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!
Teaching vocabulary to an ESL class can be one of the most challenging activities a teacher has to face.
When a majority of vocabulary instruction boils down to simple memorization, how does a te ...
Can your students repeat the difference in pronunciation between “live” and “leave”? Some can’t.
For ESL students, particularly for adult learners, pronunciation is ...
We educators are fond of meetings, so as a teacher and an active parent in my child’s school, I attend a lot of meetings (in fact, I need to stop writing at about noon to prepare for a back ...
a mess
full of surprises
wonderful
an adventure
Let’s not get into the validity of the supposedly test item above because that is not what I intend to talk about at this moment. ...
Reading is one of the most important aspects of most English language teaching programs, but it can also be one of the toughest for you and your students.
Preparing for, understanding and assessi ...
Recently a family friend told me tactfully it was no longer necessary to leave my full name on or my contact information on his answering machine as I was the only “Stacia” of his acqu ...
If there is one word that defines preschoolers, it’s energy. A far cry from the shy teens that try to hide in a corner of the class, or the adult learners that are attentive and intent on le ...
Are you married? Do you have kids? Where do you work? Where do you live? Sometimes, we try to get personal information from our students, and it sounds like an interrogation.
Yet, this is informa ...
If you haven’t witnessed the explosion of Smartphone popularity, you have been living under a rock.
Thousands upon thousands of applications are available from Apple’s App Store, Andr ...
Almost without exception, when I tell people that I teach English as a Second Language, they ask, “Oh, what languages do you speak?”
Though I would like to answer with polylingual aut ...
You’ve probably experienced it, if you’ve studied a second language: sitting in Russian class, for example, for weeks, perhaps months, and then meeting an actual Russian-speaking perso ...
Detail is one of the most important qualities of good writing. When a writer uses detail, she draws her reader into the story and creates excitement for her audience.
Sometimes ESL students lack ...
No classroom is perfect. If we try, we could probably list hundreds of improvements we would like to see in our classrooms. Unfortunately, budgets are often our biggest enemies when it comes to cl ...
Some years ago, when I was job hunting, a friend, a senior teacher who had been on numerous hiring committees, looked at my resume and asked why I hadn’t put down some of my committee experi ...
At first glance, reading comprehension seems simple. Did the reader understand the words on the page? In reality, though, reading comprehension is so much more.
It depends on not only language ab ...
Not long ago, I was having lunch at a local cafe, and I witnessed an interesting conversation between a woman and her parents.
In all fairness, I wasn’t deliberately eavesdropping—the ...
With budget cuts in education happening all the time, teachers need to be even more creative these days, and virtual fieldtrips, along with the use of other technology based resources, are one way ...
Once a number of years ago in a class of ESL students, two young men with different perspectives on the issue of capital punishment got a little too heated in their debate.
In fact, it became so ...
Recently, there has been a move towards oral English or English conversation classes in countries around the world. Educational programs have shifted from teaching solely grammar to teaching pronu ...
Arts and crafts projects are a great fit in the ESL classroom. These types of activities cater to artistically-talented children, provide students with some time to work quietly, and give them the ...
“Is this (your name)? This is Maria from Sacramento City College. We have some openings for ESL instructors and wonder if you’d like to come in for an interview…”
How exc ...
Reading can be an intimidating piece of the English language puzzle. Large pages densely filled with words can turn students off before they even read a line.
You can help your students and their ...
Independent, autonomous learners are a sight to behold. They show up for their first day of class armed with notebooks, pens, pencils and highlighters in an assortment of colors, as well as the ir ...
Sometimes there is an impulse among ESL instructors to befriend their students, especially if the student is the same gender and age (sometimes it occurs between opposite genders as well, but that ...
Teaching is not the same today as it was even 10 years ago, much less four decades ago, which is when many of today's retiring teachers first entered the classroom as an instructor.
In the midst ...
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