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 donts 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!
Not every scholar likes grammar, but if you teach ESL students hopefully they at least have a tolerance for the complexities of the English language.
Still….If they have yet to develop thi ...
“I hear students roaring with laughter in other ESL classrooms as I walk down the hall. I’d love to make my students laugh like that, but I’m not good at making jokes or clowning ...
Predicate.
It’s a big word to refer to everything from the verb to the period in a sentence. Sometimes, the predicate is simple, just one word. Other times it contains vast amounts of infor ...
When I first tell people that I am an English as a second language teacher, inevitably, they ask, “Oh, what languages do you speak?”
I have taught students from all over the world, sp ...
You are standing in front of your ESL class, looking out at eager faces and minds ready to absorb everything you have to share about the English language.
You see faces filled with hope and expec ...
One of the never-ending questions ESL teachers ask themselves is, “How do I increase my students’ vocabulary?”
Learning a language and becoming fluent in that language is a long ...
“I really enjoy teaching ESL, but I feel I need a change of scenery. A friend suggested I look into teaching abroad, but I’m not sure I want to be far away from my family and friends f ...
The English language is rife with abbreviations.
I’ll never forget the moment I learned how true this is. I was teaching at a university ESL program, instructing business students one on on ...
Reported verbs are like second hand verbs; speakers use them to say what someone else has already said.
Quite often, we use quoted speech to repeat what someone has said. However, quotations requ ...
Rarely does a noun hang around on its own.
Besides the comfortable companionship of adjectives, nouns tend to keep certain words close to them. These words, which you and your students know as ar ...
“Conjunction junction, what’s your function…?”
If you every watched School House Rock, these words should sound familiar. Conjunctions are an important part of the Englis ...
If you have read Everything Your Students Need to Know About Nouns, you have already set them a strong foundation for learning the English language.
Nouns, after all, are an essential part of the ...
One of the perennial questions writers get asked is “Where do you get your ideas?”
And indeed even writers, especially novice ones, seem to think that there is some shortage of writin ...
“My students are not very keen on writing. They love watching videos, however. How can I combine video and writing tasks so that my students find writing a little more enjoyable?” *
T ...
I used to fall asleep over student papers a lot or take up five minutes reading and rereading the same short paragraph.
I used to think it was sleep disorder and Attention Deficit (ADD) problems, ...
Having taught writing college writing for many years, I’ve really come to abhor certain words: “society.” “Issue.” “The media.” “The government.&rdq ...
It’s a wonderful thing to celebrate the diversity of our ESL classes.
Often, our students are abroad for the first time, and have the experience of meeting people from continents and countr ...
“I really loved your article called 'What You Can Do with Photos: 10 Creative ESL Games/Activities'. Any ideas for more ways to use photos specifically for writing tasks?” *
Photos ar ...
I’ve found that a lot of textbooks lack thorough pronunciation practice, so here are some tips for identifying, correcting and reviewing your students’ pronunciation, and for integrati ...
English is full of different types of clauses, and learning them all at one time can be overwhelming for ESL students.
Perhaps that’s why so many teachers choose to cover just one specific ...
A teacher’s work is never done, and the more we can multitask with our class activities, the better off both we and our students will be.
This simple activity is perfect for the teacher who ...
Nouns – one of the basic building blocks of language, and one of the first bits of grammar students learn in any language.
The English language contains more nouns than any other type of wo ...
I hate to sound like an old, irascible professor, but I’m finding an increasing generation gap between college students today and those of my generation.
Most notable today is the tendency ...
Sometimes I’ll be reading student research papers, going along as smoothly as possible with the work of beginning college-level writers, and I’ll be pulled up short by some observation ...
Even though the big games only come around every two to four years, you don’t have to wait that long before hosting your own Olympic Games.
As the year comes to a close, celebrate everythin ...
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