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!
Intermediate learners will often spend several lessons on topics such as relative pronouns. Some teachers prefer to introduce only one or two relative pronouns at a time and then combine all of th ...
At the beginning of most English courses, students focus on learning active voice structures. It is usually the easiest way for them to phrase sentences but as students progress in their studies, ...
You don’t need a fortune teller to tell you your future. It’s right there in black and white in your appointment book! The Future Continuous tense is used when talking about fixed appo ...
Some of your adult ESL students may be familiar with the Thanksgiving holiday; some may simply be aware that there is a holiday by that name celebrated in the US, but have no idea what the actua ...
Songs can be a useful tool when teaching ESL because they give students the opportunity to listen to someone other than you, their teacher.
Often students become familiar with how one person soun ...
Students may not often use shapes in their everyday conversation or English lessons but it is still worth teaching your students certain basic shapes especially if you are going to tell them to &l ...
Generally when introducing descriptions for the first time, textbooks and instructors focus primarily on describing people. The simplest way to teach descriptions is to use the structures “H ...
After introducing new vocabulary words, grammar points, or sentence structures, you have to drill them with your class.
There are many ways to drill new material. Using a variety of drilling m ...
When teaching English in a country where English is not the native language, students will often be interested in the cultural differences between their country and English speaking countries. H ...
Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday to share with your ESL students.
Most of them may not understand what it's about, but whether they'll be joining the festivities or not, this is a grea ...
A lot of teaching English is about acting.
Keeping your energy high and being creative with your lessons will make your students more attentive. Outside of role play activities, you can use gestu ...
Eliciting vocabulary is an important part of teaching ESL.
When introducing new vocabulary, students might be able to provide the word as well as a simple definition. The vocabulary may be new to ...
At the outset new students are convinced that they cannot communicate in English at all, but by the end of this lesson they will hopefully be able to confidently introduce themselves to anyone the ...
Numbers are typically taught early on in ESL courses. This means that students generally have very limited English abilities so it is best to proceed slowly, taking several classes if necessary to ...
Be positive and consider yourself fortunate. You are lucky enough to be in the privileged position of not only knowing when the observation will take place, but have advance warning of the timing ...
This is the second part of a series of articles. Please see the first part here. Ideally you should return to basics by beginning with the phonetic alphabet and teach the sounds of English. As te ...
Teaching adults in Japan is an interesting and worthwhile life experience. It’s relatively easy compared to other countries, but don’t be mistaken that this will adequately prepare you ...
Throughout their studies, students will make lots of mistakes. It is an important part of the learning process. If they are not making mistakes then they are not being given difficult enough topic ...
Teaching degrees of comparison will take several lessons. Your students should have a good grasp of comparison related vocabulary such as tall, short, big, small, fast, slow, etc and initially, yo ...
Video lessons give ESL students a wealth of learning opportunities. Naturally, they’re great for listening practice, but never underestimate their value when it comes to teaching vocabulary ...
The past continuous is another tense that is commonly taught to beginners, usually after they’ve learned the past simple. Although it has its nuances, we usually use it talk about actions th ...
We live in the world with a lot of different ethnical groups. We hear the names of different countries and nationality adjectives and nouns in the news all the time. Without proper practice studen ...
Should we or shouldn’t we teach English idioms to ESL students? Although it is uncommon for ESL students to use them comfortably and effectively, if we choose to not teach them idioms, they& ...
Have you ever wondered what will have happened by a specific moment in the future? For example, by the year 2020, what kinds of technological devices will have been invented? Will teachers have st ...
Polite phrases are important when learning a language. For anyone who has traveled, it is obvious that please and thank you are some of the most useful things to learn in any language. In the clas ...
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