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

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ESL Articles
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Hello, Hello: Be Ready for World Hello Day (November 21) with These ESL Activities

Hello, Hello: Be Ready for World Hello Day (November 21) with These ESL Activities

, ESL Essentials
Some people might consider themselves friendly: others might consider themselves shy. Either way, your students should be encouraged on a daily basis to use their language skills to interact with ...
Views 28,137 All
Oh the Places You’ll Go: Geography Based ESL Lessons

Oh the Places You’ll Go: Geography Based ESL Lessons

ESL Essentials
Geography can be a common topic of conversation in the ESL classroom since so many ESL students come from different areas around the world. Your class will naturally talk about countries, continen ...
Views 83,674 All
Opposites Attract: Having Fun with Antonyms

Opposites Attract: Having Fun with Antonyms

ESL Essentials
After all these years, Paula Abdul had it right. Opposites do attract, but we are not talking about relationships here. Antonyms are a fun and lively way to teach your students new vocabulary an ...
Views 170,140 All
Riddle Me This: Word-based Conundrums for Your ESL Classroom

Riddle Me This: Word-based Conundrums for Your ESL Classroom

ESL Essentials
Because riddles are word puzzles, they are a fun way to bring games into the ESL classroom and still learn language skills. There are many different kinds of riddles, and these activities will int ...
Views 62,223 All
ESL Activities for the Great American Smokeout (November 17)

ESL Activities for the Great American Smokeout (November 17)

ESL Essentials
Smoking can be a controversial issue for some people, especially if they choose to smoke. However, most efforts centered around smoking promote kicking the habit. This year, November 17 is the Gre ...
Views 15,336 All
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Adults And Children: The Differences Every Teacher Should Know

Adults And Children: The Differences Every Teacher Should Know

ESL Essentials
  Teaching English as a second language can often be an exciting career for many. Whether you are choosing to do it on a gap year, or as a full time career, you are likely to come across a ...
Views 123,951 All
How To Avoid Sensitive Issues When Teaching ESL

How To Avoid Sensitive Issues When Teaching ESL

ESL Essentials
Depending on where you are teaching, it is important to remember that certain issues might be taboo. Of course, this is going to vary from culture to culture. A lot of teachers will find that the ...
Views 17,901 All
Extreme Weather: Be Prepared with These Cool ESL Activities

Extreme Weather: Be Prepared with These Cool ESL Activities

ESL Essentials
When a person is caught in an extreme weather situation, it can be terrifying. Perhaps that is part of the reason most people find natural disasters interesting. That general interest is just one ...
Views 97,747 All
Private Classes: Structuring to Get the Best Results

Private Classes: Structuring to Get the Best Results

ESL Essentials
For many teachers, having private students can be a blessing. In some cases, it can be very profitable to move abroad and post advertisements in places, offering private lessons in English. It is ...
Views 34,962 All
The Challenge of Spelling Made Easy: 10 Creative Spelling Teaching Ideas

The Challenge of Spelling Made Easy: 10 Creative Spelling Teaching Ideas

ESL Essentials
Spelling can often come across as a challenge to many people, both adults and children. With the English language, it is can be doubly excruciating to learn. Teachers of English need to be sure t ...
Views 35,013 All
Remembering Our Heroes: Selected Activities for Veteran’s Day

Remembering Our Heroes: Selected Activities for Veteran’s Day

ESL Essentials
Veteran’s Day is a time in the United States for remembering those who have served their country in military duty. Many men and women have given their time and their lives to fight for the ...
Views 14,029 All
Up, Up and Away: Aviation Themed Language Activities

Up, Up and Away: Aviation Themed Language Activities

ESL Essentials
If you are teaching ESL classes, the likelihood that your students have flown on a plane is very high. Whether the air travelers are well into their adulthood or especially if they are still child ...
Views 19,742 All
HOW TO: Teaching With Videos and Media

HOW TO: Teaching With Videos and Media

ESL Essentials
The Internet has become an almost invaluable means of communication today. Rather than calling on the telephone, one can speak face-to-face with people who are on the other side of the world. As a ...
Views 22,612 All
It’s All in How You Play the Game: Fun ESL Activities With a Sports Theme

It’s All in How You Play the Game: Fun ESL Activities With a Sports Theme

ESL Essentials
Though not every person can be classified as a jock, sports play a part in the life of every student. If your school requires physical education classes, sports may be a part of your students&rsq ...
Views 83,701 All
☺ How to Make Your Grammar Lessons a Little More Interesting

☺ How to Make Your Grammar Lessons a Little More Interesting

ESL Essentials
Unless linguistics and language is a passion, most people despise grammar and hate learning it. Indeed, there are many different teaching methods which people today purport which do not focus on ...
Views 160,923 All
Are You Ready for Thanksgiving? Little Things That Make Your Lesson a Success

Are You Ready for Thanksgiving? Little Things That Make Your Lesson a Success

ESL Essentials
If you happen to be teaching in the United States, or indeed happen to be a United States national teaching abroad, then there is no reason why you shouldn’t give a class on the concept of T ...
Views 18,380 All
The Future May Bring…These Future Tense Activities for Your Class

The Future May Bring…These Future Tense Activities for Your Class

ESL Essentials
Though we all live in the present, many of us think about the future on a regular basis. In fact, when we do think about the future, we usually make plans and set goals for ourselves. We have a s ...
Views 147,531 All
10 ESL Activities That Will Bring Music to Your Ears

10 ESL Activities That Will Bring Music to Your Ears

ESL Essentials
No matter where you are from, no matter what your native language is, you have experience with music. Music has the special ability to bring people together and sometimes to drive them apart, but ...
Views 140,908 All
Top 10 Role Plays For Your Speaking Class

Top 10 Role Plays For Your Speaking Class

ESL Essentials
Role plays can often be a fun and entertaining way of getting the class to practice their English. There are literally hundreds of possible ideas available, and what is listed below is only a few ...
Views 323,753 All
Keep ‘Em Under Control: How to Handle Disruptive (and Disrespectful) Students

Keep ‘Em Under Control: How to Handle Disruptive (and Disrespectful) Students

ESL Essentials
Disruptive and disrespectful students can be a pain for any teacher. This tends not to be so common when it comes to teaching adults. A lot of people who are learning English are doing it for the ...
Views 70,753 All
It’s Story Time: Teacher Tested Ideas for Telling and Writing Stories

It’s Story Time: Teacher Tested Ideas for Telling and Writing Stories

ESL Essentials
Everybody likes a good story, but just because a story has a beginning, middle and end does not make it good. By looking at some good stories and then teaching your students what elements compose ...
Views 36,242 All
10 Teacher Tested Tricks to Teach Modal Verbs

10 Teacher Tested Tricks to Teach Modal Verbs

ESL Essentials
Teaching modal verbs can be a challenge, especially to beginning teachers who don’t have enough experience. Before teaching them, however, be sure to know what a modal verb is. It is a verb ...
Views 351,147 All
MORE Fabulous Fall Activities for the ESL Class

MORE Fabulous Fall Activities for the ESL Class

ESL Essentials
Fall is certainly a special time of year. There are as many activities you can do with your ESL as class as leaves on a tree. So, to follow up on last year’s article, Fabulous Fall Activiti ...
Views 17,849 All
☠ How to Teach the Halloween Lesson You Can Be Proud Of

☠ How to Teach the Halloween Lesson You Can Be Proud Of

ESL Essentials
Themed classes can always be fun and even help the class think of something else other than learning a language. Focusing on topics might spark a certain interest, and this can help in letting th ...
Views 51,099 All
What You Can Do with Buttons: 8 Activities You’ll Splash with Color

What You Can Do with Buttons: 8 Activities You’ll Splash with Color

ESL Essentials
How many times have you put away an odd button with the hopes of using it again? If you have an old jar full of buttons you’ve collected over the years, now’s the time to use them: wit ...
Views 16,329 All

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