This can be confusing for any beginning reader, and English language learners may have particular difficulty since the sounds that these letters make in English may also be very unfamiliar to them. Nevertheless, I think that this situation provides an excellent opportunity for your students to work on both letter recognition and sound-letter correspondence. For example, you might create an area on the classroom wall for collecting words that begin with “i” and words that begin with “l.”
For each letter, make a card that has the letter written in upper and lower case, along with a picture of a familiar object whose name begins with that letter. Use these cards as headers for two columns on the wall. Students can then become detectives, keeping an eye out for “i” and “l” words as they read.
As each word is encountered, write it clearly on a large card and then have one or more students add an illustration. The card should then be placed on the wall under the appropriate header.
As new words are added, have students read through both lists orally. The illustrations will provide a scaffold for those who have difficulty with the words. The class can also discuss how the word is written in the source text, giving an opinion on whether they think the “i” or “l” is written correctly, using the cards on the word wall as a reference. I think your students will enjoy becoming “letter experts!”