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!
Whether you teach elementary ESL or work with adults, spelling will be a part of your curriculum.
When you are looking for a fun way to use or review these spelling words in class, try one of ...
We’ve all had those bad days: you forgot your textbook; the copy machine was broken when you got to school; you kept forgetting one of your best students’ name, and so forth. Bad days ...
Often when in the teacher’s room, another teacher will ask me, “So what book are you using?” I used to smile at this: “What book are you using?” not “Who are yo ...
Every June is a chance to honor and appreciate the men in our lives who have helped to mke us who we are: our fathers.
Though not every culture celebrates Father’s Day, if your students are ...
As a teacher, sometimes you want to give your students access to more than just the run of the mill Wikipedia and Google search results for out of class education.
This is true whether you're tea ...
Some students are natural writers. Their imaginations take them away to exotic and outrageous places with characters as real as the person sitting next to them. For the greater part however, stude ...
True, not many of your students will have to stand up in court and defend themselves or prosecute another in the English language, though a few may, but that is no reason to dismiss having a mock ...
Learning the days of the week and the months of the year is one of the primary lessons for elementary level students.
There is a lot of information to absorb and to apply, so the more creatively ...
As teachers we are familiar with the fact that some of our groups may be a little time-challenged.
Teaching appointment-making in a hands-on way can provide students with a way to re-examine how ...
Goal-setting activities can be particularly useful and necessary in higher level groups.
Successfully presenting goal-setting and engaging students enough to really have them do some self-evaluat ...
Learning how to paraphrase another’s words is difficult for any writer, even more so for nonnative speakers who come from countries that don’t have any concept of plagiarism.
Many EFL ...
It can be difficult to incorporate proofreading activities into an ESL class. However there are strategies that you can employ at every level to get students feet wet with finding errors and makin ...
Teaching advanced learners can really be a lot fun and a terrific learning experience for the students and the teacher.
There is no better time in a student’s career to expose them to compl ...
Occasionally, in my inner-city adult ESL classroom, volunteers from the neighborhood or paid assistants from the district would come to my classroom to help.
Usually they would just show up one d ...
A prevalent idea in language classrooms today is that teaching grammar in isolation is a “bad thing.”
While our students do need to learn grammar explicitly, the language learning jou ...
Using numbers in a foreign language is difficult for most second language speakers.
Because numbers are such an abstract concept, most people tend to revert to their first language when using the ...
Do this! Don’t do that! Eat this, not that. Stand up. Sit down. Fight! Fight! Fight! The imperative is all around us, and as native speakers we may not even realize we are hearing or using t ...
You are probably familiar with the scenario: you at the front of the room, in the middle of lecturing on some important grammar point, when someone raises his hand.
“Excuse me, Teacher?&rdq ...
One of the most beneficial ways to practice language naturally is through spontaneous discussion.
At lower levels this is difficult to accomplish, but once students are at an intermediate level o ...
What game is produced in twenty-nine different languages, has sold over 150 million copies worldwide and four thousand clubs all its own? It is Scrabble.
This word game was created by Alfred Butt ...
If a picture is worth a thousand words, why use them in the ESL classroom? After all, aren’t we language teachers trying to get our students to communicate and use the language they know rat ...
Children in ESL classes are notoriously shy about writing in general. It is really critical for their language development that they receive early and constant exposure to writing opportunities.
...
Food is a recurring topic in the ESL classroom. Perhaps that is true because food can be used in connection with many topics – personal preference, giving choices, culture, and memories to n ...
Sometimes about mid-semester I realize I’m really tired reading sentences like “America is the free country.” (Actually, they usually read “America is the freedom country,& ...
Writing is intimidating enough for second language learners, so why not simplify the process for them.
Using mind maps to organize thoughts, brainstorm ideas, and synthesize information will sure ...
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