2,124 FREE ESL Essentials - What Every English Teacher Needs To Know!
BusyTeacher Home » ESL Essentials

FREE ESL Essentials

ESL Essentials – Important Teaching Tips

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!

Dramatically improve the way you teach:




Make A Word Search:

Create awesome-looking custom word searches in seconds!

Make A Word Scramble:

Instantly create custom word/sentence scrambles for your class!

Make A Double Puzzle:

Generate double puzzles your students will love - hours of fun!

ESL Articles
Rate this Category
4.7 out of 5, rated by 26 teachers




Sort by: Most Recent | Most Viewed | Rating
The Gift of Gab: 10 Conversation Starters that Will Never Fail

The Gift of Gab: 10 Conversation Starters that Will Never Fail

ESL Essentials
Oftentimes, students are quiet simply because they have not been properly prompted to speak. Some may have the gift of gab in their native language, others are typically shy. Whatever the case ma ...
Views 145,816 All
ESL Teachers Ask: What Is the Best Advice You Can Offer to Newbie Teachers?

ESL Teachers Ask: What Is the Best Advice You Can Offer to Newbie Teachers?

ESL Essentials
“I’ll be teaching my first ESL class very soon, and I’m a bit nervous. I’ve completed my teacher training and certification, so I know technically ‘how to teach&rsquo ...
Views 31,792 All
Do This, Not That: 5 Mistakes to Avoid as a New ESL Teacher

Do This, Not That: 5 Mistakes to Avoid as a New ESL Teacher

ESL Essentials
We’ve all been there. Every ESL teacher has to start somewhere, and there are usually a few bumps in the road before the path becomes smooth. Most of us, despite our best intentions at the ...
Views 45,267 All
ESL Teachers Ask: What Are Some Good Ways to Connect with My New ESL Students?

ESL Teachers Ask: What Are Some Good Ways to Connect with My New ESL Students?

ESL Essentials
“I often find it hard to connect with students once they come back from their summer vacation. It takes them a while to get their heads into the classroom. What are some good ways to connect ...
Views 18,020 All
Top 6 Absolutely Must Have Classroom Resources for ESL Teachers

Top 6 Absolutely Must Have Classroom Resources for ESL Teachers

ESL Essentials
Everyone sets up their classroom a little different. Just like any other teacher, ESL teacher like to share a little bit of their personalities with what they keep in their classroom. For some, g ...
Views 50,936 All
Put BusyTeacher in your inbox

Sign up for the BusyTeacher Weekly and be the first to get direct links to our latest teaching articles, worksheets and lesson plans. Goes out to 323,134 subscribers every Wednesday.
See last week's issue.

Making Sense in Class: 5 Techniques to Bump up the Effectiveness of Any Lesson

Making Sense in Class: 5 Techniques to Bump up the Effectiveness of Any Lesson

ESL Essentials
Have you ever caught a whiff of something that brought a memory back in vivid detail? Or have you ever heard a song and been instantly transported to the time when you first heard it? We all have ...
Views 15,184 All
The ESL Teacher’s Ultimate Bag Of Tricks: 8 Must-Have Classroom Essentials

The ESL Teacher’s Ultimate Bag Of Tricks: 8 Must-Have Classroom Essentials

ESL Essentials
If you teach ESL, odds are you have some pretty standard items in your classroom. Very few teachers will attempt educating young minds without text books, a white board or chalk board, pencils, p ...
Views 36,075 All
Back to School Tech Tips for ESL Teachers: Use Online Resources

Back to School Tech Tips for ESL Teachers: Use Online Resources

ESL Essentials
Not exactly tech-savvy are you? But you have to admit that starting a new school year can be overwhelming, particularly for new teachers. Luckily for us, the World Wide Web offers ways in which we ...
Views 26,345 All
ESL SOS! 7 Most Common Behavior Problems and How to Deal with Them

ESL SOS! 7 Most Common Behavior Problems and How to Deal with Them

ESL Essentials
ESL students come in all shapes and sizes. They come into your classroom with varying degrees of motivation and even different skill levels. Most are well-behaved. And some are terribly ill-behav ...
Views 45,484 All
If They Go on Vacation, They Have to Be Retrained: Surviving Back-to-School

If They Go on Vacation, They Have to Be Retrained: Surviving Back-to-School

ESL Essentials
Every teacher has experienced it: students come back from an extended break, or sometimes even a short break like a three-day weekend, and seem to have forgotten everything, from where you store t ...
Views 14,129 All
Getting Back in the Swing: 4 Tantalizing Tips for a New School Year

Getting Back in the Swing: 4 Tantalizing Tips for a New School Year

ESL Essentials
Coming back to school after summer break can be demanding for both the students and the teachers. Get back into the swing of things and motivate your students as you approach this new year! Follo ...
Views 15,309 All
The Year at a Glance: Easy Lesson Planning Now for a Smooth Year Later

The Year at a Glance: Easy Lesson Planning Now for a Smooth Year Later

ESL Essentials
For some, thinking about a year’s worth of lesson planning can seem overwhelming. When you do not know what you will cook for dinner tomorrow, planning what you will teach eight and a half m ...
Views 34,007 All
ESL Teachers Ask: How Do I Begin My First Lesson?

ESL Teachers Ask: How Do I Begin My First Lesson?

ESL Essentials
Help! I’m going to teach my very first ESL class soon, and I don’t know how to ‘break the ice’. I don’t want to seem like an inexperienced, boring teacher. How should ...
Views 94,725 All
How To Break The Ice: 5 Creative Ways To Get Your Class Talking

How To Break The Ice: 5 Creative Ways To Get Your Class Talking

ESL Essentials
Icebreakers are important when you are trying to get to know your students. They are even more important if your students do not know one another well either. Depending on how your school organiz ...
Views 214,377 All
A Back-to-School Grammar Review Get to Know You

A Back-to-School Grammar Review Get to Know You

ESL Essentials
The beginning of the school year or the start of the semester is a good time for students to get to know one another. It is also a good time to do some grammar review activities since students&rs ...
Views 35,787 All
7 Engaging Activities to Learn (and Remember!) Your Students’ Names

7 Engaging Activities to Learn (and Remember!) Your Students’ Names

ESL Essentials
At the beginning of the year, there’s lots of information for students to keep straight. What time is class? Where is my class? Who is my teacher? But the most important thing for students ...
Views 130,907 All
7 Speaking Activities to Introduce Classroom Language

7 Speaking Activities to Introduce Classroom Language

ESL Essentials
It’s the beginning of a new year, and with that comes brand new students who may have never been in a classroom in English before. Whether you have new students, beginning-level students, o ...
Views 222,715 All
Back to School: How to Organize Your ESL Classroom

Back to School: How to Organize Your ESL Classroom

ESL Essentials
ESL books? ✔Check! Flashcards and illustrations? ✔Check! Back to school supplies? ✔Check! Classroom setup? Uh-oh… You may have spent months gathering materials, planni ...
Views 86,381 All
When You Don't Know Where To Draw The Line With Kids: 5 Tricks That Will Instantly Improve Behavior In Your Class

When You Don't Know Where To Draw The Line With Kids: 5 Tricks That Will Instantly Improve Behavior In Your Class

ESL Essentials
Many teachers agree that working with kids is amazing. Their innocence, energy and natural curiosity make them irresistible to the many, many teachers who value and cherish these qualities among ...
Views 47,108 All
The 9 Best New School Year’s Resolutions for ESL Teachers

The 9 Best New School Year’s Resolutions for ESL Teachers

ESL Essentials
At the start of the New Year we often give our ESL students activities related to New Year’s resolutions. We ask them to think about what goals they have and what they want to achieve in th ...
Views 34,410 All
You’re Mohammed, Right? Or Sean? Learning Student Names without Going Crazy

You’re Mohammed, Right? Or Sean? Learning Student Names without Going Crazy

ESL Essentials
A couple of years ago, I had a student in a reading class, a very nice young man who traced his heritage to Saudi Arabia, whose name listed on my roll sheet was “Mohammed Al-Saad.” Ho ...
Views 18,281 All
Wonderful, I Have My Own Class! Oh, No! What Do I Do? Planning and Setting Up Your First Class

Wonderful, I Have My Own Class! Oh, No! What Do I Do? Planning and Setting Up Your First Class

ESL Essentials
There’s always a bit of euphoria for me at the beginning of the school year in late August—a fresh start, new students, a chance to try out new routines. This truly is the New Year to ...
Views 60,738 All
Busy Teacher’s Top Ten: Back to School Checklist

Busy Teacher’s Top Ten: Back to School Checklist

ESL Essentials
Another fall has rushed summer from the scene, and for teachers that means one thing: school. Teachers have a lot of work to do to be ready before their students return to class. Make sure you ar ...
Views 34,803 All
Back To School: How to Establish Classroom Rules with Your Students

Back To School: How to Establish Classroom Rules with Your Students

ESL Essentials
We all know what our classroom would be like with no rules. Complete chaos. Utter mayhem. An environment that is not conducive to learning.
Views 206,329 All
7 Teacher Tested Tricks for Remembering Student Names

7 Teacher Tested Tricks for Remembering Student Names

ESL Essentials
In my many years teaching English as a second language, I have had students from every corner of the world. Many of them have come to class with an English name already claimed. Past teachers enc ...
Views 59,428 All

Got a great worksheet on ESL Essentials? Tell us about it and become a BusyTeacher contributor!

Submit a Worksheet