I turned the page and hmphed at what I saw. Number vocabulary.
Numbers listed in order, some blank lines, and a quick little listening exercise. My students could count, so why waste time on this? I moved on.
Well, as it turned out, every other teacher at that school did the same thing. Even the students happily skipped it.
What a mistake.
Your Adult ESL Newcomers Probably Can’t Say Their Phone Number
Here’s what I mean. Write these on the board and ask your students to read them out loud:
- 3109 Summer Lane
- (405)-762-6851
- 3:15
- $54.09
Now listen.
You’ll hear “three thousand one hundred nine” for a street address. You’ll hear something like “four hundred five, seven hundred sixty-two, six thousand eight hundred fifty-one” for that phone number. Nobody listening would recognize that AS a phone number.
They should be saying:
- thirty-one oh nine Summer Lane (street address)
- four oh five, seven six two, sixty-eight fifty-one (phone number)
- a quarter after three OR three-fifteen (time)
- fifty-four dollars and nine cents (price)
Students learn to count to twenty, and we think the job is done. A number is a number, right?
Wrong.
How We Say Numbers Changes Everything
Telling time? Talking about money? Giving an address? Saying a phone number? Reading a date? English handles all of these differently. Then throw ordinals into the mix (first, second, third) and you’ve got a real mess.
My students could count just fine. They could NOT navigate a conversation about when to meet for coffee or how much something cost or what their address was. Those are completely different skills.
Here’s What You Can Do About It
Stop skipping that page in the textbook. Number vocabulary deserves real time and practice.
Start with a diagnostic. Write different types of numbers on the board (addresses, phone numbers, times, prices, dates) and have students read them aloud. You’ll immediately hear where the gaps are. Some students will nail phone numbers but completely butcher telling time. Others will read prices perfectly but turn addresses into a number jumble.
Then give them focused practice on each type. Phone numbers need their own lesson. So do addresses. So does telling time. Money gets its own day. Dates? Another lesson entirely.
The problem is that most textbooks give you maybe ten practice items total and call it done. That’s not enough. Your students need repetition and context. They need to practice giving their actual phone number, their actual address, talking about when they need to be at work, and how much their groceries cost.
I looked for resources that gave adults real practice with numbers in context. Everything I found was aimed at six-year-olds with cartoon dinosaurs learning to count. So I made my own and tested them out on my students (sorry, guys). Then I tweaked them and made more.
If you don’t have time to create your own materials (and who does?), I’ve got print-and-go resources that include digital components. Get real practice for real situations your students face every single day.
The Bottom Line
Number vocabulary isn’t about counting. It’s about functioning in English. Your students need to schedule appointments, read price tags, give their address to a taxi driver, and tell someone their phone number without making the other person’s brain short-circuit.
Don’t skip that page.
That’s it from me. See you in the next post!
Want something that’s print-and-go ready and includes a digital component?
Take a look at these two resources in my TpT store:
Numbers Vocabulary for Adult ESL Newcomers – Everyday English
Telling Time Vocabulary for Adult ESL Newcomers WORKSHEETS & ACTIVITIES
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Subscribe below and grab a free sample from my Telling Time resource. Print it. Use it today.
These should also be on your reading list.
Teaching the Months of the Year: Yes, It Matters. No, You Don’t Just Sing a Song.
Your Adult ESL Students Can Recite the Days of the Week. So What?
