In this section there are 2,124 articles that cover essential ESL topics such as how to teach grammar, use realia, and teach young learners. There are also a lot of lesson ideas and fun activities included in the articles. This ESL article, for example, is about teaching grammar and describes five great activities. It has been given five stars by other busy teachers so it obviously has useful content. Check it out for yourself or take a look at other articles that relate better to your questions or teaching situation.
There are a lot of dos and don’ts and tips and tricks that many teachers learn through teaching.
Our ESL Essentials section will help you master the basics of teaching English and will help you start teaching like a 'pro'. Every ESL Essentials article provides clear, to-the-point instructions that can be used with the students right away.
At the moment we have 2,124 ESL Essentials.
Sometimes that is the best way to learn but the experiences of others can also help you develop your teaching skills without having to make the same mistakes. If you have a great story or activity, feel free to submit your own article so that you can share your knowledge with others. We would love to hear from you!
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ESL Articles
View our latest knowledgebase articles that will help you become a better English teacher. Learn from
professional teachers and put a bit of your own creativity into it!
What do you think of at the mention of self-help books?
They tend to have a stigma about them. Only people with real problems need them. But in fact, those who read self-help books tend to be mor ...
A little quiz to begin, if you don’t mind.
There’s a very famous document which begins, “We the people…”. How much of that famous opening paragraph can you quote? D ...
If you have ever taught an ESL reading class, you have probably used articles from the news for your typical reading activities, activities like writing summaries and answering comprehension quest ...
If you teach ESL, wherever that may be, and your curriculum encourages a focus on current events, then a discussion of guns is inevitable.
Much like race, politics and inequality, firearms owners ...
You probably already know that Europe suffered something of a political earthquake on June 23, 2016.
Against expectations, a majority of British voters expressed a desire to leave the European Un ...
Learning English isn’t just about the words.
Do I have your attention? I hope I do. It’s not every day you read an ESL blog that downplays the importance of words. But really, when yo ...
In less than a month from now, everything will have calmed down.
Now we have a new president and members of congress, and soon the dust will finally settle after one of the most extraordina ...
Remember. Understand. Apply.
Remember the rules of grammar. Understand what a certain tense means. Apply that knowledge by using that tense to express your experiences or hopes. That’s the ...
Whether or not you are ready to talk about how you feel, emotions can be a great starting point for some interesting ESL lessons.
Watch the movie with your class, and then follow up the screening ...
Communication is key when it comes to language learning.
Language is a tool, something we use to make connections with other people around us. And a big part of that connection comes through talk ...
In this virtual world that we live in, jobs aren’t what they used to be.
Even teaching jobs. In the past you set up your classroom, decorated the walls, arranged the desks, and made photoco ...
“Here’s your new family portrait,” you say.
She looks down at the picture. She and her husband and her two children, each holding a phone or tablet, all looking down at the scre ...
We are all different.
Odds are that if you are teaching English as a second language, you have pretty obvious evidence sitting right in front of you every day. And everyone in your class has prob ...
A teacher desk at the front of the classroom with rows and columns of student desks just doesn’t cut it anymore.
The geometric arrangement that teachers have followed for generations was a ...
I hope you're not having one of THOSE days.
You know the kind of day I’m talking about – when you spill coffee on your new shirt as you’re driving to work, when your books fall ...
Failure.
It’s a word that strikes terror into the A students among us. Teachers included. So why encourage failure in the ESL classroom? There are actually several positive things that come ...
ESL. ELA. EAL. TOEFL. TOEIC. L1L2.
The English as a second language field is full of acronyms. If you’re like me, you have days when you feel you just can’t cram another one into your ...
Whether you consider your classroom high-tech or not, odds are you have at least a little modern technology in your midst.
One of the easiest and most flexible technology tools for ESL teachers a ...
Do you remember the excitement that filled the classroom when the teacher dragged out that great little gadget that would silence the teacher like nothing else?
Film strip day! Okay, I may be dat ...
Whether it is the end of the school year with summer knocking on the door or a visit back to their home country for several weeks, sometimes we have to let our students go.
It’s hard. We po ...
Imagine this: you step off of an airplane, your bag packed as tightly as it can be.
You carry gifts from home, a bilingual dictionary, some clothes (and you can tell by looking around you will be ...
Sometimes being an ESL teacher is kind of like being a parent.
We take pride in our students’ accomplishments. We feel a vicarious thrill when we see them learning and becoming more profici ...
When teaching the present continuous tense, one thing usually comes to mind. This tense is taught for the first time to students who are complete beginners, and who have had exposure to a small qu ...
Standing in front of a group of complete strangers, and asking them to trust and rely on you, is a challenging situation for any teacher.
But this experience greets teaching professional as they ...
No doubt if you are reading this, you are already a great teacher.
You may not have all of the information you need for the classroom, but your attitude is where it should be. The best teachers a ...
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