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!
A few years ago, I found the need for an ESL discussion task which was fun, flexible, suitable for almost any level, and dependent on the minimum of resources.
I ended up creating United Nations, ...
In a perfect world, we’d all be able to call in sick when we need to.
Employers would be understanding and compassionate, quickly reorganizing the school’s schedule around our impendi ...
There’s a tendency for language students, especially young learners, to seek the ‘path of least resistance’ when expressing themselves.
This often results in short, choppy utter ...
One of the most interesting aspects of working with other teachers is to see how they plan their lessons.
Everyone seems to have a slightly different format, their own attitude to structure, perh ...
Are your students gearing up to take the TOEFL or TOIC?
Help them get ready with these simple preparation activities.
Discover 10 Tips for Giving Your Students Success on Tests
1
Practic ...
Almost every book, TV show or movie has a ‘boring bit’ which you might feel you can safely skip over.
The action seems to ebb for a while, or perhaps there’s a long section of b ...
Are you looking for some not-so-typical activities for practicing relative clauses?
Try one of the following.
Enjoy These 6 Simple Class Activities for Practicing Relative Clauses
1
The ...
I’m a big fan of routines in the classroom.
They’re efficient and help speed things along, leaving more time for other things. But I sometimes find that my routines become too repetit ...
I’m a huge fan of crosswords for ESL students.
They’re a quick way to practice vocabulary and spelling in a challenging, even competitive context, and my students love them. Developin ...
If you teach ESL for long enough, you’ll have to deal with the complex issue of mixed-ability classes.
It’s often simply not possible to organize the students into groups of similar a ...
So you’re serious about your career in TEFL.
Great! You may have already obtained your TEFL or TESOL certification. Or maybe not. You may be thinking about getting your CELTA or even DELTA. ...
It’s fair to say that, with the advent of affordable personal devices such as laptops and Ipads, student note-taking and organization has reached something of a crossroads.
Increasingly, co ...
Many ESL schools and colleges have introduced Business English courses in recent years, and this growing trend has meant that ESL teachers, especially those with more experience, are adding a busi ...
Once you embark upon the glorious journey that is ESL teacher training (and by this I mean CELTA, DELTA or any TEFL certification), you soon discover that one of the biggest no-nos for an ESL teac ...
Sometimes knowing what NOT to say is more difficult than knowing what to say.
That is never truer than in an ESL class. When you teach a class of mixed internationals, people from all corners of ...
True false questions are great for testing how much a student knows or remembers, but those type of questions don’t have to be just for tests.
Try these simple no prep activities which are ...
Most classroom exercises, certainly in an ESL environment, conclude with feedback.
This is your chance to check the students’ answers and make sure they’ve absorbed the target languag ...
How do we learn languages in the best possible way?
For a long time, I’ve believed that both nature and nurture play a role, but that a successful learning experience is defined largely by ...
If asked, more than a handful of my students would tell you that I’m something of a pain in the behind.
Why might this be? I’m a tolerant and reasonable guy, well-prepared and profess ...
Five paragraphs.
Anyone who has taken a high school English class knows what five paragraphs means: an introduction, three examples, and a conclusion. The form is great for writers who are just s ...
Most new teachers I have worked with find their board a perplexing challenge.
Be it black or white, it’s a ubiquitous piece of classroom furniture, but we have almost total freedom when it ...
The lesson comes to an end, and your students make their way out.
Unless your employer is truly unreasonable, there will now be some kind of break, hopefully ten or fifteen minutes to recharge yo ...
For many ESL students, the thought of the TOIC or TOEFL exam is an ever present fear.
The scores they achieve on those tests can make or break their educational goals, as far as they are concerne ...
Preschool English as a second language classes can be the most fun of classes to teach while at the same time being the most challenging.
Not only do preschool ESL teachers have to teach language ...
Native speakers know just the right words to say whenever they want to say them, right?
Wrong! It’s not just second language speakers that hesitate in their speech, trying to figure out jus ...
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