - Food and drink | A0.G.2 | Introduce food and drink vocabulary |
| G - Food and drink | A0.G.3 | Introduce food and drink vocabulary |
| H - Money and shopping | A0.H.1 | Introduce money and forms of payment |
| H - Money and shopping | A0.H.2 | Introduce shopping for food |
| H - Money and shopping | A0.H.3 | Further practice about shopping for food |
| I - At home | A0.I.1 | Introduce vocabulary about places in the home |
| I - At home | A0.I.2 | Introduce vocabulary about furniture in the home |
| I - At home | A0.I.3 | Introduce vocabulary about appliance and other items in the home |
| J - Clothing | A0.J.1 | Introduce clothing 1 |
| J - Clothing | A0.J.2 | Introduce clothing 2 |
| J - Clothing | A0.J.3 | Introduce clothing 3 |
| K - Time, dates and weather | A0.K.1 | Introduce time and common expressions of time |
| K - Time, dates and weather | A0.K.2 | Introduce days and months of the year, dates |
| K - Time, dates and weather | A0.K.3 | Introduce weather and seasons |
| L - Basic Adjectives | A0.L.1 | Introduce basic adjectives and simple sentence structure |
| L - Basic Adjectives | A0.L.2 | Introduce more basic adjectives and simple sentence structure |
| L - Basic Adjectives | A0.L.3 | Introduce more basic adjectives and some common collocations |