Hey friends—if you’re working with English language learners (ELLs) and want a fresh, hands-on way to teach contractions, you’re in the right place. Today we’re chatting about why contractions matter, how to introduce them, and how a fun craft (yes, a sweater craft) can help your students get it and keep it. Grab a cup of tea (or coffee) and let’s get into it.
Why Teach Contractions to ELLs?
Contractions are often a stumbling block for ELLs because:
They hear them in spoken English all the time (e.g., I’m, they’ll, we’re) but don’t always recognise them.
The apostrophe can be tricky: missing letters, confusing with full form, mixing up it’s/its.
Without exposure, students may appear “formal” or hesitant when speaking because they avoid contractions—making them sound less fluent.
So teaching contractions isn’t just a grammar tick-box—it helps ELLs understand spoken English better, feel more confident, and sound more natural.
When introducing contractions, it helps to review basic verb forms first. Your students can use this handy ESL list of irregular verbs to recognise how verbs change before turning them into contractions like hasn’t or won’t. Building that foundation makes your craft time smoother because students already understand verb patterns.
Introducing Contractions in Your ELL Classroom
When I introduce contractions to my ELL students, I like to start with the why and how. For example:
Explain what a contraction is: A contraction takes two (or more) words and squishes them together, replacing missing letters with an apostrophe.
Show lots of examples: I’ll write “I am” → “I’m”, “they will” → “they’ll”, “we are” → “we’re”, “do not” → “don’t”. Then we talk about the apostrophe role: it shows missing letters.
Highlight the tricky parts: For ELLs, the apostrophe placement is key and confusion with words like its/it’s, they’re/their/there often pops up.
Use listening tasks: I play short spoken dialogues and ask students to pick out the contractions they hear. Helps them recognise the form in real speech.
From there, you can transition into making the contractions stick with a craft.
For additional practice, check out this printable list of regular verbs PDF. You can use it alongside your sweater craft as a reference sheet — students can colour code verbs they’ve used in contractions and even add them to their sweater patches.
Why a Craft Helps ELLs Retain Grammar Concepts
Let’s be honest: grammar can feel dry. But when students make something with their hands, the learning becomes tactile, memorable, and fun. Here’s why this craft idea works for your ELL students:
It gives them physical tokens to manipulate (making, cutting, pasting the pieces) which helps memory.
It becomes a visual anchor: students see the sweater with the contractions and full forms and the craft stays in the classroom as a reminder.
If you want to make grammar practice more engaging, pair this activity with irregular verbs interactive games. Games give ELL learners that extra repetition they need, but in a playful, low-stress format that feels more like a challenge than a grammar lesson.
It encourages peer talk: while cutting/pasting, students talk about “he is → he’s”, “they will → they’ll” and verbalise the process.
It connects listening, speaking, reading and writing: they talk about the craft, read full forms and contractions, and write them on the pieces.
It’s just more engaging than a worksheet. (And you know how busy you are, so it’s nice to have something fun for them while you handle other things).
According to experts, engaging activities and games (not just lectures) are key for teaching contractions to ELLs.
How to Create the Sweater Craft with Your Students
Here’s the step-by-step for the craft (the one we mocked up earlier). Feel free to adapt to special-needs learners or younger ELLs:
Materials needed
Large printed sweater template (one per student)
Contraction pieces (full form + contraction pairs) printed and cut out
This craft is editable, so you can add any contractions you're working on
Coloured pencils or crayons (for the green/yellow version or the red/green version we created)
Glue or tape
Laminating sheets (optional for durability)
A laminated sheet labelled List of Verbs (black & white) in bottom right of display area
Large crayons or visuals around the workspace for ambience
Once your class is confident with verbs, introduce the Irregular Verbs 3 Forms chart to visually connect each verb’s base, past, and past participle. This helps students understand where contractions like he’d (he had/he would) come from — a small but powerful “aha!” moment for many ELLs.
Grab your printable below (for a short time in December as part of the 2025 Christmas bundle). Sign into the site and then click on the image to get straight to the download.
Instructions
Show students the full-form words (e.g., “they are”, “she will”, “we will”, “it is”) and the matching contraction (“they’re”, “she’ll”, “we’ll”, “it’s”).
Ask the students to colour the sweater template with pencil-textured colour (choose a main colour for the sweater body, a contrast for the patches). For example, green body + yellow patches (or the alternate red body + green patches we created). This step helps with fine motor skills and visual memory.
Provide the scattered contraction pieces around the sweater (they look like little rocks or patches). Students pick the correct pairs and glue the contraction onto the sweater patch. Encourage them to say the full form and contraction aloud as they glue.
Once glued, students can use the laminated List of Verbs sheet in the corner to check their work and refer back to the verbs used in their contractions.
You can display the finished sweaters around the classroom or let students take them home to show parents. Bonus: ask them to point out the contractions in a short spoken sentence: “I’m ready”, “They’ll arrive”, “We’re going”.
For extension: have a mini game where students swap contraction pieces and see if they can match the full form quickly—this builds speed and recognition.
Teacher-tip: For SPED/ELL learners who need extra repetition, you might add a sorting step: full-form vs contraction piles, then matching, then linking to the craft.
Finally, for another hands-on extension, try this irregular verbs craft. It’s a great companion to your contractions sweater — both activities turn abstract grammar into tangible learning, perfect for visual and kinesthetic learners.
Helping Contractions Stick Follow-Up Activities
Crafting gets them engaged. Follow-up keeps it real and helps the learning stick. Here are ideas:
Listening challenge: play a short audio or read a dialogue and ask students to write down all the contractions they hear. Then they match them to full forms.
Contraction board game: create a simple board where students land on a square and pick up a card with either full form or contraction, then say the match. (Based on activity ideas in teacher resources)
Sentence scramble: Provide sentences missing the contraction and ask students to fill in. E.g., “She ___ going to school.” → “She’s going to school.”
Peer-talk pairs: Students take turns saying a full form aloud (e.g., “you will”) and partner says the contraction (“you’ll”). This verbal practice helps internalise the form.
Display and review: Keep the craft sweaters visible in the room. Point to a patch and ask: “What is this full form?” Or “What contraction is this?” This repeated exposure reinforces memory.
So, my teacher-friends, teaching contractions to ELLs doesn’t have to be dry or “just another worksheet”. When we use a craft like the sweater activity, we bring colour, movement, speech and writing together—and students get to see, touch, say, and make the language. That’s the magic formula for deeper retention.
Remember: introduce the concept clearly, let them physically build the contractions, and then follow up with listening, talking and display activities.
If you try this craft and it sparks some amazing student talk or “aha” moment, I’d love to hear about it. Until then happy crafting, teaching and helping those ELL learners shine.