CONTENTS

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY 32 How-To: Adult ESL

Learners: Homework
3-4 How-To: 10 Best Ways 18 How-To: Top 5 Assignments That Work
to Increase Teenage Productivity Tips for ESL
Student Motivation Teachers 33 How-To: Teaching
Adult Learners: How
5 How-To: 5 Effective 19 How-To: ESL Teamwork: To Handle Attendance
Ways to Calm Your Collaborating With Problems
Students Down Colleagues

6 How-To: Too Loud To Be 20 How-To: 5 Sure-Fire TEACHING KIDS

Heard: Handling Noise Ways to Bond with Your
Levels in Your ESL Class 34-35 How-To: Teaching Kids
Classroom English: 10 Things to
21-22 How-To: Top 10 Consider
7 How-To: How to Teacher Software
Encourage Student Programs To Use On a 36 How-To: How to Teach
Participation Daily Basis Preschoolers: Preschool
Games and Activities
8 Tips: 3 Classroom 23 How-To: 5 Must-Have
Management Strategies Technological Tools 37 How-To: Kids and
Top Teachers Use to Increase Your ESL Money: How to Teach
Productivity Money Skills
9 How-To: 5 Non-Verbal
Ways to Do Error 38 How-To: Stickers for the
Correction TEACHING ADULTS Little Ones: Motivation
Booster or Evil?
10 How-To: How to Teach 24 How-To: Teaching Adults
Using Games How-To: Advantages and 39 How-To: 5 Fabulous
Challenges Ways to Use Total
11 How-To: 5 Most Creative Physical Response in
Homework Assignments 25 How-To: Top 8 Tips the ESL Classroom
on Teaching Absolute
12 How-To: How To Assign Beginners 40 How-To: English for
Effective Homework Your Children Under 5: Fallow
Students Will Enjoy 26 How-To: How to Teach Land or Fertile (Kinder)
English to Beginners garden?
13 How-To: Classroom
Conflicts: How to 27 How-To: How To Teach 41 Bonus: Classroom
Smooth Over a Cultural Japanese Adults: Part Management Mantra:
Clash One Do’s and Dont’s

14-15 How-To: 15 Little 28 How-To: How To Teach

Tricks to Get Your Japanese Adults: Part
Class’s Attention (and Two
Hold It)
29 How-To: ESL Insider
16 How-To: Keep Your Secrets about Teaching
Cool: Tips for Handling Japanese Learners
Difficult Students
30 How-To: How to Teach
17 How-To: How to Teach the Verb “To Be” to
the Millennial Generation Beginners
(And Get Them off of
Facebook) 31 How-To: What Adult
Learners Want: Know
Them To Teach Them
Better
10 Best Ways to Increase
Teenage Student Motivation
AH, THE JOYS OF TEACHING!
Young learners are so full of en-
ergy that most activities you pro- •
related to a topic, like “clothes” or
“foods”.

Tell them that whoever finishes

6
SION
PLAY SONGS TO IMPROVE
LISTENING COMPREHEN-

pose are met with loads of enthusi- a written exercise first or has the
asm. Adult learners are focused on If you play any of the audio that typi-
most correct answers, gets to
meeting their language goals and cally comes with course materials,
choose a video to watch or a song
have a wealth of skills and knowl- your teens will most likely tune out
to listen to in class.
edge to contribute to the class. and not hear a word. The best way to

3
motivate them to listen is by playing
CATER TO THEIR SKILLS songs. But you should also choose
However, things are not as simple
with teens. Most are very clever and AND EXPLOIT THEIR songs they like, or can relate to.
insightful kids, but this is not ex- TALENTS
actly the most talkative age group.
Have you ever faced a class full of
blank stares where most of the re-
Most teens are talented at one thing
or another. Take your time to get to
know them and discover what these
7 HAVE VIDEO LESSONS
Videos have great potential in
plies you hear are “Yes”, “No”, or the ESL class. Thanks to recent ad-
“It depends”? Have you ever felt talents are. vances in technology, we no longer
frustrated by their lack of interest? need to have a TV and DVD player in
• Students who are artistically-in- the classroom to teach a video lesson.
Here are some strategies that should clined may draw pictures, sketch- A laptop will do for a small class, and
get your teens a bit more motivated. es or cartoons of a story you read a speedy Internet connection is great,
out loud to the class. but not entirely necessary, as you can
HOW TO MOTIVATE have video files already downloaded
ESL STUDENTS • Do you have a student who plays
the guitar? Ask him or her to bring
to your computer. To keep teens fo-
cused on the task, choose short in-

1
it to class and play a song while terviews, movie trailers, music vid-
USE AS MANY the class sings the lyrics in Eng- eos, or how to videos on YouTube.
REFERENCES TO POP lish.
CULTURE AS YOU CAN
Consider your teens’ interests. Imag-
ine you want to discuss last week’s 4 USE PEN PALS TO MOTI-
VATE WRITING
8 INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGY
INTO THE CLASSROOM
In the previous point, we mention
events to practice the past simple
If your students are not enthused how easy it is to show videos on a
tense. Will they be more interested
about writing assignments, give them laptop, but you can integrate tech-
in what President Obama did last
pen pals to write to. At ESL Teach- nology in so many other ways. Most
week, or which outrageous outfit
ers Board, or any other message teens have excellent Web surf-
Lady Gaga wore to an awards show?
board for ESL teachers, you can post ing skills, so why not assign them a
If you’re not willing to discuss Emi-
a request for pen pals for your stu- WebQuest? A WebQuest is an online,
nem’s latest album, or any of the Twi-
dents, and find another teacher with inquiry-based activity where students
light books or films, then you won’t
whom you can trade email address- are required to search for specific in-
connect with your teen students.
es. Writing to pen pals is a great in- formation within links provided by the

2
troduction to what they may have to teacher, and then produce a report or
GIVE THEM A LITTLE master later in life: business emails. a PowerPoint presentation. Here are
FRIENDLY COMPETITION some great examples of WebQuests
Little kids like to compete, and teens
are no different. Whether they play
sports or games on the Wii, they al-
5 MAKE READING
AGE APPROPRIATE
for teens: http://www.nelliemuller.com/
task2.htm, but you can also design
your own to suit your students’ level.
To get students excited about a

9
ways try to out best each other. Why
not introduce some friendly competi-
reading assignment, make sure you PLAY GAMES
choose material that will pique their
tion into the ESL classroom? Games ESL games motivate any learn-
interest. Naturally, books or stories
are easy ways to do this, but you can er whether they are 5 or 50 years
about teens are sure to work, but
also have them compete in any activity. old. But with teens, it’s important to
you can also include celebrity biog-
raphies, anything sports-related, or choose games that will challenge
• Give them 60 seconds to write them, give them the right competitive
any topic that may interest them,
down as many words as they can feel, and help them effectively prac-
but is also up to their reading level.

3
 tice an ESL item. A guessing game or any type of quiz show game should get them motivated.

10 USE REALIA IN THE CLASSROOM

The use of real life objects is also a great way to motivate students of all ages. But it is particularly effective with teens
who are already lacking in enthusiasm.

• Giving directions: Choose places that teens frequently visit like malls, concert venues, or sports stadiums. Use
anything from real city maps to brochures of these locations to practice giving directions.

• Tell me about yourself: Instead of just telling the class about themselves, ask your teens to bring photos, as well
as some of their favorite things, like books, CDs, a skateboard, or anything that represents them.

MAKE SURE THAT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE COURSE YOU DISCUSS WHAT THEIR LEARNING GOALS ARE.

They may not have thought of this earlier, but they may come to realize that they need English to surf the
Internet, understand their favorite band’s songs, or chat with foreign friends. And talking about the things
that interest teens is a great way to establish rapport. Once you connect with them, you won’t find any
more blank stares. You’ll see a room full of eager, smiling faces!

4
5 Effective Ways to Calm Your
Students Down
at the beginning of class, give them member to team member the fastest.
It is always great to see your stu- the chance to use that energy dur-

5
dents enthusiastic about learning ing the warm up and then continue TOPICS
and the activities you so care- with your lesson. Some simple TPR
fully prepared for them but once games like Head and Shoulders or A topic that interests your stu-
they have gotten all riled up, it is Simon Says would be perfect for re- dents will also make them more atten-
time to bring them back down so viewing body parts, writing relays tive. Keep your learners in mind when
that you can send them to their would be good for slightly older stu- deciding what to talk about in class.
parents or other teachers without dents and even just simple exercises Students who are focused will not
upsetting anyone. like jumping jacks or running in place have the inclination to move around
should help learners settle down. a lot nor will they be easily distracted.
Additionally if students are very loud These are both likely to happen if stu-
and energetic at the very beginning of For some students these types of exer- dents are overly excited or energized.
class, you will have to curb their ex- cises will actually energize them more
citement a little in order to complete so experiment to see what works best If you are not sure what your students
the rest of the activities for your lesson. with your classes. Different groups of are interested in, simply ask them or
students may require different tactics. take a poll of various topics to see what
Here are some strategies for deal- they are most eager to learn about.

3
ing with students who are bounc-
QUIET TIME
ing off the walls of your classroom.
Active exercises can be a lot of AS YOU CAN SEE THESE
HOW TO CALM fun, especially with young learners, APPROACHES ARE VERY DIFFER-
YOUR ESL but after students have gotten out of ENT BUT THEY CAN ALL BE EFFEC-
STUDENTS DOWN their seats and moved around a bit, TIVE WHEN USED PROPERLY. THE
bring their heart rates down with METHOD YOU CHOOSE DEPENDS ON

1 SIT DOWN
Students who are seated are
a quiet activity such as reading or
writing. Students can take their time
silently reading through an article or
YOUR STUDENTS AND HOW THEY
REACT TO ACTIVITIES.

more restrained and subdued. If stu- begin writing their individual answers
dents are running around the class- to short answer or essay questions Be sure to use the one that will be
room or having a heated discussion, before you turn these activities into most efficient for the type of students
ask everyone to go back to their class activities to check pronunciation, you have in your classroom. Luck-
desks and sit down. The physical comprehension, and grammar points. ily this becomes less of a problem
state of sitting in their chairs will as students get older and in adult
help them relax. Standing is a great These types of activities are good classes you will rarely have simi-
stance for action while sitting is more for calming a class down but should lar issues. If you struggle with this,
a state of rest. Some students may be avoided if students lack en- change your approach to classes in
fidget at their desks but sitting is al- ergy as you risk them falling asleep. order to resolve it and look on the
ready a big improvement and this is bright side, at least no one is sleeping.

4
less likely to distract other students.
FOCUS
Once learners have taken their seats, Get students to really focus by
shift their focus immediately to an conducting an activity such as a cir-
activity so that they do not become cle exercise or something similar that
bored or lose interest in the lesson. is fast paced. This will take advan-
It is important for students to focus tage of their energy but because they
their energy on learning English so never know whose turn it will be next,
help them put it to good use by ef- they have to be quiet and pay atten-
fectively managing your classroom. tion in order to perform their part well.

2 EXERCISE
An activity requiring lots of
Another game that is exciting but re-
quires that students remain calm and
quiet is Chinese Whispers (http://busy-
energy that will tire students out teacher.org/4171-9-five-minute-activ-
could make them a little more calm ities-that-will-save-your.html) where
during the rest of your lesson. If students work in teams to see who can
your young learners cannot sit still correctly pass a sentence from team

5
Too Loud To Be Heard: Handling
Noise Levels in Your ESL Classroom
another location, or at the very least their hands and that students maintain
While ESL classes should encourage ensure that those other classes will not an appropriate volume when speak-
students to speak English, you also be taking exams and tell your students ing and completing activities. You can
need to maintain an environment in at the beginning of the activity that they even post these rules on the wall of your
which everyone can be heard. De- should keep it down. It could be that the classroom to refer to when necessary.
pending on the activities you choose majority of your classes have absolutely
to do in class and the nature of your no problem with volume while one just When a student or group of students will
students, keeping noise levels rea- goes absolutely crazy. Remember this not stop talking to one another while you
sonable can be challenging espe- next time you want to do a similar activity. are speaking, just stop teaching for
cially with younger students. a minute. Let them see that you notice

Ideally your classroom will be an area in

which everyone can participate and stu-
dents listen respectfully to one another.
2 GROUP WORK & PAIR WORK
When students are working in
them, ask these students if they under-
stand the material or have questions.
Ask them to rephrase what you were
groups or in pairs, they should keep their saying to see if they were listening. Point
Let’s talk about some ways to achieve this. voices at a normal level. You may want out to them that students should not be
your students to be interested in learn- talking while you are talking and that their
HOW TO HANDLE ing English but, with the exceptions of peers are being deprived of an educa-
NOISE LEVELS performing role plays, students are usu- tion because of their disrespectful behav-
IN YOUR ESL ally not going to be so overly enthusi- ior. If students do not stop after several
CLASSROOM astic that they must raise their voices. warnings, take some disciplinary action.
This will vary depending on your school.

1 CLASS ACTIVITIES
For activities that are being done as
Remind students that there are other
people working and that you have to
be able to hear learners who are prac-
If you know that your students are es-
pecially loud, plan activities that require
a class such as checking homework, a ticing. Some role plays will require more them to be quiet such as Chinese Whis-
student wishing to speak should raise his emotion and volume variation based on pers (http://busyteacher.org/4171-9-five-
hand rather than call out. This is a com- the situation you are working with. Even minute-activities-that-will-save-your.
mon rule in classrooms around the world your students that are enthusiastic ac- html). This will maintain a low level of
but some students easily forget this ba- tors should keep themselves in check. noise in the classroom and prevent you
sic guideline. If you reward students for If you find yourself repeatedly telling a from disrupting the surrounding classes.
volunteering answers, simply say that small number of students to take it down
answers that are shouted out will not a notch, speak with them outside of class When you are showing students videos
count towards their participation points to address their disruptive behavior. or listening to music, turn the volume
and that they have to take turns and re- down to begin with and then find an ap-

3
spect one another. This should help en-
courage students to raise their hands.
INDIVIDUAL WORK propriate level once the material has
started playing. This will keep some-
When students are working in- thing from starting out excessively loud.
If you are doing a team activity where ev- dividually they are usually not do-
eryone is working frantically and loudly ing speaking exercises and therefore
with their teams members, consider hav- should be working silently. Unless stu- IT CAN BE CHALLENGING TO KEEP A
ing a bell or some other noisemaker so dents are asking a question or respond- CLASSROOM FULL OF STUDENTS QUIET.
that you can save your voice when sig- ing to feedback you have given them,
naling the end of the activity. You can only the class should be relatively quiet. Put
shout “Go back to your seats!” so many your classroom management and dis- Large classes are especially difficult to
times before your voice gives out and cipline skills to work if students insist manage simply because so many people
there is no need to strain yourself. It is fun on being distracting during these times. are contributing to the overall volume
to do these types of activities so you just in the room. Forty people speaking at a

4
have to have a plan for dealing with normal volume are still going to make
TIPS
the noise. Choose something and stick a lot of noise. Thinking about the differ-
with it so that students can become used Set up rules. From your very first ent situations and tips above can help
to your chosen system of communication. day in the classroom you should estab- you tackle this issue with your students.
lish some ground rules. If you allow stu-
When doing loud activities consider the dents to behave a certain way for the
classes around you too. If you think your first month you are at their school, it will
students may be so loud that other class- be nearly impossible to change their be-
es will be affect make a different lesson havior later. From the beginning ensure
plan, change the activity, try to meet in that students who wish to speak raise

6
How to Encourage Student
Participation
The more variety there is in your A points system where students ac-
Encouraging student participation lessons, the more your students quire stickers or stamps throughout
can be difficult. will gain from them. Having a com- the semester by volunteering to an-
bination of worksheets, role-plays, swer questions or doing exceptional
Students who generally perform games, listening exercises, etc. will work in class would be a good idea.
well will be more willing to volunteer keep students engaged and provide Simply tell students that they need
and more confident when complet- them with plenty of practice. maybe ten points to get one hundred
ing exercises whereas students who percent for their participation grade in

3
struggle in the classroom will be
MOTIVATION MATTERS! a semester and that additional points
more reluctant to do these things. could be considered extra credit.
As a teacher there are many ways In group activities making groups
you can encourage all your stu- or teams and having races often gets If a student has a little card to collect
dents to participate in activities. students motivated. Competition will these stickers or stamps, it will serve
drive students to not only be the best as a visual reminder throughout the
HOW TO performing group but also work hard term of how well they are doing in
ENCOURAGE to not let down their teammates. reaching the target number and will
STUDENT make calculating a student’s overall
PARTICIPATION These activities should still be con- participation much easier for you as
ducted in an encouraging and friendly well. Towards the end of the term it is a

1 CLASSROOM ENVIRON-
MENT
environment so as to not cause your
students lots of stress. It is important
to have students take turns when
good idea to have a lesson where stu-
dents place their cards on their desks
so that you can give students who
Ensuring that you maintain a con- working in groups so that all stu- have not actively participated much
structive classroom environment dents are required to participate. throughout the semester special op-
will help immensely. It is important portunities to raise their score some-
that students not feel like they will be While working as a group to answer what as opposed to giving very active
laughed at or given negative feedback. a question is great, there should be students too many extra credit points.
a set order that determines which
Try to provide students with posi- student presents the answer to the
tive criticism as opposed to reinforc- class at any given point in the activ- STUDENTS NEED TO PRACTICE
ing the fact that they have made a ity. By having students form groups SPEAKING ENGLISH TO IMPROVE
mistake or performed poorly. Making in a variety of ways, you can ensure SO IT IS IN THEIR BEST INTEREST
mistakes is simply part of the learn- that students are placed in differ- TO PARTICIPATE FULLY DURING
ing process and students that make ent groups throughout the course THEIR LESSONS. YOU CAN PLAN
mistakes will give you a good idea of and thus no serious rivalry can take LESSONS ACCORDINGLY AND START
what you need to focus on because root between groups of students. INCENTIVE PROGRAMS IN ORDER
there are probably other students TO ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO TRY
in your class that have the same Sometimes simply the satisfaction of THEIR BEST AND SPEAK MORE
questions or misunderstandings. winning is not enough to motive stu- OFTEN IN CLASS.
dents and then just as you would for

2 ACTIVITIES FOR ALL

TYPES OF LEARNERS
motivating students at the individual
level, prizes or points may help.

Planning exercises that ap-

peal to different types of learn-
ers is an essential part of getting
4 INDIVIDUAL LEVEL
INCENTIVES
all your students to participate. At the individual level incentives such
as points or, if acceptable on occa-
Perhaps some students who per- sion, some sort of prize may lead stu-
form well on tests are quite shy dents to participate more fully in ac-
while students who perform poorly tivities. Participation should always be
on tests are natural performers and kept in mind when grading students
enjoy role play activities. Giving a however besides reminding students
range of activities that target visual, that they are graded on participa-
auditory, and kinesthetic learners tion, it can be challenging for both
will increase student participation. you and them to keep a record of it.

7
 3 Classroom Management
Strategies Top Teachers Use
Implementing proper classroom man- If you have desks, group together
agement techniques is important. four to five students for each color.
If you have tables, keep four to five TIP:
students at each one. In the cen-
A TEACHER WHO KNOWS HOW TO ter of each group, keep a colored We already have a section ‘Classroom
CONTROL HIS OR HER CLASSROOM caddy for supplies and a tray for Management and Discipline’ with nice
WILL HAVE FAR FEWER “CRAZY papers in the coordinating color. activities to help you with your class-
DAYS” THAN ONE WHO DOES NOT. room management: praising cards,
For instance, the “green team” will classroom labels, certificates and
The majority of your classroom atmo- have a green supply caddy in the cen- awards, and more! Refer to http://
sphere is contingent on how you run ter of their table or desks and a green busyteacher.org/teaching_ideas_
it, so here are some tips to get you paper tray next to the supply caddy. and_techniques/classroom_manage-
started! When it is time for students to turn in ment_and_discipline-worksheets/ for
work, have them put their papers in details.

1 ESTABLISH YOUR AU-

THORITY EARLY ON
the tray at their table. When you have
the time to go around the room and
collect papers, you can do so and they
Early in the year, ideally within the first will be neatly stacked in the paper And what classroom management
couple of days, you must establish tray. This strategy saves a lot of time. tips do you know and use?
your authority. Your students will learn We will be happy to hear from
very quickly whether you are a serious You will find color-coding to be very you!
teacher or not. You do not have to be a useful throughout the day. If you do
drill sergeant, but show them that you centers in your class, send students
are serious and are not going to toler- to centers by their color. When it is
ate rude behaviors or disobedience. time to line up for lunch, recess or
dismissal, do it by color. Just for fun,
The easiest way to establish your have a “team spirit” day and encour-
authority is by following through age your students to come to school
with consequences and rewards. dressed in a t-shirt for their team color!
If you tell the students that a cer-
tain behavior will result in a specific
consequence, see to it that it does.
Otherwise, you are just handing out
empty threats. Just the same, if you
3 BUDDY UP

have promised a certain reward, A “buddy system” is sometimes used

make sure you keep to your word due to school rules when it comes to
and do that thing for your students. sending kids out of the classroom, but
why not use it in the classroom, too? If
For younger students, consider imple- your students know ahead of time who
menting a weekly reward. Some ex- their “buddy” is, this will save time when
amples might include an opportunity you need them to “find a neighbor” for
to pick from the “treasure chest,” be- various tasks throughout the day be-
ing “invited” to a classroom party that cause they will always have a “buddy.”
takes place during the lunch period or
extra time for recess. Organize your classroom seating ar-
rangements such that students are

2 GET COLOR CODED! arranged in groups that are also “bud-

dies,” it will help even more. If you
have an odd number in your groups,
buddy up the two students who are
Many teachers find it helpful to or- closest to each other in two groups.
ganize their classroom by color.
This works whether your class-
room has tables or desks for stu-
dents, and it works whether your
students are younger or older.

8
5 Non-Verbal Ways to Do
Error Correction
pression to signal the mistake. Give Say a student used the wrong word
EFFECTIVE ERROR CORRECTION IS them an open-mouthed, wide-eyed order to ask a question: “You are a
ONE OF THE THINGS ESL TEACHERS stare. Or arch an eyebrow. The more teacher?” Ask the student to repeat
STRUGGLE WITH THE MOST. “theatrical” the facial expression is, the the question and then show him or her
funnier it’ll be. You’ll be effectively sig- how you count the words on your fin-
If you correct them too much, you nalling that a mistake has been made, gers. Show the student how the first
might make them feel discouraged but students won’t take it so seriously. two fingers are in the wrong order,
and compromise their fluency for the so that the student understands the

3
sake of accuracy. If you correct them question should start with “Are you...”
USE GESTURES
too little, they’ll continue making the
same mistakes. Achieving the right Another very effective way to
balance is a daunting task, although show students they’ve made a mistake YOU CAN GET AS CREATIVE AS YOU
not an impossible one. And when do- is through gestures, some of which LIKE WITH YOUR FACIAL EXPRES-
ing on the spot correcting, do you may be specific to the kind of mistake. SIONS, GESTURES, AND VISUAL
simply supply the right answer? Al- REMINDERS.
though it is certainly an option, you Teachers typically gesture back- Remember here that the ultimate goal
should sometimes give your students wards with their hands or point is to help students learn from their mis-
the chance to correct themselves. to the back to show students they takes, and if you simply supply the right
haven’t used the verb in the past. answer, they may not fully internalize it.
There are several verbal strate- Students often use the wrong pro-
gies you may use, like asking them nouns - it’s quite common to hear a Some teachers have even been
to repeat what they’ve just said, student say, “She went to the mov- known to hum well-known songs
or repeating the sentence your- ies with your boyfriend.” To which to trigger the correct response,
self but pausing to let the stu- you simply reply by pointing to your- like Depeche Mode’s “People
dent fill in the “blank” correctly. self with a look of shock or surprise. are People” when students make
the classic mistake, “people is”.
However, here are the 5 best non- You may also implement a gesture to
verbal ways to do error correction. indicate that students should repeat Do you have any suggestions for non-
something, or say it again, and if they verbal error correction? We would like
repeat the mistake, you can raise a to hear from you!
finger to show them where in the sen-
HOW TO PROCEED tence the mistake is, though they have
to figure out what they are doing wrong.

1 USE A GRAMMAR FLAG

Once you have your students
4 USE VISUAL REMINDERS
actively engaged in some drilling ex- Very often students forget the
ercises, use a little red flag to “flag” final “-s” in the simple present, third
their mistakes. The flag goes up if person singular. You may have a big S
they make a mistake and students in- stuck on a wall that you can point to on
stantly know they should go back and such occasions, or point to something
say it again. You may also use the flag that will trigger the right response, like
in others types of activities, or when- the picture of an S-shaped snake.
ever you wish to work on accuracy.
Visual reminders are also great for vo-

2 USE FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

Students are sometimes
cabulary-related mistakes. A student
may say “childs” instead of “chil-
dren”. You point to a picture of a group
self-conscious enough without of children to indicate that something
having to endure constant cor- is wrong: the student has to figure
rections. So, how can you effec- out he or she used the wrong plural.
tively correct them and not stomp

5
on their confidence in the process?
USE FINGER COUNTING
When a student makes a mistake, like How can you correct mistakes in
saying a verb in the past tense incor- word order in a non-verbal way? Fin-
rectly, use an exaggerated facial ex- ger counting is simply perfect for this!

9
How to Teach Using Games

A WIDE VARIETY OF GAMES CAN BE

USED WHEN TEACHING ENGLISH.
ticular tense, simply use that tense
for at least one clue per answer.
You can choose the first category
but after that, the group who pro-
3 PAIWORK GAMES
There are many of pair activities
The key is to ensure that everyone students can do to practice English
vides the correct answer first but very few of them take the form of
fully participates and has enough
should choose the category. This a game.
practice with the lesson material to
activity could take a whole forty-
play. If students are not confident, they
five minute lesson and the group • The best and most versatile
will struggle and not get the most out of
with the most points at the end of one by far is Battleship. This will
the activity.
class wins. take a lesson to explain and prac-
HOW TO USE tice but once your students are
GAMES • Board games are often best
played in small groups but if intro-
familiar with it, can be played as
a twenty to thirty minute activity.

1
ducing a very challenging game, it
WHOLE CLASS GAMES may be a good idea to play as a Battleship is best used to practice
Some games such as interview class first. A group of students can tenses. The worksheet consists of
activities, bingo, jeopardy, and board be represented by a game piece two identical seven by seven grids,
games can be played by the entire and students can work together to one above the other. The first box
class. answer questions. In the class fol- in the upper left is kept blank, the
lowing this, students can play the first row is filled in with phrases
• An interview activity to practice game in groups for further practice. such as “play soccer” and “study
the “Where are you from?” and English”, and the first column is
“I’m from ~.” structures might start
by handing out slips of paper with
eight to ten different country names.
2 GAMES IN SMALL GROUPS
There are also lots of games that
filled in with words such as “I, You,
He, We, They, The students.”

Students should secretly draw their

can be played in groups of about four
students. “boats” on the grid. Typically one
Students can then be given a work-
boat should have five squares, one
sheet with all the country names
• Board games where students boat should have four squares,
written on the left and told that their
move pieces and answer questions two boats should have three
goal is to get a student signature
or form sentences based on im- squares, and one boat should
for each country by mingling with
ages make for good practice activi- have two squares. Boats can only
their classmates and asking the
ties. For practicing the “If ~, then be drawn vertically or horizontally.
target question. When asked the
target question, a student should
~.” structure a Chutes and Ladders
layout may be fun for students. On the board practice the structure
respond based on the slip of paper
that students will use for the activ-
he received.
• Card games such as Go Fish, ity for example “I played soccer.
Memory, and many more can You studied English.” until every
• Bingo can be played with num-
be adapted for classroom use. row and column has been prac-
bers, letters, vocabulary words, or
ticed and then instruct students to
many other topics you may want to
When you are teaching compara- say “Hit”, “Miss”, or “You sank
practice.
tives, card games can be an invalu- my ship!” when appropriate just
able tool. You can also use simple like in the original game. Students
• Jeopardy is more of a review ac-
card games to test comprehension can usually play two or three times
tivity because it focuses on listen-
by making up decks of cards with before moving on to another activ-
ing and does not give students lots
letters for example. Have students ity.
of speaking practice. The easiest
spread all the cards face up on
thing to do is have students make
their desks, you then say a let-
groups of four to five, write catego- AGAIN, THERE ARE LOTS OF DIFFER-
ter aloud, and the first student to
ries and stars for each answer on ENT GAMES OUT THERE THAT CAN BE
slap the correct card gets to keep
the board, and explain that groups USED IN THE CLASSROOM. BE CRE-
it. Repeat until all the cards are
will get three points for a correct ATIVE AND HAVE FUN! ENSURING
gone and the student with the most
answer after the first clue, two YOUR STUDENTS HAVE THE NEC-
cards at the end of the game wins.
points after the second clue, and ESSARY INSTRUCTIONS AND PRAC-
only one point after the last clue. TICE BEFORE STARTING ANY ACTIVITY
To make this more challenging,
You will need five or six categories and WILL MAKE IT MORE ENJOYABLE AND
you can tell students that if they
perhaps five answers per category. BENEFICIAL FOR YOUR STUDENTS.
slap the wrong card, they have to
take one card out of their pile.
If you would like to focus on a par-
10
5 Most Creative Homework
Assignments
Most ESL teachers agree that
homework assignments are an
absolute must in an ESL course.
2 DO MY RESEARCH!
This is an extremely engag-
• Answer a question like, “What
could have gone differently?”,
thus prompting them to use con-
ditionals, for example If the truck
ing way to provide extended practice
of any grammar point. Say you want driver had not answered his
But ESL students, on the other hand, your students to practice compara- cell phone, he would not have
may disagree. Adult learners will argue tives and superlatives. Tell them you caused the accident.
that they have busy schedules and a need information on this year’s Os-
life outside the classroom, which trans-
lates into “no time for homework”.
Young learners and teens may come
car nominations. Tell them to go
to Oscar.go.com and give them a
list of questions they must answer:
4 EMAIL WRITING
This is clearly one of the home-
to terms with the fact that they have to work assignments that works best with
do homework, but do we want them to • Which of the nominees for Best adult learners or those who specifically
do it because they are compelled to Picture is the longest film? Which study Business English. Give them an
do it... or do we want them to do it be- is the shortest? The most popular? email to read and ask them to write
cause they are excited to do it? Which Earned the most money at the box an appropriate reply. Or give them
would you prefer? office? a situation that would require them
to compose a message, like a com-
The only way to get young students • Which film has the most nomina- plaint over a bad service experience
excited about doing homework, and tions? or an inquiry into vacation rentals.
get adults to set aside some time for
it, is through highly creative and
thoroughly engaging homework as-
signments. And here are 5 examples:
• Which in your opinion is the best
film? 5 WATCH IT!
Choose a TV series that is shown
• Compare two of the actresses in English, either with or without subti-
HOMEWORK nominated for Best Actress. Who tles (you may ask students to cover the
ASSIGNMENTS is older? Younger? Taller? Pret- subtitles). Choose a show that is suit-
THAT WORK tier? able to your students’ ages. Tell your
students that their homework for that

1 A WORD BOOK
A Word Book or Vocabulary Jour-
• Etc.

You may assign any number of research

night will be to watch an episode of
Modern Family, whether they usually
watch the show or not. Give them a task
nal is a classic among teachers of tasks: ideal places for a family vacation to complete after viewing the episode:
very young learners who are not ad- (LonelyPlanet.com), best restaurants a synopsis of the episode, a character
ept at using dictionaries - here they in the city (Zagat.com), or anything description, or a questionnaire (Do you
have a chance to make their own. based on local information. Just make usually watch this show? If not, would
sure you give them a website to go to, you start watching it? Why/why not?)
Help them design their very own Word a set of questions to answer or a task
Book from scratch, out of construc- to complete, and above all don’t forget Another great way to get students ac-
tion paper, cardboard, or any materi- to plan the assignment with a gram- tively engaged in their homework as-
als you have on hand. At the end of a mar point or learning objective in mind. signments is to ask them to come up
reading task or activity, make a list of with some ideas for creative assign-

3
the words they have learned for the ments on their own and share them
day. Their homework assignment is to IN THE NEWS with the class. They may surprise you!
enter each of the new words in their This is an ideal assign-
Word Book. The littlest ones simply ment for adult students. Most read AND IF YOU’RE STILL STUMPED AS
copy the word and draw a picture of the newspaper anyway, right? Or TO WHICH WORKSHEETS TO ASSIGN
it, older students can use the word in watch the evening news. Ask them TO PRACTICE GRAMMAR, VOCABU-
a sentence that illustrates its meaning. to choose a news story that has LARY, OR READING, BUSYTEACHER.
piqued their interest, and have them: ORG IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO HELP,
There is no need to copy “dictionary” 24/7, WITH WONDERFUL IDEAS FOR
definitions. They may also cut out • Write a report on the news story ACTIVITIES AND GREAT READY-TO-
pictures from magazines or news- PRINT WORKSHEETS.
papers and get as creative as they • Write a dialogue in which a journal- If you have any ideas for other wonder-
like. But one thing is certain: these ist interviews someone involved in fully creative homework assignments,
will be words they won’t easily forget! the story. share them with us!

11
 How To Assign Effective Home-
work Your Students Will Enjoy
HOMEWORK IS A GOOD TEACHING
TOOL. IN ORDER TO BE USED EFFEC-
TIVELY YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE IT
any questions about the exercises.

Do not assign new material as

homework as students will not under-
4 GRADING IT
Not all homework has to be grad-
ed but this encourages students to ac-
IS HELPING YOUR STUDENTS AND stand it and only become frustrated tually do the work. Be sure to collect
THAT THE EXERCISES YOU ASSIGN with the exercises as well as less open all homework assignments even if all
ARE NOT JUST BUSY WORK. to discussing the topic in class. Some- you do is ensure that they have been
times you might want to give students completed. Other activities, such as
Students will know if homework is re- the opportunity to think about a topic the writing exercise mentioned above,
ally benefiting them or not so be sure before you introduce it in class but in you may consider giving grades on. It
to make it worth their while or they will this case you should assign some- is up to you how many points the exer-
be less willing to complete assign- thing very general for example tell stu- cise is worth. When grading subjective
ments in the future. Let’s take a look dents to try to think of three directions material try to create a rubric which
at the different steps you can take related words for the next class. This you can use to help you grade all the
when it comes to using homework ap- is not something you would collect so work the same way. Breaking down
propriately. students do not have to give it a lot of points into different categories such
thought or get stressed about it. In this as spelling, content, and grammar will
5 SECRETS OF case, you can spend some time at the certainly help you with grading fairly.
EFFECTIVE beginning of the next class eliciting
HOMEWORK
ASSIGNMENTS words from students about directions.

If some of your students find home-

5 RETURNING IT
When you return the homework

1 PREPARING FOR IT
Homework should be a re-
work assignments too challenging,
arrange a tutorial once or twice a
week either before or after school
assignments to your students give
them another opportunity to ask ques-
tions about the material and encour-
view or further practice of something so that students can get extra help. age students with questions about
learned in class so ensure that what- their grades to meet with you after

3
ever homework you have assigned
can be completed by students inde-
CHECKING IT class to discuss their concerns.
pendently and with ease. To do this, Once students have com- Students who consistently perform
conduct several comprehension tests pleted homework, you have to at a low level might need a second
and practice activities in class so that check it. This can be done a num- opportunity to complete the exercise
students feel confident enough with ber of ways and depends a lot on once they have a better understand-
the material to work on their own. the type of activity you assigned. ing of what you are looking for. This
will give them the chance to earn
Encourage students to ask ques- You should check most writing ex- more points towards a higher overall
tions about anything they are un- ercises thoroughly for grammar, grade. In this situation, it is still bet-
clear on. Indicate what pages of the spelling and punctuation errors ter to be proactive and give these stu-
textbook you are using so that students before asking students to present dents special attention to begin with
can find key information later on when their work to the class. This will help but a combination of both approaches
you are not available to help them. them practice the right material rather may be the most successful.
than repeating mistakes. If the work-

2 GIVING IT
Think about the objective of
sheet consists of fill in the blank or
short answer type questions, check
answers as a class before collect-
HOMEWORK IS A VALUABLE TOOL
THAT CAN ASSIST STUDENTS BY
each homework assignment before ing the sheets from your students. GIVING THEM EXTRA PRACTICE
giving it to students to make sure that USING COURSE MATERIAL.
it will actually benefit them. Also, try to This may mean that students who did By reserving larger reading and writ-
use a variety of exercises rather than not complete the homework will fill in ing assignments for homework as-
the same ones over and over again. the answers as they come up in class signments, you can maximize your
but if you notice a student doing this, class time by conducting lots of
When handing out homework, go you can mark him down for not doing speaking and listening activities.
over the directions in class to check the work at home and should take some Homework also gives you more
that students understand what time to talk to the student individually. material to better evaluate indi-
they are expected to do at home. vidual student performance so it
Have students read the instructions is very helpful when used correctly.
aloud and ask them if they have

12
Classroom Conflicts: How to
Smooth Over a Cultural Clash
to explain that to the other student. to share with the class what they
WHEN YOU ARE TEACHING A CLASS learned or could articulate about their
OF STUDENTS FROM ALL OVER THE When you are having these one on home culture. Culture is such an in-
WORLD, YOU ARE BOUND TO RUN one discussions with your students, grained part of who each individual is
INTO CULTURAL CLASHES FROM take a warning. You may initially have that we are often not even aware of
TIME TO TIME. a difficult time getting your students to our cultural values. Think of culture
A clash may come because one na- open up and be honest with you. In like an iceberg – you can only see a
tionality has a bad historical relation- some cultures, it is inappropriate for small portion of it above the water,
ship with another culture. A clash a student to have that type of conver- but the largest part is hidden un-
can come because of differences sation with a teacher, especially if the der the water. Grouping students by
in cultural values: what is culturally student thinks he may be criticizing his nationality can help them understand
appropriate in one culture may be teacher. Help your students know from themselves as well as one another.
highly inappropriate in another. You the beginning that is it okay for them to
may even end up with classroom share with you their honest thoughts Remember, throughout the class
conflict because your students have and feelings, and that this type of discussion and activities, you
misunderstood each other through honesty will not affect their grades. should not bring up the incident
the common barrier of the English that caused the initial conflict or the

2
language. Whatever the reason, you
TAKE IT TO THE CLASS students who were involved in it.
can overcome cultural clashes if you

3
remain calm and address the situa- Once you have had individual MAKE UP
tion in a sensitive and careful manner. conversations with your students in-
volved in the conflict, your next step You will have to judge at this point
HOW TO PROCEED is to take a more generalized ver- whether you will have to further ad-
sion of the issue to the class. dress the conflict through a combined

1 HAVE A CHAT
The first thing you will need to
For example, if the conflict arose from
one person crossing her legs and
discussion with the involved individu-
als. If this is necessary, schedule a time
completely separate from class for the
do when overcoming a cultural clash pointing at another, you may want to three of you to sit and talk together.
between students is to understand bring the topic of body language to
why each of your students is up- your class for discussion. Set aside During this discussion, you should
set. Have a short sit down with each some time, or integrate it into what take the role as facilitator of the
of the people involved, the offended you have already planned, to give a discussion. Part of this job is to
and the offender, separately. Discuss lesson on culture. Help your students make sure each of the students un-
what happened or did not and what understand the value differences be- derstands what the other means and
offended the student. Try to see the tween cultures. Be careful not to bring not just the words he or she says.
situation from each person’s perspec- unnecessary attention to the specific You may need to give your students
tive. Because you are an ESL teacher students involved in the initial conflict, permission to agree to disagree if no
and have worked with internation- but address the issue from a global per- resolution can be achieved. In the
als, you are probably able to look at spective. Look at it from many different best of circumstances, your students
a given situation through the eyes angles and many different viewpoints. will walk away having resolved their
of another’s culture. You know that conflict and increased their under-
values differ among different people Keep your classroom open and standing of one another’s culture.
groups and that certain innocent be- nonthreatening by allowing all of
haviors may be offensive to a particu- your students to weigh in on whatever
lar group of people. (For example, topic you are discussing. You can do YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PANIC THE
it is offensive for either a man or this by preparing some discussion NEXT TIME A CULTURAL CLASH
a woman to cross his or her legs questions on the topic or issue that STORMS ITS WAY INTO YOUR
in Thailand because pointing, CLASSROOM.
even with the foot, is offensive.) caused the conflict. Allowing your stu-
dents to discuss the situation among If you have open communication
themselves in a friendly manner will be with your students helping them
With the person who offended the oth-
even more effective than having the understand one another, you will
er, you may want to try to understand
teacher up front lecturing on the issue. be surprised at the good that can
her intentions behind her actions. This
come from a problematic situa-
may be especially important if the
Though it may be risky, you can even tion. Keep your cool, be honest
clash came about because of a lan-
group students by nationality for the and patient, and a cultural clash
guage difficulty. If you can understand
discussion, and then ask each group may end up being a cultural class.
your student first, you may be able

13
 15 Little Tricks to Get Your
Class’s Attention (and Hold It)
BEGINNINGS ARE ALWAYS THE
HARDEST. ASK ANY TEACHER WHO
WALKS IN AT THE BEGINNING OF
3 USE A VISUAL RELATED TO
THE INSTRUCTION
ginning. Then tailor the material to the
class: for example, if you are teaching
the past tense and find students al-
ready have control over the simple past
Holding up a striking picture related
THE CLASS SESSION AND FINDS and past progressive, find out what
to the session, such as environmen-
CASY TEXT-MESSAGING SOMEONE, they know about the past perfect. Or if
tal debris if the class topic is related
KATIE AND SAM CHATTING, AND you’ve given all three tenses at them,
to the environment, is sure to get all
TOM SNOOZING. assuming it’s just review, but they ap-
eyes on you. Don’t comment on it, al-
low students to start the dialogue. pear lost, focus on just one tense.

4 3
This behavior isn’t limited to children,
MAKE A STARTLING STATE- USE CHORAL CHANTS OF
either: inattention is endemic in our
fast-paced culture with so much MENT OR GIVE A QUOTE MATERIAL
competing media and information dis- Better for lower-level students, having
tracting us. However, it is necessary Writing a surprising statement or
quote related to the content on the students chant together key phrases
to get the class’s attention at the or sentences from the material gets
beginning of the session to establish board has a similar effect: for example
“More than half of children in Cali- them focused on the material. This
order, the plan for the day, and begin also provides practice in the rhythm
fornia speak some language other
instruction. But it’s not always so easy. and intonation of English.
than English at home” if the topic is
language acquisition.

4
What can you do to get the class’s at-
MAKE PRESENTATIONS

5
tention riveted on you?
WRITE A POP QUIZ CLEAR
STARTING OFF STRONG QUESTION ON THE BOARD
Use of clear charts and visuals hold
Often students goof off because they
Write a basic comprehension ques- students’ attention and make the con-
just don’t know what else to do. You
tion related to the reading on the tent clear.
can start strong every day by es-
board. Students have to answer it on

5
tablishing a clear routine and ex-
pectations for starting off: that they slips of paper and turn them in. This INVOLVE STUDENTS IN
come to attention, be in their seats, gets students focused right away on LECTURE
and ready to work. Hold to this rou- course material. The question can
tine to establish order in the class. then lead to discussion after the quiz. Don’t just lecture on the past tense
with charts and board work - this will
Having a clear plan for the day surely put everyone to sleep. During
also gets student’s attention. 10 TIPS FOR the lecture, stop to ask students about
HOLDING last weekend, summer, etc., to keep
5 TIPS TO GET ATTENTION them involved in the content and prac-
THE CLASS’S ticing the material.
ATTENTION Now you have your students’ atten-

1 CHANGE THE LEVEL AND

tion. Holding it is another story.
6 USE HUMOR

1
Use of humor related to the con-
TONE OF YOUR VOICE RELEVANT TASKS
tent is another attention-getter: stu-
Know your students and relate dents appreciate teachers who know
Often just changing the level and tone
content to them, and relate the content how to use humor appropriately related
of your voice, lowering it or raising it,
to the course objectives. For example, to the material. For example, relating a
will signal to the students it’s time to
if the content is the Vietnam War, find- brief humorous anecdote about what
pay attention.
ing out what they already know about a bad day you had yesterday to dem-

2
the Vietnam War and how it relates to onstrate past tense verbs will get stu-
USE PROPS LIKE A BELL OR dents’ attention and lighten the mood.
their lives is important.
WHISTLE
Better for lower level or younger
learners, props like these clear-
ly mark beginnings, endings, and
2 TEACH AT APPROPRIATE
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY 7 ESTABLISH THE ROUTINE,
TASK, AND TIME LIMIT
Material too hard or too difficult can If students are to work in groups, for
other transitions within the class. ’
result in student inattention. Check for example, they should know which
understanding or boredom at the be- group they belong in, what they will be

14
doing, and for how long.

8 PLAN CAREFULLY AND FULLY; MAKE THE PLAN APPARENT TO STUDENTS

Students will lose focus if the objectives and plan for the lesson are not clear to them. Writing what the class will be
doing on the board helps keep focus.

9 DIVIDE TASKS INTO MANAGEABLE SUBSKILLS

If students are going to be participating in a class debate, telling them to “Debate the issue” may result in a lot
of students wandering around confused. Outline what is involved in a debate on the board and break it down: today
decide the issue and our sides, tomorrow establish the roles within our teams, the next day research, and so forth.

10 ESTABLISH CLEAR ROLES

In doing the debate, to continue the example, everyone within the group should have a task: either prepar-
ing some research for the debate, outlining the debate, preparing a counterargument, etc. If everyone’s role is clear, and
everyone has a job to do, this results in less web-surfing and updating Facebook profiles during class. (Yes, adults and
ESL students do it, too.)

FOLLOWING THESE GUIDELINES OF STARTING STRONG AND PLANNING FOR HOLDING THE CLASS’S ATTENTION
WILL RESULT IN A LESSON THAT ALL STUDENTS WILL PARTICIPATE IN FULLY.

15
Keep Your Cool: Tips for
Handling Difficult Students
always find some way to be a better the teacher, you do not have to make
IMAGINE THIS: YOU ARE TRYING TO teacher, teaching a challenging student all the learning happen solely by your
GIVE A LESSON ON THE PAST PRO- becomes an opportunity rather than hand. Use the resources you have
GRESSIVE TENSE. a chore. Use the situation to your ad- in other students to reach the ones
You stand up at the white board talking vantage to refine and deepen your craft you are having difficulty reaching.
about agreement between the subject as a teacher. All of your students, both
and the helping verb and that this tense current and future, will benefit from it. You can also change things up by
is used to describe a continuous action breaking out of your curriculum

T
that was happening at a specific point in
the past. While most students are listen- AKE A CLOSER LOOK when necessary to challenge stu-
dents who are beyond what today’s
ing and concentrating, a child in the back Ann, a special education teacher, schedule says to teach. There is noth-
taps his pencil, kicks his feet against the gives this advice when dealing with a ing wrong with assigning special proj-
desk, leans back in his chair and then difficult student. “Read your students.” ects to advanced students or letting
falls over on to the ground. With the What she means is to pay attention to them work at their own pace even if it
clatter from the back come laughs from facial expression and body language as is beyond where the class is. When a
the front of the classroom, an end zone you teach. Challenge yourself to spend student is not challenged in class, it is
style dance from the student in ques- more time facing your students than not uncommon for that student to ex-
tion and a complete loss of concentra- you do the white board. Look at them hibit behavioral problems. A student
tion about any facet of English gram- and notice the difficulty coming be- who is challenged, on the other hand,
mar. What is an ESL teacher to do? fore it hits you and your classroom will be more cooperative and tolerant
in full force. As you do this, pay atten- when the class is studying something
Almost every teacher has had a tion to why the misbehavior is begin- he understood long before that time.
difficult student in one class or ning. Sometimes students are not chal-
another, and some of us are lucky lenged. They may be a quick learner Getting physical is another great way to
enough to have one in every class. and find themselves bored before the help students who have difficulty sitting
lesson is over. They may be a struggling and paying attention to a whole lesson.
Though we want to be good teachers student who has not understood previ- When a student starts fidgeting, it is
and be sensitive to our students, having ous lessons and is giving up on this one time to get your students up and mov-
a difficult student in class is confus- as well. There may be a learning disabil- ing. If you can, relate some physical ac-
ing and frustrating for us. We want to ity coming into play. If you suspect this, tion to whatever you are teaching. Use
give our student the best education that talk to an expert on the signs of and so- Simon Says to teach the grammar of
we can, but we do not want to condone lutions for different learning disabilities. commands. Have a student follow your
misbehavior and disruption. If you find Another reason they may be acting up is instructions and move about the room.
yourself in this situation now or in the because of a cultural issue of which you Do partnering activities where students
future, take heart. Here are some tips may not be aware. All of these situations must move their desks or walk to anoth-
for handling difficult students that and more can make class hard to han- er area of the room. Anything you can
will help you teach better and enable dle for both you and your student. Take do to engage the body with the mind will
them learn better at the same time. heart, teacher. There are things you can help these students be more attentive
do to make things easier on you both. and absorbent to what you are teach-

I T’S NOT ABOUT YOU

Though it may be a tough thing to
C HANGE IT UP
ing. Even if you cannot relate something
physical to what you are teaching, take
a seventh inning stretch to make the fi-
hear, the first step is to remember it is Group work can be the most ef- nal part of the lesson more accessible.
not about you. As a teacher, you are fective way of engaging under and over
there to educate, guide and help your performing students. Pair your most There are many ways to help engage
students. You are not there to have a advanced students with those who are students who may have behavior is-
captive audience hanging on your every struggling. In this, your advanced stu- sues. The most important thing to
word. We teachers sometimes have to dent will become more of a teacher, remember is not to take it personally.
shift our focus and remember why we challenging her to explain and learn the
started teaching in the first place. It is material better. Your struggling student Students do not refuse to engage be-
so easy to be caught up in our natural gets individual attention and, perhaps, cause they do not want to learn. If
patterns as a teacher, especially when a different explanation of the concept you can find the underlying issue be-
they have been effective up until this being taught. Sometimes, too, a stu- hind the disruptive behavior, you can
point. Having difficult students reminds dent with the same native language tailor your lessons or assignments to
us that we, too, need challenges and as the one who is challenging may be best meet your students’ needs. As a
changes in our teaching style. If you can able to explain something in way in teacher, you do not always have to do
germinate the attitude in yourself that which it is easier for the challenging things by the book. In fact, the best
you can always improve, always learn, student to understand. Though you are teachers are often the ones who do not.

16
How to Teach the Millennial
Generation
The Millennial Generation, or
Generation Y, is that generation
born 1980-2000. They have never
For example, when explaining verb
tense, a handout graphically display-
ing the different tenses is helpful. Or a
quick search on YouTube before class
5 INCORPORATE TECHNOLO-
GY – CLIPS, IPODS, BLOGS,
AND VIDEO GAMES
known a world without computers, can yield some impressive results. For
so they are sometimes also called Students are used to technologi-
example, if the presentation is about
the “Net Generation” and “digital cal devises, so incorporate them in
urban decay and pollution, pictures of
natives.” Speaking generally of class instruction. This can be as sim-
a major landfill can spark a discussion.
the generation rather than of ev- ple as having students type, research,
Reproductions of famous paintings,
ery individual within it, some of the and illustrate their own papers as part
such as those by Picasso, can also
positive aspects of its members are of class. Or make use of YouTube’s
serve as a starting place for discussion
that they tend to be global in out- resources: for example, when teach-
and writing. Finally, having students
look and accepting of differences. ing an article on the alleged “Stupid-
bring in their own visuals to represent
However, they are also used to instant ity Epidemic” in the U.S., include a
something the class has just read and
gratification, multitasking, and can clip from YouTube of Jay Leno’s “Jay-
explain the connection also works well.
present some challenges to classroom walking”, in which he walks the street

3
instruction, such as inattentiveness and asks passersby seemingly easy
INCORPORATE GROUP questions (and doesn’t always get the
and overuse of technological devic-
es. Given that a major component of WORK correct answer): “What color is the
teaching is connecting with learners, White House?” When students are
Group work can also be highly suc- reading a novel, set up a class blog
what are some methods that teach- cessful with Generation Y because
ers can use to connect with the mil- and have students blog about it so
they have worked in groups all of their that it is an interactive rather than the
lennial generation and keep their lives. After a brief lecture on a topic
interest? more traditional and personal journal.
such as global warming, move stu- If students are text-messaging each
HOW TO TEACH dents into groups and have them dis- other all the time, make that a class
GENERATION Y cuss it and come up with causes and
possible solutions. Every member of
assignment. Having students translate
text messages into standard or formal

1
the group should have a role within English can raise awareness on regis-
ALTER THE LECTURE that group, such as the researcher to ter differences. Or design a lecture in
FORMAT review the text or writer to take notes. podcast format, post it on a class web-
There should also be a leader to keep site, and have students download and
The lecture does not have to be dis- everyone on task. It is also effective
pensed with completely, and some- listen to it at home. Some instructors
to vary the group structure within have also used simulations and video-
times it is a necessary, efficient, and a class period, going from whole
even powerful method to relate in- games effectively in their classes. Oth-
class to small group to pair work in- er instructors have exploited the use of
formation. But the lecture alone only struction.
reaches a select number of students. Digital Gaming, interactive games in
which students work online, assume a

4
Instead of just lecturing, make the lec-
TEACH BY DISCOVERY role, and work toward some common
ture interactive. Ask students ques-
tions or offer examples, and make use goal. Other instructors use social net-
Another alternative to the lecture working sites where students can col-
of Powerpoint, which students are ac- format is to teach by discovery. In-
customed to, to support the lecture in laborate on projects. These sites are
stead of telling students the informa- of particular help to more introverted
the class. It is easy to load slides and tion, have them discover it themselves.
text into Powerpoint to create a lecture individuals, who are more likely than
If students have just read a short story, extraverts to locate their authentic
on the Holocaust, for example. Or give for example, have them work together
students an outline of the lecture for “selves” in cyberspace.
to determine the major message or
them to fill in to keep them involved. theme of the story, or present them
Finally, make the lecture as short as with a dilemma, and have them come HOLDING THE ATTENTION OF
possible, just enough time to relate up with the solution. Or when introduc- GENERATION Y IS NOT EASY AS THEY
the necessary information before mov- ing a new reading, present students ARE USED TO HAVING INFORMA-
ing into a different mode of instruction. with a series of vocabulary words relat- TION COME AT THEM FROM VARIOUS
ed to the reading and have them deter- SOURCES.

2 INCORPORATE VISUALS
Incorporating visuals will also aid
mine what the words have in common
and group them accordingly. This will
have the additional affect of preparing
But with careful planning and being
flexible, turning Generation Y from
passive learners text messaging their
friends in the back of the room into ac-
a lecture. Learners respond more to students for the reading’s topic and vo-
a presentation if it is contextualized. cabulary. tive learners is possible.

17
 Top 5 Productivity Tips
for ESL Teachers
As soon as you’re ready to head for
DO YOU OFTEN FIND YOURSELF school, all you need to do is grab your enough you might just get the pho-
STRAPPED FOR TIME? EVER GET materials for the day. We guarantee tocopier’s undivided attention. Also,
THE FEELING YOU HAVE SPENT your week will go by much smoother! if you need to set up props, posters,
WAY TOO MUCH TIME ON SOME- decorate the classroom, or get video

2
THING THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN or audio material set up, it’s best to
ELIMINATE ALL DISTRAC-
EASIER AND FASTER TO DO? get it all done before your students
TIONS start to arrive. You may even have
Have you ever thought “there has If you only set aside two hours on Sun- enough time to enjoy a good cup of
to be another way, a better, more coffee in the peace and tranquility of
day to plan a whole week’s worth of
productive way to get this done”? your empty classroom. There’s no
ESL lessons, you need to make those
Do you wish you had more free time better way to start a productive day!
two hours count. Imagine these two
to spend on a hobby or with your
hours are sacred and essential to
family? If you have answered any of
your weekly planning. If possible,
these questions with a resounding
“yes!”, then what you need are ways
to improve your productivity, strate-
gies that will help you make the most
put your phone on mute, and if you’re
at the computer disable all incoming
email alerts. Try to resist the tempta-
5 TAKE ADVANTAGE OF
TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS

tion to see what’s up on Facebook, There are lots of tools and applica-
of your time and allow you to enjoy tions out there that are HUGE time-
Twitter, or any other social media site.
your classes, free from last-minute savers, and will do wonders for your
rushes and stress. Here are our top productivity. Digital calendars, timers,
The energy and effort you put into
productivity tips for ESL teachers: and to-do lists allow you to have ev-
these two hours of planning will pay
erything you need, a mere click away.
HOW TO INCREASE off later on in the week, when you
You may read more about these tools
YOUR ESL have the chance to go out with some
in one of our articles from this book, 5
PRODUCTIVITY friends for dinner or to a movie.
Must-have Technological Tools to

3
Increase Productivity.
POOL YOUR RESOURCES
1 PLAN IN ADVANCE
Do you sometimes find your-
When you plan a special holi-
day lesson, chances are most of the
AS SOON AS YOU START IMPLE-
MENTING THESE STRATEGIES, YOU
self making flashcards, printing work-
other ESL teachers will be planning WILL NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE.
sheets, or finishing posters the night
one as well. Whenever you teach the FOLLOW THESE TIPS, AND YOU WILL
before a class? Wouldn’t it be great
past simple or the present perfect, BE ABLE TO SCHEDULE SOME TIME
if you could wake up in the morning
chances are another teacher has FOR YOU, TO SPEND WITH FAMILY
and have your lesson and materi-
used a great lesson plan. Schedule AND FRIENDS, OR ENJOYING YOUR
als ready, so that all you have to do
a meeting with the other teachers in FAVORITE HOBBY. IT DOESN’T TAKE
is grab your stuff and go to class?
your school once a month to discuss A WHOLE LOT OF WORK TO BECOME
Well, this is not hard at all to achieve!
any special events, celebrations or A HAPPIER, MORE PRODUCTIVE
lessons. There are plenty of web- TEACHER. IT JUST TAKES SOME
Take 2-3 hours once a week to plan
sites that sell posters and stickers in PLANNING AND ORGANIZATION.
the week ahead. Pick one day, say,
bulk, so why not make a big order
Sunday evening, and schedule your
for everyone? As a group you could
planning session. Plan your lessons If you have any productivity tips that
come up with a system to share great
for the week AND gather the materials work for you, by all means share them
ESL lesson plan ideas, maybe keep
you will need. Find a way to organize with us!
them on file in the teacher’s lounge.
these materials that works best for you.
Perhaps you can use a file cabinet, And when it comes to timesavers,
No man is an island, and neither
and file your lesson plan and materi- don’t forget that BusyTeacher.
is a classroom. No teacher should
als for each day, including ESL work- org is here for you as well, always
have to work alone when he or she
sheets, flashcards, a book you plan available to supply you with great
has the possibility of gaining from oth-
to read, even special props or realia. teaching tips, worksheets, and
ers’ experience.
easy-to-use puzzle creators!

4
If you need to use the school pho-
tocopier, try to schedule one day in GET TO SCHOOL EARLY
which you can copy everything you’ll
need for the week. Try to leave nothing “The early bird catches the
for the last minute or the night before. worm”, and if you get to school early

18
ESL Teamwork: Collaborating
With Colleagues
COLLABORATING WITH YOUR COL-
LEAGUES IN ANY WORK ENVI-
RONMENT CAN HELP GUARAN-
for other students and even parents.
This could be a lot of fun and you may
even choose to turn it into a competi-
tion to see which class performance
4 PRINCIPAL
You can also present ideas to
the principal about how to get your
TEE SUCCESS FOR EVERYONE the audience liked best. ESL students involved in other
INVOLVED. activities around the school. Per-

When working together, people can

contribute their unique skills for a bet-
ter overall result. This is the same
2 ENGLISH TEACHERS –
DIFFERENT COURSE, SAME
STUDENTS
haps you can set up a display in Eng-
lish about the class, school, town, or
country. By approaching the principal
with ideas like this one, you are show-
when it comes to teaching and can ing that you are interested in English
be even more beneficial than in other If your students take English classes
besides yours, consider coordinating being part of the school’s identity and
work places because the students are thinking about how students can
ultimately get more out of their edu- activities with their other instructor or
instructors. An English reading course use their knowledge in practical ways
cational experiences when teachers not just theoretical ones.
work together. might have a chapter on poems which
would be a great opportunity to talk
about rhyming words and to encour- Students should be able to use Eng-
Here are some ways you can collabo- lish in real life situations and design-
rate with others at your school. age students to write poems of their
own in your class. ing displays or booths for school fairs
is a great way to encourage this. A
HOW TO WORK AS display like the one suggested would
AN ESL TEAM By talking to other teachers, you can
help one another reinforce themes be something students could be
proud of. For students with a special

1
common in both classes. This will also
ENGLISH TEACHERS – benefit students because they will be interest in English, you can even cre-
SAME COURSE, DIFFERENT able to examine various things related ate an optional English club that
STUDENTS to a single topic in different classes. meets after school once or twice a
week. Working with the principal will

3
If you are not the only teacher in ensure that you are allowed to do cer-
OTHER TEACHERS
charge of a particular course, for ex- tain activities and also have space
ample English I, take the opportu- It would make sense for art either to display work or to meet with
nity to collaborate with teachers of classes to focus on Asian art while students.
other sections of the class. During students are studying Asia in their
exams work together to develop a geography or history class right? The
test that will provide a good baseline You want to be able to work well
same thing can be done with English
for all students. The results will al- with everyone in your school.
lessons if you are willing and able to
low you to see how classes compare coordinate themes with another
to one another. Creating exams can instructor. Consider approaching
also be a lot of work so breaking up WHILE THIS IS NOT ALWAYS POSSI-
art, history, and geography teachers
the responsibilities will lessen your BLE, IT IS AN ADMIRABLE GOAL AND
to get some ideas. Especially with
workload. COLLABORATING WITH OTHERS
younger students incorporating top-
WILL OFTEN HELP YOU FORM
ics from other classes should be very
Additionally, having multiple people BETTER WORKING RELATION-
easy and enjoyable. The material at
review the test will lead to better ac- SHIPS WITH TEACHERS. ALWAYS
this level is not too challenging. First
curacy which is really important when REMEMBER THAT YOUR PRIMARY
grade geography is pretty straightfor-
it comes to test sheets as students FOCUS IS TEACHING STUDENTS
ward while calculus might be a stretch
may become confused if questions or ENGLISH AND WHILE COLLABO-
for some ESL teachers and also hard-
directions are unclear. RATING, BE SURE TO SHARE IN THE
er to link to the English language.
WORK AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF
Another thing you can do is create EACH PROJECT SO THAT YOUR COL-
Where possible, consider tying
a project that all the classes can LEAGUES DO NOT START TO RESENT
things together and let students
participate in. It may be challeng- YOU.
teach you what they have been learn-
ing to work together if classes meet ing in other classes by using English
at different times but one thing you and learning the related vocabulary
could consider doing is putting on a along the way.
performance. Each class could have
its own presentation or skit to perform

19
 5 Sure-Fire Ways to Bond
with Your Class
BONDING WITH YOUR STUDENTS
IS ESSENTIAL NOT ONLY TO THE
SUCCESS OF YOUR CLASS, BUT ALSO
3 GET PERSONAL
Throughout the course, don’t
member, tell him or her how sorry you
are for their loss. If one of them seems
to be having a hard time, if you sense
there’s something going on, don’t be
forget to share with your students little
TO YOUR STUDENTS’ LEARNING. tidbits about your life, particularly if afraid to talk to the student in question
they are things they can relate to. Are to find out what’s wrong. It’s not your
When you effectively bond with them, they excited about the upcoming Bon job to offer solutions or any type of
you create a unique connection be- Jovi concert? Hey, you bought tickets counseling, but you can at least show
tween you and your students, and weeks ago! Is there a movie they’re your concern and point them in the
this connection pretty much guaran- dying to see? Tell them you saw it and right direction.
tees they’ll be more motivated, more what you thought about it.
willing to participate, and more recep-
tive to the activities you propose. If you start the class by asking them NO MATTER WHAT STRATEGY YOU
what they did over the weekend, tell USE TO BOND WITH YOUR STU-
Here are some sure-fire ways to bond them what you did, too. Teachers of- DENTS, ABOVE ALL ELSE, KEEP IT
with your ESL class: ten ask students about their families, REAL AND KEEP IT GENUINE.
activities, and interests, but some ne-
HOW TO PROCEED glect to share their own things, for fear
of it being too personal. Stick to topics If you care enough to want to bond

1 BREAK THE ICE

To start the school year off on
that anyone can talk about and show
them you’re a real person, who has a
life outside of school.
with them, then you care enough to
want to genuinely get to know them,
and let them get to know you. And this
the right foot, it is imperative that you is the best, most effective way to bond
try to bond with them from the start. with them: showing genuine inter-
Once they become familiar with your
On the first day of class, adult ESL est and the desire to form a bond that
cat and the antics he pulls, he’ll be
students in particular, are often self- will help you work together towards
more popular than Garfield with you
conscious or insecure about their achieving all of your ESL goals.
class! And don’t forget to show pic-
English level, so the best way to bond
tures!
with them is to break the ice in ways

4
that will help them relax.
TAKE SOME TIME
Try this for a very original icebreaker. TO CELEBRATE!
Tell students that you’ll begin with a
pop quiz (and ignore their panic-strick- Learning is not only about serious
en faces). Give each of them a sheet study time and targeted activities. To
with quiz questions about you: what avoid falling into the “all work and no
your favorite color is, favorite movie, play” mindset, one that will not help
favorite music, how long you’ve been you bond with your students, schedule
a teacher, even your age. Of course, some special days for celebrations,
they won’t know the right answers - like Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving,
tell them to guess! Afterwards, they and Christmas, and make these days
share their guesses, and you can see all about the fun!
who was right. It’s a fun, non-conven-
tional way to tell them a little bit about Of course, there’s still plenty they
yourself. can learn about American customs
and traditions, but they’ll be too busy

2
having fun to realize they’re actually
SHOW INTEREST IN THEM learning too. Don’t forget to include
If you really want to bond with birthday celebrations.
your students you must show them
you are genuinely interested in them.
Ask them about their hobbies, after-
school activities, and families. Talk
5 SHOW THEM YOU CARE
Bad things happen - that’s a part
to them before class, after class, or of life, and your students are not ex-
during lunch hour, but make sure you empt from heartbreak, sadness, or
know a little bit about each of your stu- worries. If one of your students has
dents. just lost a grandparent, or other family

20
Top 10 Teacher Software Pro-
grams To Use On a Daily Basis
programming is necessary. It creates hangman, word search or multiple
HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED HOW true or false, multiple choice, and choice questions. After you make
MUCH TIME AND EFFORT WE PUT matching quizzes, just to name a few, the game, you obtain a code and a
INTO ALL OF THE THINGS WE DO that you may publish on the Internet URL you can send to your students.
FOR OUR ESL STUDENTS OUTSIDE or send via email with just a few clicks. All in a matter of minutes! All for free!
THE CLASSROOM?

It’s safe to say we spend more time

planning lessons, preparing for class,
correcting and grading, than actually
3 VOCABMAKER
(http://vocabmaker.com/)
6 BOOKSEARCH
(http://www.theabsolute.net/
sware/index.html#booksearch)
teaching. Of course, you put a lot of This is one AWESOME vocabulary
care into each worksheet you design, software for making printable work- No matter how much technol-
but if it’s taking you hours at this day sheets! For a one-year membership ogy we use, we still need to cling
and age when we have so many re- fee of $22.99 you can make an as- to our beloved books. Booksearch
sources and tools at our fingertips, tounding variety of printable work- is a software that allows you to
then you’re not using your time wisely. sheets and puzzles, like matching search and find all types of books,
exercises, word search, fill in the even if they are rare or out of print.
It’s true: there are some teachers out blanks, crossword puzzles, or even
there who are still reluctant to go the bingo cards, among countless others. A great way to save money, as this
technological route, but once you see freeware lets you compare prices be-

4
how much easier your work is, how LESSON PLAN MAKER fore you make your purchase.
much time you save, you’ll never

7
go back to pen and paper again. (http://www.makeworksheets. BINGO CARD PRINTER
com/samples/lessonplans/index.html)
Here are our top 10 teacher soft- (http://www.bingocardprinter.
ware picks, all of which are guar- Need some help organizing your com/)
anteed to make your job easier thoughts and putting together a great
and which you should be using on lesson? MakeWorksheets.com has What would we do without custom
a daily basis: the answer for you. Besides their great made bingo cards? With Bingo Card
teacher software for making all types Printer, you can make your own

1 GRADEKEEPER
(http://www.gradekeeper.com/
of puzzles and worksheets, they also
provide members (one-year member-
ship for $29.99) with a handy little
Bingo cards and choose the size,
font, color scheme, or what they
say. No need to waste your time
index.htm) lesson plan maker that will help you with glue and cardboard anymore.
plan a lesson from your own custom In minutes, you’ll have the bingo
We all know how tedious it can be to lesson plan format, but there are also cards you need ready to be printed.
keep track of scores, attendance, and several templates to choose from.
all of the other information that is rel- You can download a trial version of

5
evant to students’ progress. If you’ve WHAT2LEARN this great software for teachers for
been thinking about investing in some free.
assessment software, Gradekeeper (http://www.what2learn.com/)

8
will not disappoint you. This teaching PICASA
software records grades and scores, Every ESL teacher knows kids love
keeps track of assignments, and even games. What if you need a series (http://picasa.google.com/)
sends progress reports via email. of short computer games to act as
time fillers between activities, or Picasa is a free software developed
With individual licenses available for to give your students a break from by Google, an essential image ed-
$20, there’s no reason not to try it. the more serious type of work? iting tool that will allow you to edit
And what if you could give your stu- the pictures you have stored in your

2 QUIZFABER
(http://www.lucagalli.net/en/)
dents a game specially designed
by you that they can play at home?
PC so you may then use them on
worksheets, coloring pages, games,
flashcards, and all types of activities.
Look no further than What2Learn!
This is a free teacher software that al- From their website you can make You can also create albums to be
lows you to create a great variety of your own fun interactive game with shared with your students.
quizzes in HTML format, but no previ- vocabulary or questions chosen
ous knowledge of HTML or javascript by you, which include options like

21
 9 TESTCOMMANDER
(http://www.etestingsystems.com/)

This teacher software is an invaluable tool for creating professional-looking online or printed tests. You can publish tests
online, and they’re automatically graded, with the test results sent directly to you. Or create tests that you will administer
on paper and print them out.

Also, you can send your test database to others. AND it’s available for free download. Pretty amazing, huh?

10 HILITEXT
(http://www.fanix.com/hilitext.html)

This tool will make your Internet research so much easier as it highlights your keywords, thus allowing you to effectively
and quickly scan a text for the information you need. It saves time and there’s no need to pore over a long text and make
sure you’re not missing anything: the key information will be highlighted for you and in plain sight.

Are Microsoft Word and Excel driving you up the wall? Can’t figure out how to make PDF files? Did you stay up late
to finish that custom made board game? Fortunately, there are people out there, many who happen to be teachers,
who have thought about your needs. Some of these teaching software solutions take the guesswork out of designing
professional looking worksheets, quizzes or tests. Others simply make your work easier and less time-consuming.

SO, WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH YOUR NEWFOUND FREE TIME?

Pick up that book you bought but never got around to reading? Start an ESL blog? Catch up with old school friends on
Facebook? Sip a cold margarita by the pool? Well, the choice is yours, but be prepared to enjoy all of these things and
more with your extra free time.

22
5 Must-Have Technological Tools
to Increase Your ESL Productivity
• Keep all of your worksheets or- drives are easy to use, but the truth of
Not feeling very productive lately? ganized. Keep all your handouts, the matter is that they tend to break,
test papers and other lesson ma- and what’s more, they may carry nasty
You might have read our Top 5 Pro- terials clearly organized and on viruses from computer to computer.
ductivity Tips for ESL Teachers ar- hand.
ticle and as a follow up to that article, If you constantly work from different
we’ll provide you with some specific And these are just a few of the things computers, Google Docs is the solution
technological tools that will help take you can do with Evernote! Synchronize for you. You may access your files from
your ESL productivity to the next level! your devices and have the same notes any computer, anywhere, but you also
available on your phone and desktop! have the option to share documents with
INCREASE YOUR ‘ESL PRODUCTIVITY’ other teachers. Wouldn’t it be great for

2
WITH THESE TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS: REMEMBER THE MILK all of the ESL teachers at your school to
share lesson plans via Google Docs?
(http://www.rememberthemilk.

1 EVERNOTE
( h t t p s : / / w w w. e v e r n o t e . c o m /
com/)

Get rid of the useless piles of ‘to do’ lists

5 MOZY
(https://mozy.com/home)
about/home.php) once and for all! Remember the Milk is
a website that allows you to organize all Even the least technologically savvy
Evernote is an excellent application for of your tasks and send yourself alerts teachers understand the importance
ESL teachers. It can be downloaded for for things that must be done on a par- of backing up files, right? There’s no
free to a great variety of devices, includ- ticular day. In our article, Top 5 Pro- bigger nightmare than realizing that
ing iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android ductivity Tips for ESL Teachers, we your hard drive has just been fried
phones and Mac or Windows comput- recommended that you schedule one by a virus, and you’ve lost years of
ers. This handy little software allows afternoon or evening a week to plan the worksheets and tests in a matter of
you write notes, capture Web pages following week’s lessons. If you need to seconds. Backing up files in external
and even record voice notes in a matter schedule in some additional tasks, like drives or CDs is time-consuming and
of seconds so if you’re ever suddenly shopping for supplies, making copies, tedious. Plus, these devices don’t last
inspired by a great idea all you have to or planning a teacher meeting, simply forever, and this is a task you need to
do is make a quick note either on your add them all to Remember the Milk, schedule on a regular basis for it to be
computer or phone and store it for lat- set your alerts, and relax – you won’t effective. Mozy takes care of it all. For
er. Here’s how you can specifically use forget another important task again! only $5.99 a month, you can have all of
Evernote to improve your productivity: your files safely stored in an online en-

• Organize your notes with tags

– For example, if you start gather-
ing URLs of websites that feature
3 FRESHBOOKS
(http://www.freshbooks.com/)
vironment – automatically. How will you
spend your newly acquired free time?

Christmas lesson plans, tag them Freshbooks takes the guesswork out of TECHNOLOGY HAS ITS ADVANTAGES
as “Christmas”, and you’ll be able personal accounting. This tool allows AND DISADVANTAGES. LIKE ANY-
to access all of your notes for that you keep your financial records safe THING IN LIFE, IT CAN BE MISUSED,
theme with only a click. and at your fingertips, and absolutely AND IN SOME CASES, IT MAY EVEN
free of charge (for a basic account). DEMAND MORE OF OUR TIME.
• Plan for an absence – Evernote Also, this is the best billing tool for ESL
lets you email notes or share an teachers who need to send invoices
entire notebook with a substitute to their students. Freshbooks keeps a But here, we’ve presented tools that
teacher. record of all of your invoices and ex- will only make your life much easier.
penses. It’s intuitive and easy to use Use them wisely and be the most
• Take photos. Snap a pic of your – who said bookkeeping is a struggle? ‘ESL-productive’ you have ever been!
bulletin board for specific month

4 If there is a tool or website that

or celebration and save it for next GOOGLE DOCS
year! The same goes for white- helps YOU increase your produc-
boards. If you happen to have a (https://docs.google. tivity, please share it with us!
very productive mind-mapping com/?pli=1#home)
session, take a photo and use it
later to make a worksheet out of it Google Docs is the ideal tool for teach-
(and then publish it on BusyTeach- ers who share or work from different
er.org!). computers on a regular basis. USB

23
Teaching Adults How-To:
Advantages and Challenges
Teaching adult learners can be very next level. Even those who are “forced” lenge? Rather than excusing them from
rewarding, but very challenging as to study due to circumstances like re- doing homework or at home activities,
well. We mustn’t forget we’re dealing location to an English-speaking country give them several, but shorter tasks to
with individuals who have their own have a specific reason to learn, and a do. For instance, instead of giving them
lives outside of school, some with very goal that will motivate them to learn. something that might take them from 20
busy schedules. But adult learners are How can we take advantage of their to 40 minutes, give them a 5 or 10 min-
also better equipped for dialogue and motivation to learn? Although your ute exercise, but several, so that they
exchange. students may have the initial motiva- may do one a day, in between meetings,
tion to enroll in classes, it may vanish or while they’re on their lunch break. Ask
THE ADVANTAGES into thin air if they suddenly face activi-
ties and tasks that don’t inspire them to
them to watch a 5 minute video while
they have breakfast and then summa-

A
learn. To effectively motivate them, rize it. Keep the tasks short and focused.
UTONOMOUS LEARNERS simply consider their goals. Do they

F
When we teach English to adults, want to learn English to do business? RUSTRATION
we’re dealing with individuals who, to a Plan activities that specifically cater to
greater or lesser degree, have a set of this goal, like job interviews, business Unlike children, adult learners
study skills, acquired in their previous realia, or business email writing. Are tend to be very self-conscious, par-
schooling. At the very least, they pos- they learning just for fun? Provide a ticularly about the way they speak and
sess writing, summarizing, and note- variety of activities that will keep them their pronunciation. They also tend
taking skills. They know perfectly well engaged, like videos, games, or even to get frustrated more easily. They
what it’s like to attend classes, and the field trips. get discouraged if they think they’ve
greater their commitment to their learn- made little to no progress, especial-
ing, the more organized they are, and
the more skills they are willing to deploy.
How do we fully take advantage of
A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE
One of the greatest advantages of
ly advanced students who may feel
they’ve reached a language plateau,
beyond which they can’t progress. Fi-
their previously acquired study skills? teaching adult learners is the incredible nally, they are also very hard on them-
Ask them to produce a summary of a amount of knowledge and experience selves sometimes, demanding unre-
video seen in class, or a reading as- they can bring to class. We mustn’t for- alistic things like perfect pronunciation
signment. Encourage them to prepare get that although they may know little or listening. How can we help them?
charts or graphs. Feel free to assign English, they most likely know a great
more challenging types of homework deal about something else, whether First, inform your students on what
assignments, not necessarily more it is their professional area of exper- should be realistic goals. Make sure
time-consuming, as most adults learn- tise or simply a hobby, and these may they’re clear on what the course pro-
ers don’t have a great deal of free be things you know nothing about. gram is for the year and what they
time on their hands, but they may How can we tap into this wealth of are expected to learn. Also, explain to
handle more mentally-challenging ex- knowledge? It’s as easy as asking them that their brains are not as flex-
ercises. Never underestimate them. your adult students to talk about what ible as children’s brains, which makes
The first characteristic of adult learn- they know about. For example, a be- it practically impossible for them to
ers you should learn is that they are ginner who is really into cars can make lose their accent. This does not mean
not children, and they don’t need help comparisons: A Mercedes is more that they can’t improve their pronun-
with their homework.
expensive/faster/more efficient than ciation, but that they’ll always have
a Ford. An advanced student can give an accent that is part of who they are.

M
a presentation on marketing basics for
OTIVATED INDIVIDUALS the rest of the class. If you’re teach- Secondly, to help them track their prog-
Most adults who enroll in Eng- ing business English to adults, you can ress, end each class with a What have
lish courses, do so of their own volition. practically ask them to teach you every- you learned today? They may have
This is another characteristic of adult thing they know about business! learned about a specific topic, a new
learners. Their needs may vary, but the tense, or a whole new set of vocabulary.
fact of the matter is they feel an inter-
est in learning, a need, sometimes
THE CHALLENGES But make sure they are aware of this.

L
even an urgency to study English. Some
ACK OF TIME By far the best thing about teach-
need to improve their English commu- ing adult learners is the amazing
nication skills to do business or have Very few adult learners have tons things you’ll learn from them. Give
better chances of advancement in their of free time on their hands. Most have them everything they need to ad-
careers. Others want to travel to Eng- full time jobs and careers, some study, vance and grow, but also be open
lish-speaking countries and want to get and it’s hard for them to find the time to everything they’ll share with you.
around on their own. Others still, simply to take an English course, let alone You’ll see how you grow as teacher
enjoy it, or studied it when they were do homework and study after class. too!
kids and want to take their English to the How can we overcome this chal-
24
Top 8 Tips on Teaching
Absolute Beginners
When we talk about low-level students, it comes to teaching vocabulary, as a good idea to give them a broad range
we’re not talking about teaching the students are able to simply put the vo- of activities. This ensures that they can
students about the difference between cabulary with a real life object. This can make an improvement in all areas. Learn-
present simple and past simple tenses. be done with practically anything, from ing a variety of skills will also help with
We are talking about a level 0 student the whiteboard marker in your hand, or other areas of English too. By practicing
who can barely string a single sentence even flowers from the garden. Another reading, the students will get a very good
together or has utter difficulties when common form of realia is photos. Pho- understanding of grammar and vocabu-
answering the question ‘How are you?’ tos make a great way to show the stu- lary, as they can see the words correctly
Teaching absolute beginners can dents an object or person that is real. used and in context. Listening is also a
be quite a tough task, especially for One activity that works well with abso- good way to learn new words while help-
native speakers with little understand- lute beginners is learning about families. ing their speaking. By listening to a re-
ing of the L1 of the students. Never- Both you and the students can take your cording, students should try to copy the
theless, with a little bit of help and the family photos into the class and share manner in which a native speaker says
right guidance, a teacher can definitely them while describing the relative in the the words. This will help significantly
make a strong improvement to the stu- photo. Flashcards and other visuals, later down the track in accent reduction.
dent providing them with the confidence such as PowerPoint presentations are
they need to take them to the next level. an ideal way to learning new vocabulary.
7 REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT
HOW TO TEACH COMPLETE BEGIN-
NERS 4 KNOW A FEW BASIC WORDS
AND PHRASES IN THE STU-
DENTS’ LANGUAGE
When teaching absolute begin-
ners, it is important to repeat all com-
mands in order to give them a chance to

1 SMILING HELPS
Ah yes, number one on the list, a
While many language schools discour-
age any usage of the students’ L1 by
listen to the individual words. By repeat-
ing your commands, the students are
more likely to understand what you are
smile is something that can be under- the teacher, we find that knowing a few saying, as they may be able to under-
stood on a universal level. When build- words and phrases here and there prove stand specific words, and then contextu-
ing a rapport with your absolute begin- to be extremely helpful. This helps with ally put the action and word together. For
ner, smiling will build trust and show him getting your point across in the class, more advanced students at about a level
or her that you are there in a supportive and teaching some of the simpler vo- 0-1, one ideal way of improving the stu-
capacity. Body language is also a useful cabulary. While many ESLers have been dent’s vocab is to repeat the instruction
tool when teaching English, as it is of- converted to the theory that students will using different words. If the student is
ten said that about 70% of our commu- learn by being constantly exposed to unfamiliar with the vocabulary, they can
nication is done through body language. the language, they should think back to generally use their brain to connect the
Body language is great when trying to their own time at school when they were dots while learning through the context.
get answers from student, showing if learning a different language. Surely
the student is incorrect, or even if you
want to elicit an answer from a student.
if native English speaker with a level 0
in Japanese walked into a class where
the teacher spoke only Japanese, then
8 CHILL, RELAX, BE CALM.
DON’T STRESS!

2 FIND AN ASSISTANT
When you’re teaching a group of
the level 0 English-speaker would prob-
ably have gained very little. Same rule
applies for students learning English.
Even though sometimes you may feel
like you’re not helping, or that the work
you are doing is in vain, give it a few
absolute beginners, it is more than likely weeks. Things will begin to pan out

5
that you will have one of the students in nicely after a few weeks as you begin to
the class who would be a little bit above SPEAK...... SLOWLY.....
find your feet and build a strong rap-
the others. You should use this student This is one of the more obvious tips port with your students. They will also
to your advantage and make them your to make the list, but teachers should begin to understand your teaching meth-
class assistant. This class assistant can be reminded to speak slow. With vast odology and begin to pick up on all vi-
help communicate the task, vocabulary number of coffee addicts who rely on sual clues, hand signals, body language,
and other useful things that the other their fix to get through six-straight hours and everything else that you employ in
students may not yet have an under- of teaching, sometimes we can tend to helping them learn the target language.
standing. Finding an assistant in the get a little ahead of ourselves. Always If you put in the time with them, they will
class makes things easier and creates a keep this somewhere close to the fore- always look back on you as being their
great atmosphere when the students can front of your mind, or write it at the top first English teacher who really made
help each other in the learning process. of your lesson plan in big writing. This the effort to help and assist them.
is a great way for remembering to keep

3 USE REALIA, FLASHCARDS

AND OTHER VISUALS
the pace down throughout your class.
TEACHING ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS CAN
BE A TOUGH TASK, BUT WITH A LITTLE
Realia is ESL jargon for anything that
is ‘real’. Realia is great method when 6 TEACH ALL FOUR SKILLS
For early learners of English, it is
KNOW-HOW AND THE RIGHT ATTI-
TUDE, ANYONE CAN SUCCEED.
25
 How to Teach English
to Beginners
like you to speak at a normal speed, tory is taught. There is no room for
STUDENTS JUST STARTING THEIR you can speed up slightly but a nor- lectures because luckily as the teach-
ENGLISH STUDIES RISK BEING OVER- mal speed would not be appropriate er, you already know how to speak
WHELMED BY NEW MATERIAL. for beginners. At the intermediate English while the students really need
and advanced levels, you may speak to practice more than anything else.
more rapidly as their grasp on Eng- Getting students to communicate with
Showing them that lessons can be lish increases and they can follow you you and each other in a positive cre-
fun and that they can perform well is better but it may still be challenging ative environment should be the goal
important to get them engaged in and for them. of every language teacher.
positive about your classes. Your cur-
riculum should be designed with this When you do choral repetition or You can incorporate many different
in mind so be sure to dedicate plenty drill exercises, be sure to enunciate games into your lessons and with lots
of time to each section. If students clearly and be loud enough for the of miming and role plays students will
are doing better than expected, simply entire class to hear you. It is often dif- probably laugh at you, in a good way,
use the free lesson period to review or ficult for people to understand you, if on more than one occasion.
better yet, have fun with a cultural les- your mouth is hidden from view which
son or holiday activity. is odd because your students are sup- Taking the focus away from gram-
posed to be listening but even so, try mar rules and focusing on commu-
HOW TO PROCEED to direct your attention towards your nication will encourage them to try
students, as opposed to the black- their best, which is all you can re-

1 LESSON MATERIAL
Especially with beginners it is
board for instance, when you are talk-
ing to them and hold flashcards at an
appropriate level.
ally ask of them.

Students just beginning their English

important to go slowly. There is a studies have absolutely no idea what

3
steep learning curve at the very be-
ginning of their studies especially if
PRACTICE to expect so it is beneficial to you and
all their later English teachers to help
you are the first to introduce them to Choose practice activities that them enjoy it by encouraging them
the Latin alphabet. are simple, easy to understand, and and showing them that learning an-
easy to explain. Using lots of words other language is not an overwhelm-
Try to introduce manageable chunks that students don’t recognize to ex- ing task.
of information and do not add in more plain how to do a practice activity is
information until your students are only going to further confuse them.
comfortable with what they have al- In many cases a demonstration
ready covered. This may mean that may be your best option. As your
they are not able to understand the students improve, you can introduce
purpose of learning certain things ini- more complex activities but if an activ-
tially but perhaps after a few lessons ity ever takes longer to explain that to
on a topic, you can help put it all to- complete, it is not worth doing again.
gether and then they will be amazed
at how much they have learned. Practice activities should revolve
around students having the opportu-
For example, in one lesson you may nity to speak English so even work-
teach your students the words I, you, sheets should be used for that pur-
he/she/it and what they mean but pose. After a worksheet has been
they cannot make sentences with this completed, ask for volunteers to read
vocabulary until you give them some the questions, translate the questions,
verbs to work with which may not be and give the answers. Try to involve
appropriate until a later lesson. as many students as possible and
give them continuous positive feed-

2 TEACHER TALKING back.

4
In the classroom you will also
have to slow down your talking
HAVE FUN
speed. Students are never going to Language studies give students
understand you if you are talking a the opportunity to learn in a different
mile a minute. If you assist a teacher way. English should not be taught
who is not a native speaker and would the same way Mathematics or His-

26
How To Teach Japanese Adults:
Part One
Teaching adults in Japan is an
interesting and worthwhile life
experience.
2 BE POSITIVE IN YOUR
APPROACH
have something tangible to evidence
their learning i.e. a textbook, a hand-
out, something written on the board that
can be copied. If you are talking to the
It’s relatively easy compared to other Many people pursue hobbies very suc-
cessfully and are willing and studious. students, practicing ad-lib conversa-
countries, but don’t be mistaken that tions, drilling or doing correction tech-
this will adequately prepare you for So why should your situation be other-
wise? Then you learn that our stereo- niques, you are teaching on your terms,
other Asian scenarios, such as Korea but perhaps not to the satisfaction of all
or China. Japan and its people are very typed Mrs. Tanaka likes to study English
on Wednesday because it’s before her your students. They can’t visibly see or
unique in many ways that you have ‘show’ such learning to friends or fam-
yet to imagine on your TEFL journey. It Tai Chi class. She is also ‘learning’ Ko-
rean due to the current popularity of their ily and there is a tendency for them to
may come as an initial shock that your believe that this is wasted or idle time.
students can read and write in English dramas on television and takes Chinese
classes twice a month too. You have to

5
albeit with superficial comprehension
of the meaning, but are virtually inept commend her linguistic aspirations, but DO MORE IN-CLASS
in the other two skills of listening and you are beginning to appreciate that the PRACTICE
most importantly in our communicative level of foreign language input may cer-
tainly be a factor in her confused Eng- Will your students practice or revise
age – speaking. Your students will have
lish output in your class. She also likes what they have learned? Unfortunately
experienced Japanese teacher-focused
to practice calligraphy, do ikebana and in the vast majority of cases the answer
techniques, but their mentors will have
play the Japanese shamisen in her free is a resounding NO. They are unlikely
been inadequately trained in TEFL and
time when she is not hiking, doing yoga to speak English from the moment they
lacked the confidence themselves to
or going on foreign trips. Your students set foot outside the classroom, until
speak in English. They did not aim to
will have a lot of latent vocabulary. they step in it again on the next occa-
motivate their learners to communicate
Unfortunately it was devised and memo- sion. Usually their English file sits in
and this English language incompe-
rized purely for testing purposes at High a designated spot at home and is re-
tence is inherent throughout all levels of
School and tertiary educational levels trieved on class day only. When they
Japanese society.
and has little relevance in useful life travel overseas they invariably travel
HOW TO PROCEED skills. You will have to wean them off rote
learning and assuage their constant con-
in groups with a Japanese tour opera-
tor and experience a very sheltered and

1
cerns for accuracy rather than fluency. protected holiday without exposure to
BE PREPARED the targeted language. You tell them
As a Japanese teacher’s role is
very important, your students will be
respectful, obedient and disciplined. If
3 BE PUNCTUAL
As diligent teachers we all like to be
of the array of services available on
the Internet, the free children’s materi-
als they can obtain in their local librar-
ies, the English sections in bookshops,
you give homework assignments they punctual. You want to be fully prepared
will normally be done as instructed, but and create a good relationship and rap- how to listen to CDs and watch vid-
before you start to celebrate remember port with your students, so you get to eos and DVDs to enhance the lessons
that their reserved nature and polite- class early to arrange seating, write up studied, the bi-lingual news on TV etc.
ness generally means stifled interactiv- lesson outlines, have pre-lesson con- But it will generally fall on deaf ears.
ity. They are reluctant to question the versations etc. This is worthy practice
teacher or even participate in class at but you need to be very careful in your But in this English Pandora’s box,
times. As you are teaching adults you timing. If you get there too early you will there remains HOPE. Some students
may feel it safe to assume that as they soon find that Mrs. Tanaka suddenly really do try to improve their English
are studying of their own volition there appears there too and if not quickly ad- ability. They surprise you with their ac-
are no extrinsic factors compelling dressed this will soon become ‘her free tivities and make your job feel worth-
them to attend and that they want to one to one lesson time.’ You will witness while. It may be a diary page they
‘learn.’ This is compounded by the fact the classic ‘English bandit’ style, when wrote, a report they want you to check,
that they are paying their own ‘educa- she insidiously steals your well- inten- a thank you message etc. and even if
tional budget’ in prolonged deflation- tioned efforts from the rest of her class- it’s a baby step into the world of Eng-
ary times. However a simple question- mates. She will also hover and linger at lish we must be proud of their achieve-
ing will soon reveal that their motives the end of class for your personal atten- ments and make them feel truly valued.
are far from scholarly - English is their tion, bringing little food gifts to attract
‘hobby.’ Faced with this sudden real- your favouritism. We all like Mrs. Tana- WE CAN’T ALWAYS FATHOM WHY
ization that all your training in syllabus ka – if only there were LESS like her! THEY COME TO CLASS, BUT WE KNOW
design and years of effort to craft care- WHY WE ARE HERE AND EVEN IF STU-
fully honed classes may no longer be
of relevance you should not become
demoralized or lose your enthusiasm.
4 USE THE BOARD A LOT
Adult Japanese students like to
DENTS DON’T TRY TODAY, WE MUST
ALWAYS DREAM THAT THEY WILL
TOMORROW.
27
How To Teach Japanese Adults:
Part Two
Ideally you should return to basics by be- problems in pronunciation. nism. This is easier said than done and
ginning with the phonetic alphabet and will necessitate all your sensitive sup-
teach the sounds of English. As teach- As pitch range and stress is different portive techniques at times, as they
ers you will quickly become aware of the they are sometimes unable to catch all may find participation is uncomfortable.
particular articulation problems facing the words in sentences when English
your students. We have to find a halfway is spoken. Practice raising and lower- Skills learned in the TESOL scenar-
compromise between our learning envi- ing pitch levels to indicate that new io can easily be practiced in the real
ronment and student wants, sometimes topics have begun or to show contrast. world, but in the TEFL set-up it re-
at the sacrifice of their phonetic needs. Get them to focus on natural connect- ally is language learning in a vacuum.
ed speech, linking and reduced vowel There are some textbooks specifically
HOW TO PROCEED sounds. designed for Japanese learners, but
they tend to be more ‘teacher-friendly’

1
The feeling and rhythm of the two lan- than ‘student-oriented’ as many Japa-
KNOW PRONUNCIATION guages is intrinsically different. Japa- nese never have the experiences/con-
SPECIFICS nese is more timed in pacing and there- versations envisaged simply because
fore utterances are produced at roughly they generally don’t interact/behave in
Students utilize Japanese Katakana, a equal time intervals. However English the manner so imaginatively outlined.
syllabic alphabet, to transcribe the for- is stress-timed with more emphasis
eign language being studied and this on important words. Students tend to Try to get them to develop an Eng-
compounds the problem making the speak in an abrupt and disconnected lish ‘persona’ to promote extroversion,
vocabulary they use sound unintelligi- way adversely affecting their compre- or you may be surrounded largely by
ble and negatively affecting communi- hensibility by others. You therefore need culturally impeded subdued person-
cation. Phonemic restructuring of loan to alert them to elision, liaison and as- alities in your class. Receptive skills
words substitutes the nearest match similation and use board work to clearly are weak. Often a recording is just not
from a syllable inventory often chang- illustrate examples and listening ex- worthwhile given the time constraints
ing the word beyond recognition, or al- ercises to help eliminate such errors. and it is better to read dialogues aloud,
ternatively the word is shortened or un- at least until they are accustomed to
dergoes semantic change, e.g. coffee Adult students need to appreciate your voice. You might then like to intro-
alters to ‘kohi.’ Religious adherence to that they are not just studying a sub- duce other speaking voices periodically,
these equivalents by Adult Learners cre- ject, but a spoken language. Through but don’t expect miracles overnight.
ates language interference thus slowing role-plays you should emphasize the
the entire process of English phonology importance of trying to be realistic, Set challenging tasks that appeal to their
acquisition. Their perception and pro- rather than being and sounding me- Japanese ‘Samurai spirit’ and use lots
duction of Katakana must be effectively chanical. Emotion, intonation and of educational fun learning games. Use
banned in class, if at all possible. Be gestures are vital in communication. the grammar and vocabulary you know
strict in your approach and correct mis- they already have, as few post class-

3
pronunciations immediately, as it will aid
the improvement of fluency in the long-
AREAS TO FOCUS ON room initiatives will be forthcoming un-
less homework is specifically assigned.
term. Let your students speak pure Jap- Try to instill spontaneity and
anese if you so desire, but not Katakana. build confidence with lots of teacher Get students to do 1-2 minute pre-
prompting. Encourage risk-taking and sentations, initially with back-up

2 METHODS OF TEACHING
PRONUNCIATION
volunteering questions and answers,
as their cultural background is very or-
chestrated and deliberately planned.
notes allowed. Teach the importance
of appropriacy for different audienc-
es – this is something they are ac-
Teach self-developing pronunciation Do lots of expansion activities as re- customed to in their own language.
methods showing the required height sponses and language practice is of-
and action of the tongue tip. Students ten too brief and curtailed on the part of
will enjoy minimal pair work but keep it the students. Use your personality and NEVER ASSUME THEY HAVE
limited and you should also do extensive teaching skills to overcome language UNDERSTOOD.
drills and get them to guess meanings shyness. Spoon-feed to build vocabu- Do ‘eliciting’ and ‘concept checking’ al-
from the surrounding words in sentences lary and enhance correct pronunciation. ways, as you can always guarantee that
whenever feasible. Some students have Get students to ask questions. Share someone has misunderstood, or is simply
a mental block in learning how to listen, language use through conversations too reticent. Sometimes it may seem like
as the sounds differentiation does not outside the classroom. Reiterate the a Sisyphean task, but please persevere
exist in the Japanese language. There- importance of the message, its purpose as teachers must never capitulate or be-
fore if they can’t hear or won’t hear, you and how it is conveyed. Promote group come disillusioned in their roles as Eng-
should never concede defeat, but must interaction and discourage listening lish Language “missionaries” working
often give priority to more demanding to others purely as a learning mecha- within or outside the educational system.

28
ESL Insider Secrets about
Teaching Japanese Learners
focus is often on grades and per- them a while to change their behavior
WHEN TEACHING ABROAD, KEEP IN forming well so they can be reluctant and start speaking English in classes.
MIND THAT YOUR STUDENTS HAVE to speak up or participate in activities If students seem reluctant to speak
BEEN BROUGHT UP IN A CULTURE or games that are not perceived as aloud, start with choral repetition so
DIFFERENT FROM YOUR OWN AND helping them prepare to exams. that no one person is singled out. This
THUS YOU MAY NOTICE THAT STU- can get students accustomed to hear-
DENTS RESPOND TO MATERIALS IN Some students are just extremely ing themselves speak English and the
UNEXPECTED WAYS. shy to the point where teachers will extra pronunciation practice will build
not even require them to participate their confidence.
in activities. Other students just take
This is true for many people, cultures, a while to adapt to having a new As you progress, you can include
and countries so keep a close eye on teacher and warm up to your meth- more and more individual speaking
students, see how they react, and be ods. Japanese learners also tend to practice. If you notice that students
willing to adjust your teaching styles rely on dictionaries, usually electronic are using their dictionaries far too of-
to better suit their needs. dictionaries or translators on their cell ten, you can ask them to complete
phone. Students in Japan will often short, fast-paced synonym activities
Here are some of the things you might simply use a translator rather than try or to practice describing things. This
notice if teaching in Japan. to rephrase what they are attempting will give them the skills to express
to say. themselves in situations when a dic-
HOW TO TEACH tionary is not available and they may
JAPANESE While Japanese students are very be surprised at how well they can do
LEARNERS motivated to do well in school, attend- without a reference.
ing classes during the day and some-

1 THE GOOD
Japanese students are gen-
times taking extra lessons at night
can also lead to a lot of stress. High
school students especially are under
Try not to add to their stress. Ob-
viously you will have to administer
tests but by preparing them properly
erally very well behaved. If you are a lot of pressure regardless of what and having review lessons, you can
from a country such as America, the type of school they attend. As a for- thoroughly prepare your Japanese
amount of discipline and self control eigner you might disagree with this students to do well and have the con-
displayed, even by middle school stu- kind of system however the only thing fidence they need to remain calm.
dents, may come as a shock. They you can really control is what is direct-
are typically studious and hard work- ly related to your class. If you think
ing. Students in Japan must test into students are too stressed out during EVERY COUNTRY HAS ITS OWN
their high school so if you teach at a exam time, you can play games dur- UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS AND AS
high school, the type of school you ing the class period and assign little SUCH, LEARNERS WILL BE DIFFER-
are at will determine to some extent to no homework but you still need to ENT TOO.
how your students behave. make progress on the course material
and prepare them for the tests they
For example, a very academic school will inevitably have to face. Learning to alter your approach to suit
which prepares students for college your audience is something that will
tends to place a lot of attention on test ensure you excel as a teacher in any
scores while a technical school could Keeping these things in mind will learning environment.
focus more on mechanical or electri- help you tailor your classes to
cal skills and finding jobs for students. your students and understand
Obviously in the first school, English where they are coming from bet-
would have a higher priority than in the ter.
second and students would behave a
little differently too but still, compared
to students in many other countries,
they are better behaved which makes
managing your class much easier.
3 TIPS
Know your students and how
they will react to certain activities. It
could take a Japanese class a while

2 THE BAD
Although Japanese students
to warm up to you so be willing to start
off slowly.

in that very academic school above If students are used to being lectured
might be quite driven individuals, their in their English classes, it will take

29
 How to Teach the Verb “To Be”
to Beginners
question form “Is she happy?” you ing questions such as “Is Ms. Smith
THE VERB “TO BE” IS THE FIRST can use such questions to test com- from America?”
VERB STUDENTS LEARN IN THEIR prehension and students should un-
ENGLISH STUDIES. derstand what you are asking. Have The really great thing about this ac-
It is used extensively in the English them answer by saying “Yes, she tivity is that students essentially have
language and will allow students to is happy.” so that they continue to to speak in order to play whereas
create simple sentences with the vo- practice saying the target structure. with board games students may be
cabulary they have learned to date. tempted to simply roll the dice and

HOW TO PROCEED 4 PRACTICE SIMPLE

You can use worksheets for
move their pieces around the board
without really practicing English.

1 WARM UP
For this first lesson, it is best to
practice. Have students complete
a fill in the blank exercise where
they must choose am, is, or are to
6 REVIEW
As a general review activity you
focus on only the I, You, He/She/ complete sentences to ensure that can divide students into groups and
It structures which you can build they understand which form of the play Hangman with sentences or
upon in later classes. If students verb agrees with certain subjects. words from their textbook. It is perhaps
have not really done a lot of activi- not appropriate to play the original
ties with the words he, she, and it, You can also have students match game in your classroom so you can just
you may want to consider simply us- sentences with images or with trans- adapt it so that no one actually hangs.
ing names in the practice activities. lations for practice and to test com-
prehension. As a class check the an- One adaptation is to simply have
Once you have determined what you swers before continuing on. a very large fish where when stu-
would like to cover in the first les- dents guess incorrectly, a little

5
son, use the warm up activity to re- fish gets closer and closer to be-
view the vocabulary students will
PRACTICE COMPLEX
ing eaten. This is not very accurate
need later on in the lesson. A short Students can then com- as you can either draw the game
simple drill activity would be ideal. plete an activity such as Battle- out or end it whenever you choose.
ship for further practice. You can

2 INTRODUCE VOCABULARY
During the introduction section
adapt this classic game for use
in the classroom. While it can be
time consuming to explain, espe-
Another method of playing is to as-
sign a point value to certain things.
For example, if a group guesses the
of your lesson, introduce any new vo- cially to beginners, your students letter a and there are three in the
cabulary you plan to use in this les- will enjoy playing and it can be used sentence, the group would get three
son. Some emotions and adjectives to practice a wide variety of topics. points. A correct guess of the entire
would be good because students will sentence would be five points while
then be able to form complete mean- To play Battleship students should there should be a penalty for guess-
ingful sentences. Introduce words work in pairs using a worksheet. For ing the entire phrase incorrectly but
such as happy and sad if students this class, the grids on the worksheet no penalty for guessing a letter that
have not yet learned them. Use flash- might have I, You, He, She, Jenny, is not used. You can alter the scor-
cards to drill vocabulary and have Ms. Smith in the first column and ing anyway you would like to make
students complete some simple work- happy, fun, from Korea, sad, silly, it more appropriate for your class.
sheet activities for further practice. from America in the first row. Stu-
dents then practice sentences such Once your students are quite con-

3 INTRODUCE “TO BE”

Show students how to make sen-
as “I am silly.” to try to locate and
sink all of their opponents ships first.
fident with making the sentenc-
es practiced in this lesson, you
should include the plural we, you,
they as well.
tences such as “I am happy. You are There may not be enough time in the
happy. Jenny is happy.” Ensure that first lesson to begin this activity but
students understand how the subject devoting the second lesson entirely AS THE FIRST VERB THEY STUDY,
and forms of the verb are paired. You to Battleship would give your stu- “TO BE” IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR
can practice this before introducing dents lots of speaking practice. YOUR STUDENTS AND IT IS ESSEN-
the full sentence structure you would TIAL TO GET THEM TO UNDERSTAND
like students to learn. Call on students For a third class, introduce the ques- THAT THE FORM OF THE VERB IS
to make sentences choosing a sub- tion that goes along with this target AFFECTED BY THE SUBJECT OF THE
ject, verb, and adjective from columns structure and have students play us- SENTENCE.
on the board. Without introducing the ing the same worksheet but by mak-

30
What Adult Learners Want: Know
Them To Teach Them Better
ADULT LEARNERS CAN BE A PLEA-
SURE TO TEACH BECAUSE THEY ARE 2 KNOW HOW THEY BEHAVE please repeat the question?”too.

USUALLY MORE SELF-MOTIVATED

THAN OTHER ESL STUDENTS.
Adult learners are often ea-
ger to improve their speaking skills.
Unlike with younger students, dis-
4 HELP THEM BUILD SELF-
CONFIDENCE
cipline is not a major concern. Beginning adult learners may
feel self conscious about their
They often choose to study English Some learners may try to shift the speaking abilities so it is impor-
to help them in their careers or with course of lessons from the material tant to build their self confidence
other personal goals such as obtain- you have prepared to free discussion. through encouragement and by
ing student visas for English speak- This could happen when students are starting out with simple exercises.
ing countries. These learners may be uninterested in the lesson material
more eager than primary and second- so develop creative lesson plans They will be much less willing than chil-
ary school students because they view (that’s exactly what BusyTeacher.org dren to sing silly songs or engage in
English as a global language and are is here for!) and talk with students at certain activities so plan exercises that
aware of what they can gain by im- the beginning of the course about appeal to them. A class full of adults
proving their communication skills. free discussion sessions. Perhaps may be reluctant to sing “Head, Shoul-
one class a week or the first ten min- ders, Knees and Toes” but if you are
GET TO KNOW YOUR ADULT utes of class can be devoted to this. working with beginning level adult stu-
LEARNERS BETTER Once this is established students may dents, you can find an alternative meth-
be more willing to focus on the les- od of practicing the same material.
son material during other periods.

1 KNOW WHAT THEY WANT

For adult students, you can of-
3 KNOW WHAT TO FOCUS ON
Singing songs and other activities
may not seem like studying to your
adult students so your approach to
ten plan your lessons based on As with any other ESL course, these classes will have to be differ-
what your students’ goals are. If the focus needs to be on communi- ent. Create exercises that have a seri-
students need to learn English for cation. While encouraging students ous, rather than fun, approach based
work, you can introduce business re- to speak may be the most important on topics that students are interested
lated vocabulary and talk about vari- part of classes with younger learn- in: the content rather than the format
ous work situations. Related topics ers, adult learners are often really of lessons will keep them engaged.
could include travel, numbers and enthusiastic about speaking ac-
currency, and casual conversation tivities so developing their listen-
because these are relevant for busi- ing skills becomes more important. WITH ADULT LEARNERS YOU ARE
ness people who use English at work. ABLE TO ADDRESS A MUCH WIDER
Especially at the advanced level, stu- RANGE OF TOPICS BUT ULTIMATELY
If students are studying English in dents need to be able to introduce THE CONTENT OF YOUR COURSE
order to obtain a particular visa, be their opinions, give advice, and politely WILL DEPEND A LOT ON WHY
aware of what test or tests they will agree or disagree so that regular dis- YOUR STUDENTS ARE STUDYING
be required to take or what skills they cussions flow smoothly and students ENGLISH AND WHAT THEIR GOALS
need to demonstrate. This informa- do not come across as being incon- ARE. WITHOUT HAVING TO WORRY
tion can be found online and students siderate or rude in social situations. ABOUT DISCIPLINE, YOU WILL HAVE
may already know what their weak- This is very different from the basic MORE CLASS TIME TO DEVOTE TO
nesses are based on previous scores. question-and-answer structure that IMPORTANT THINGS LIKE LEARN-
students start off learning as begin- ING ENGLISH.
Advanced adult learners may simply ners and requires both good speak-
want some regular speaking practice ing skills and active listening skills.
so that they can increase their fluency
and range of vocabulary. With begin- Unlike when students read, listen-
ners, the content of your classes will ing and responding to people re-
obviously be more similar to those for quires rapid comprehension of
younger learners but you can still in- material after only one repetition.
clude specific material to better tailor It takes a lot of practice for students
lessons to fit your students’ needs. to do this so be sure to teach them
The goals of your adult students will phrases such as “I’m sorry, I didn’t
dramatically affect your curriculum. quite catch that.” or “Can you

31
 Adult ESL Learners: Homework
Assignments That Work
Ask students to defend their choices. from the time it was introduced until
Adult ESL learners may not have For instance, give students a conver- its completion. Introduce the activity in
a lot of time outside of class to sation in which two colleagues are one lesson, check to see if students
devote to their English studies but discussing Employee C and end the have any questions about it in each
assigning homework once in a material you give them for homework class period after that, give them time
while can be beneficial. with one person complaining that to practice, and finally have students
Having students complete exercises Employee C did not deserve to get present their role plays.
at home allows them to maximize a promotion. In the next class you

5
their speaking time during class peri- can talk about the appropriateness WORKSHEETS WORK
ods. Since adults are often very busy, of this conversation, what students
it is important to assign homework WONDERS
think of the two characters, and what
only when you feel it is necessary. the other character should say next. Some worksheets may also be
appropriate for homework. If

3
TRY THESE HOMEWORK ‘INTERVIEW YOUR there is an exam coming up, stu-
ASSIGNMENT IDEAS
GRANNY ABOUT...’ dents may appreciate optional
study material for further practice.
Simple interview activities can be

1 READING TEXTS AS
HOMEWORK? WHY NOT?
done with students of all ages. For
this activity, ask students to inter-
view family members or friends.
While crosswords are not a great use
of class time for adult learners, provid-
ing students with an occasional cross-
For discussion lessons, send students This is especially good practice for word for homework may be fine. They
home with the reading assignment in- using reported speech but can be are enjoyable and do not take long
stead of setting aside time for them used to talk about other topics too. periods of undivided attention to com-
to read it silently in class. You should plete - in fact, crosswords can be done
introduce key vocabulary beforehand You can provide students with some gradually in free time such as during
and give students some topics or basic questions to give their inter- the commute to work. They are good
questions to think about during their view some structure and have them practice material because they focus
reading so that they will know what build on it using their own questions. on checking vocabulary comprehen-
to focus on. You can then do some In the next lesson, students can re- sion or expanding vocabulary - both
pronunciation practice and compre- port their findings and discuss the of which are very important to adults.
hension checks in the next lesson. material with the rest of the class.
WHILE ADULT LEARNERS MAY
4
A discussion could also be based
ROLE PLAYS FOR HOME- HAVE LESS TIME THAN YOUNGER
on the material students read.
This type of homework activity re- WORK ARE FUN, TOO STUDENTS FOR HOMEWORK, IT IS
ally makes the most of the time you IMPORTANT THAT THEY DEVOTE
Adult learners are generally more re-
have with students and gives them TIME TO THEIR STUDIES IN ORDER
luctant than younger students to do role
an opportunity to think about the TO MAKE PROGRESS.
plays but if you think your class would
material before having to discuss it. be willing to give it a try, sections of the
activity can be assigned as homework.

2 USE THEIR IMAGINATION! Talk to students at the beginning of

the course about what they expect
Students will have to work together
This activity is especially good for in regards to homework and en-
in class if you want them to develop
students of Business English but could sure that you always give students
their own scripts but they can prac-
also be used in other lessons to focus plenty of time to complete exercises.
tice and memorize their lines as
on giving advice, voicing an opinion,
homework. Since students may not
or politely agreeing or disagreeing.
be able to meet one another outside
of class, be sure to give students
Give students a dialogue to read and
some time to practice together in
ask them to think about the different
their groups before the final presenta-
characters. These dialogues could be
tion. You must allow enough time for
based on work, school, or personal
students to prepare for the role play
interactions. In the next class, dis-
so spread it out over several weeks.
cuss students’ opinions of the char-
acters from the dialogue and give
Remember that you do not have to
students some options for what the
make it the focus of all your lessons
next part of the dialogue could be.

32
Teaching Adult Learners: How
To Handle Attendance Problems
With adult learners, teachers face
a unique set of challenges. Unlike
with younger students, discipline
3 DO: BE SYMPATHETIC
Understand that students have
devote extra attention to the learn-
ers who do attend. If you are frustrat-
ed during lessons, it will have a nega-
tive impact on your students because
lives outside of class and that certain
and motivation are generally not a things are definitely more impor- you are not performing your best and
problem. For adult classes one of tant than learning English. There it could affect their moods too.
the major concerns is attendance. are probably times in the past where

7
Adults will often have a lot of com- you have had to skip class because DO: ADVISE
mitments - family and work demand of work, an illness, or a family emer-
the majority of their time and English gency so it is only fair to be consider- Perhaps the class is too easy
classes are not always a priority. ate when students say they will not be or hard for students missing class so
While you cannot demand that all able to make it to class. Some things they are uninterested in the material
your students attend class all the time, such as business trips will not even be you are discussing. The class could
there are some things you can do to in their control so you cannot blame also just meet at a particularly incon-
help maintain the flow of the course. them for absences related to certain venient time. If a student misses class
activities or events. regularly, you might want to suggest
ADULT LEARNERS: ATTENDANCE he switch to another class or consider
DO’S AND DONT’S

1 DO: BE PUNCTUAL
Once you have met several
4 DON’T: LECTURE
Telling students over and over
one-on-one lessons. You can explain
that missing class means that he is
not getting the full benefit of taking the
course and will not improve as rapidly.
again the importance of attending
times, you will have some idea of who class is also not going to make a huge
might miss classes more often than difference in attendance. Obviously
others. Regardless of the size of students know they should attend
your class, it is important to start lessons but repeatedly telling them Luckily if you are teaching one-on-one
on time so that other students do not that is unlikely to improve the situ- classes, attendance will not affect oth-
feel like they are wasting their time. ation and will only waste even more er students so while it can still be frus-
By starting on time you will also show class time. Often this type of lecturing trating for you, you can simply save
latecomers that the class does not will feel more like punishment to the the material you prepared for another
revolve around them. Make it clear students who attend regularly and ar- lesson. Adult learners can be a plea-
that latecomers will have to catch up rive on time than to those people who sure to work with but one of the down-
by looking at another student’s notes come late or miss lessons. sides you are likely to face is having
or the notes on the board. This way students repeatedly miss class due

5
you will not need to repeat your first to conflicts with other commitments.
couple minutes of class whenever an-
DO: HELP
If this happens in your adult classes,
other students walks in. You should help students catch continue to teach lessons as planned
up after missing a class so that you and do your best to help students

2 DON’T: GRADES
Adult learners are less inter-
will not have to review all the mate-
rial you covered in the previous les-
son. You can create study material by
catch up when necessary.

ested in their grade thus making par- organizing notes for each lesson. Try WHILE ATTENDANCE ISSUES CAN
ticipation a large percent of it will not not to spend too much time on this. BE FRUSTRATING, THERE ARE DEF-
encourage students to attend. For Fleshing out your lesson plan should INITELY WAYS YOU CAN DEAL WITH
younger students grades are impor- be sufficient. Email this to students THEM SO THAT EVERYONE CAN
tant because they affect things such who do not attend class to help them STILL GET THE MOST OUT OF THE
as college applications and job oppor- understand the material they missed. COURSE.
tunities but giving an adult student a You can also encourage students
low grade will not affect much besides to buddy up so that if one of them
his confidence and willingness to par- misses class, the other can share his Do you have any other advice on han-
ticipate in activities. or her notes. dling the attendance problem? We’d
love to hear from you – please share

6
In adult classes, you do not have to your ‘recipes’ with us!
give overall grades if you would rather
DON’T: GET FRUSTRATED
not. It is important to give students It can be extremely frustrating
constructive feedback and correc- when students skip class week after
tions but providing a letter grade is week. The best thing you can do is
almost meaningless. stay positive about the situation and

33
 Teaching Kids English:
10 Things to Consider
Teaching children can be immensely
rewarding, anyone who has taught
children can tell you that. But it’s not
fun and games all the time, and some-
help them learn effectively is to cater
to their learning styles or multiples in-
telligences, namely Visual – Spatial,
Logical – Mathematical, Bodily –
5 MIX IT UP
ESL classes may include sing-
ing, dancing, and jumping, as well as
times it’s just not that easy. Kinesthetic, Musical – Rhythmic, writing, reading, or listening. The best
Intra-Personal, Inter-Personal, Nat- ESL lessons combine the right mix
uralist, and Spiritual. How can we of teaching strategies. You may be-
English teachers who wish to accomplish this? gin class with a short song, then move
teach children must be aware of on to a reading exercise.
the challenges and difficulties Let’s see some examples:
they may encounter, and prepare The best rule of thumb is to switch
accordingly. • For musical – rhythmic intelli- between quiet, independent tasks to
gence learners, teach an ESL those that require action and move-
HERE ARE THE TOP 10 THINGS element with a song, like Rock ment.
TO CONSIDER IF YOU’RE SERIOUS Around the Clock for telling time.
ABOUT TEACHING KIDS ENGLISH:
• For bodily – kinesthetic intelli-
6 BE PREPARED TO DEAL

1 ARE YOU REALLY UP FOR WITH PARENTS

gence learners, teach body parts
IT? with a game of Simon Says, or Unlike teaching adult students, when
sing Head, Shoulders, Knees, you teach the little ones you have to
If you want to teach kids English be- and Toes. interact with their parents as well.
cause you think it’s easy, then this is
not the job for you. Teaching children • For visual – spatial intelligence These must be informed about:
demands a great deal of creativity and learners, use maps, charts, and
energy. Kids will always keep you on all types of visual aids. Teach • Your goals, i.e., what you hope to
your toes! They will amaze you and them the different types of stores accomplish throughout the year
surprise you, but don’t think that just and locations they may find
because you’ll be teaching colors and around town with a big map-like • The children’s learning goals, i.e.,
animals, it’ll be a breeze. You’ll most board game, and have them “vis- the syllabus for the school year
likely feel exhausted after every class, it” the different locations by throw-
but oh, so happy! ing the dice. • Their children’s progress, i.e., if
they have achieved their learning

2 A LITTLE PREPARATION
GOES A LONG WAY 4 DON’T LET THEM GET
BORED
goals satisfactorily

It is also recommended to encourage

Never make the mistake of showing If children are bored they won’t pay parents’ active participation in their
up for class with little or no ideas, and attention, and they won’t learn. You children’s English learning. Even if
thinking that you’ll figure it out as you don’t have to clown around all the they don’t speak English themselves,
go along. Preparation is essential, time, either: they’re in class to learn, they should be encouraged to ask
mostly because you’ll need to gather not to be entertained by you. Your job the kids what they’ve learned, share
lots of teaching materials. Seasoned is to make learning engaging and fun. songs, etc.
teachers may be able to improvise an

7
entire lesson with only a whiteboard Here are some ways to do this: GATHER AN ARSENAL OF
and some markers, but why risk hav-
ing a class that turns out to be a hell- • Once they’ve been sitting and fo-
MATERIALS
ish nightmare? You can plan an entire cused on a task for a while, get When you teach children English it is
week of lessons or a full month, but them out of their seats for a more essential to have a box of materials
make sure you have a lesson plan for active game. They should never that can be adaptable to any game or
every class. remain seated for the duration of activity.
the class, unless they’re teens.

3 TRY TO CATER TO
MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES • Use realia, or real life objects in
class. No matter how colorful or
Must-have items are:

• a pair of dice
Young ESL students have strengths big, students sometimes get tired
and weaknesses and the best way to of learning everything through • flashcards
take advantage of their strengths and flashcards.

34
• blank bingo sheets (that can be
filled in by students with either
words or pictures)
9 TEACH IN CONTEXT
Lessons should be planned in
reading? What sports do they play?
Which sports stars do they admire?
Writing interview questions for their
favorite NBA player will be a lot more
accordance with learning goals. And
• small toys – balls in several sizes, vocabulary, grammar, and language interesting than just a list of questions
toy vehicles, animals, etc... should be taught in context. For ex- in simple present.
ample, when teaching children foods
• bean bags in English, it should be within a meal
THE MOMENTS SHARED WITH YOUR
context like breakfast, lunch or dinner,
YOUNG LEARNERS WILL FAR OUT-
• puppets and should never be a list of items
WEIGH ANY OF THE DIFFICUL-
they must study or memorize.
TIES OR DISADVANTAGES COM-

8 REMEMBER IT’S NOT ALL

ABOUT THE GAMES
10 KEEP THEM
MOTIVATED
MONLY ASSOCIATED TO TEACHING
CHILDREN. JUST MAKE SURE THAT
LEARNING ENGLISH IS NOT A CHORE
Each game or activity you propose FOR THEM, BUT RATHER A POSITIVE
should target a specific learning goal As kids get older and reach their pre- LEARNING EXPERIENCE, ONE THAT
or ESL element. It’s not about com- teen years, some ESL games and ac- THEY WILL REMEMBER FOR YEARS
ing to class to play. ESL games are tivities may not interest them as much TO COME. MAKE SURE THEY HAVE
highly effective teaching strategies as as they did in the past. Find out what FUN LEARNING, AND YOU’LL HAVE
long as you know how to fully utilize does interest them. What kind of mu- FUN TEACHING THEM TOO!
their potential. sic do they like? What do they enj oy

35
 How to Teach Preschoolers:
Preschool Games and Activities
Preschool is so much fun. songs and gestures. You can have reading much in your class, they may
IT CAN BE DIFFICULT TO TEACH A songs for each part of the day to help enjoy hearing some stories espe-
SECOND LANGUAGE TO CHILDREN them learn and remember certain vo- cially if the lesson is during a quieter
STILL TRYING TO GRASP THEIR cabulary for instance, a morning song part of their day.
OWN AND WHO CANNOT YET might include getting up, brushing
READ. teeth, and eating breakfast. The best stories for this age group,
regardless of the activity you have
It can also be really enjoyable be- You can also use songs in your les- in mind, are repetitive. This ensures
cause these students have the flex- sons for speaking practice since it is that students catch the main points.
ibility to learn languages more quickly less intimidating to sing-a-long with Stories such as Goldilocks and the
and are usually very enthusiastic. the class than to speak individually. Three Bears and One Fish, Two
Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish might be
You should create gestures for differ- appropriate for your students at this
HOW TO TEACH ent words because this will make it level. If students have heard the story
PRESCHOOLERS easier for students to remember new more than once, you can ask them to
vocabulary. Choose gestures that you tell you the story based on the illustra-

1 ACTIVITIES
Keep everything as simple and
are comfortable with and that are sim-
ple enough for you to do repeatedly
throughout the course.
tions. Students often enjoy this type of
activity in their native language so you
may as well include it in your lessons.
short as possible. These students
do not have long attention spans and Teaching preschoolers requires a Start with the most basic story you
are easily distracted so you should try high energy level and you may feel can find to see if your class enjoys
to be the most interesting thing in silly at first but these students can having story time.
the room at all times. be a real pleasure to work with and
they will certainly appreciate your
Students may also have a hard time efforts. OVERALL WHAT YOU TEACH AT THE
sitting still during class so plan activi- PRESCHOOL LEVEL WILL BE QUITE

3
ties that let them move around. Si-
WORKSHEETS LIMITED.
mon Says is excellent for preschool-
ers. Worksheets for this age group
are less common. Unlike worksheets You can usually cover topics such as
You can also have them make groups used for older students, preschool body parts, colors, numbers, weather,
with the same number of people as worksheets do not need to have any emotions, appearance, and routines.
the number you say aloud so if you words on them. In most cases work- You will have to introduce new vocab-
say “Four” students have to make sheets for this age level should not ulary slowly and do lots of practice ac-
groups of four. have words on them at all however it tivities each day. Every lesson should
will depend on your school. be focused on speaking, listening,
This is another very fun, fast mov- and having fun.
ing, and active game. With decks of Either way, you can still use work-
vocabulary cards that have pictures sheets to practice material and test
instead of words, students can play comprehension, for example, you can
simple games in small groups. A very ask students to draw a picture while
basic game is to spread the cards you tell a story. The story would have
face up and the first student to slap to be very short and simple but if you
the correct card when you call out a tell a story about a tree and a student
word gets to keep it, the student with draws a house then it might be time to
the most cards at the end of the game get those flashcards out again.
wins.
You can also use coloring pages and
You can also conduct some team do matching activities where you ask
based activities such as Chinese students to match the pictures of two
Whispers, which encourages stu- words you say aloud. This also serves
dents to be quiet and patient. as a simple comprehension test.

2 SONGS/GESTURES
Students at this age do well with 4 STORIES
While your students will not be

36
Kids and Money:
How to Teach Money Skills
lar and twenty-five cents” or “a dol- nario to build their role play around.
HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU lar twenty-five.” Be sure to settle on Each student should have a minimum
LEARNED TO DEAL WITH MONEY? one structure to use so that your stu- of two or three lines. As a class you
dents will not be confused. can come up with some extra phas-
Depending on the age of your stu- es before handing out the scenarios.

3
dents, they may or may not have
AMOUNTS This way, students have material on
learned how to do this in their own the board to draw from when creating
language and with their own currency Ask students to think of items their dialogues.
so it is important when talking about that cost certain amounts of money
money in English classes not to focus for example $1.50, $5, $10, $20.75, Perhaps this first class period can be
on math. Luckily money is an easy $50 and $100. The cent amount is for writing and practice. You can en-
prop to make and is involved in lots obviously not that important but it courage students to bring in props
of real life situations so talking about gives students more practice saying for the presentation lesson. It is up to
money is an excellent chance to do these amounts correctly. You can list you whether or not students have to
a role play activity. the items in columns on the board for memorize their lines. If not, you could
students to use later on in class. This provide props and students could
HOW TO TEACH is usually very interesting because complete the whole activity in one
MONEY SKILLS young students sometimes have class period.
a very odd perception of cost and

1 WARM UP their suggestions may be totally off.

6 REVIEW

4
As if numbers were not hard If you are teaching in another
enough, talking about money just
PRACTICE
country, conclude the section on
complicates things. Use the warm up Have students write down an money by showing students the
to practice numbers by playing Bingo item and its cost. It can be any item currency from your country. You
or another number game. Then you and any cost they choose. Once ev- can compare the appearance of your
can generate interest in the topic by eryone has written something down, currency with the currency students
asking how much things cost. Having have students walk around the class are most familiar with. Students usu-
props on the desk that you know the asking “How much does it cost?” ally find this type of activity quite in-
cost of and students should know the and writing the answers down on a teresting.
cost of will have them intrigued from worksheet. Students should respond
the moment they walk through the like this “The *insert item name*
door. Waiting to talk about the items costs *insert cost.*” based on what MONEY CAN BE A CONFUSING TOPIC
on the desk until after the warm up will they initially wrote on their work- FOR STUDENTS.
engage them further. sheets. Students should get ten an-
swers and ten signatures to complete

2 INTRODUCE the activity. A common error is saying “dollar”

for instance, at the wrong point

5
Now that you have already in- in the sentence and dealing with
troduced the question “How much
PRODUCTION
cents or large numbers can also
does this cost?” or “How much is Now you can introduce a model be frustrating. After some prac-
this?” you can model the response dialogue or a role play activity. Stu- tice, your students will get the
when students tell you their answers. dents already have lots of practice hang of it.
If a student says “500 yen!” you can asking and answering the target
say “It costs 500 yen. Very good!” structure so expand this to include
or, to elicit another response, “It costs more phrases and create something
500 yen! Really?” similar to a real life conversation.
Use whatever the local currency is in For a short activity simply write the
these lessons. For advanced or busi- model dialogue on the board with
ness students, it is important to learn some blanks where students can fill in
about different currencies but for pri- an item and cost using the lists you
mary school students, dealing with made on the board.
just one is sufficient. Certain curren-
cies will be more challenging to teach For a longer activity have students
because for instance with $1.25 you work in groups of 3-4. You can give
could teach students to say “one dol- each group a different location or sce-

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Stickers for the Little Ones:
Motivation Booster or Evil?
not get as many stickers - they may Give each student a sticker album they
Nothing makes a child prouder than
in fact get none. If the teacher wish- will keep for the duration of the course.
showing off a newly acquired sticker.
es to reward a student with one to You can make them yourself, and they
It gives them a sense of pride and ac-
provide some encouragement, the can be as simple or as elaborate as
complishment. It’s proof and evidence of
others may question the decision or you wish. As you reward each child with
a job well done. Children connect to real
even say it’s undeserved. So, you’re a sticker, they stick it in their albums,
objects more than abstracts, and reward
leaving the field wide open for disap- and for every 5 they collect, they get a
stickers are the one tangible item they
pointment, resentment, mistrust and special, larger one or a “limited edition”
need to feel encouraged to keep work-
a host of other negative feelings. sticker. The best thing about this reward
ing in class. Words like, “Good job!” are
system is that the kids get to keep their
simply not enough if they don’t come
• Students who typically do well in albums, plus it’s a lot more private than
with the visible “seal of approval”. It’s
class will move jump through hoops the wall chart in plain sight.
good to teach children about things like
to get more stickers, and the more

S
responsibility and the importance of
learning, but it just doesn’t sink in if they
they get the more they want. This TICKER EXCHANGE
sometimes makes it difficult for
don’t have something tangible to hold on
teachers to encourage shy students. This can work with either the pub-
to. Still, the use of reward stickers in
lic wall chart or private sticker album.
the ESL classroom should not be tak-
Have a number of prizes of varying val-
en lightly. Teachers must be aware of PUBLIC REWARD VS. PRIVATE
ue on display somewhere in the class-
the fact that a highly visible sticker chart REWARD:
room. The system works like this: once
will be very well received by some stu- The reward chart hanging on the wall will
a child has collected a certain number
dents, but not all of the children will be show exactly how many stars each stu-
of stickers, say 5, he or she has the op-
happy with the arrangement. dent has, and is visible to all students,
portunity to trade them in for a prize of
which encourages healthy competition.
lower value, say a candy bar. Or they
PROS AND CONS OF SCHOOL After all, we live in a highly competitive
may choose to wait till get collect some
STICKERS: world, right? However, there are times
more for a bigger, more expensive prize,
when the reward chart makes students
PROS: feel less than good about themselves,
say 20 stickers for a book. The teacher
circles or checks the stickers they have
particularly those who have very few
traded in: there’s no need to actually re-
• Of all of the things you may use to stickers in comparison to others who
move them from the chart or album. This
reward your students for their ef- have many. Privately rewarded stickers
is a great way to teach children to save,
forts, school stickers are the least will still boost their confidence and mo-
plus a thing or two about patience and
questioned by parents. Unlike candy tivate them to keep working. Moreover,
planning.
or small toys, stickers are the most a teacher may choose to reward a shy

C
harmless - all other “gifts” may be student with a sticker, and if this is done
construed as a form of bribery. privately, there is a little more leeway. USTOM STICKERS
Here are some great ways to reward
children with kids stickers: For more targeted rewards use
• Teacher stickers (those that are
stickers that have been designed with
designed for school use) are much

C
specific messages, like stickers for play-
more affordable, in fact, as they can LASSIC STAR CHART ground behavior, collaboration, spelling,
easily be bought in bulk. You can
Make a chart with the children’s etc... This way, you have the chance to
even find printable stickers online
names listed on the left side. Give each reward students for particular skills or
and print them on some full size la-
a star sticker for good behavior, complet- behaviors, and they’ll have more chanc-
bel paper.
ing a task first, picking up the most toys, es to earn stickers.
• They are highly effective in class- etc. You can reward countless types of
room management, whether you behavior, but if you use this type of pub- THE REAL KEY TO EFFECTIVELY MOTI-
wish to deal with behavior problems, lic reward make sure you reward differ- VATING YOUNG LEARNERS THROUGH
or simply get a little more coopera- ent types of things, not only class perfor- REWARD STICKERS IS FINDING WAYS
tion from your young students. mance. For example, a child who seems TO MOTIVATE THEM ALL, ESPECIALLY
to have a hard time learning won’t get THOSE WHO HAVE DIFFICULTIES
• It gives children something to look any stars for winning games, but he or LEARNING ENGLISH.
forward to, it gives them an achiev- she may get plenty for helping you tidy In these cases, you may choose to re-
able goal (young children simply do up. Give them a prize from a grab bag ward them for the best drawing or the
not relate to learning goals). after they collect 10 stars. They will cer- neatest handwriting. But remember that
tainly work hard to earn that prize! all students deserve praise for one thing
CONS: or another. If you keep this one thing in

•
38
Students who don’t do as well will S TICKER ALBUMS mind, all of your young learners will re-
ceive the boost of confidence they need.
5 Fabulous Ways to Use Total Phys-
ical Response in the ESL Classroom
“streets”. Students take turns giving each plenty for you to choose from.
Total Physical Response (TPR) is a other directions to and from locations in

4
method that was developed by James their neighborhood. A STROLL AROUND THE
Asher in the late 1960s, with the goal
CLASSROOM

2
of helping students acquire a second CHARADES
language. This activity is great for kids and adult
The main assumption is that a sec- Another classic game, this one is students. You’ll need several objects or
ond language can be learned in the best suited to action verbs and sports. props/realia - as many as you’d like to
same way as the first – through the For example, to teach sports you must use. First, you pantomime a series of ac-
same natural processes. So, TPR tries first introduce each with flashcards, act tions while you say the phrases. Then
to mimic these processes by requir- out each of the sports yourself, and have you say the phrases and ask a student to
ing students to respond to commands, students say each out loud with you. pantomime the actions. You can try this
which in turn require physical move- Then you divide the class into two teams. with several students and use different
ments. Naturally, this method was em- Each student must take a flashcard, pic- objects. Finally, they should do it on their
braced by ESL teachers back then, but ture or card with a sport written on it, and own and walk around the classroom in-
it is still quite popular today, particularly pantomime the movements involved in teracting with objects. Try something like
when teaching children or beginners. playing the sport so that his or her team- this:
The advantages: mates can guess what it is. Encourage
them to be silly or exaggerate if they have
ESL activities with TPR are tremen- to. Teammates have to answer in com- You open your bag.
dous fun for students, even for grown plete sentences: you are playing bas- You look inside.
ups once they become less self-con- ketball. You take out a pencil case.
scious. But it is precisely because chil- You open it.
dren are less self-conscious about mov-
ing their bodies around the classroom,
that these activities are excellent ways
to get young learners up and about.
3 SONGS
Young ESL learners love to sing
You close it.
You put it in the bag.
You look at your book.
You open it.
songs, but if you add movement or mim-
Although they require more out of teach- ing, they’ll enjoy them so much more. You close it.
ers, physically-speaking, they require
You touch your ear.
It is, in fact, difficult for most children to You find your pencil!
less preparation. Finally, activities with sing songs while sitting absolutely still.

5
TPR are great for kinesthetic learners Singing and moving comes naturally
who need more action or hands on activi- to them. So, why not take advantage of MIME ROLE PLAYS
ties. this and incorporate lots of songs with These are also a lot of fun for adult
movement? Here are some great songs students! Give each student a role to act
But does it work? Can we really maxi- you can use or adapt to suit your needs: out but tell one of them that they’ve lost
mize student learning through TPR?
their voice. Tell this student what situation
Try some of these TPR activities and see • Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry he or she has to act out, but don’t tell the
for yourself! Bush – Use the original song and other student what it is. For example:
have your students mime the wash-

1 SIMON SAYS (WITH A SPIN!)

Clearly, it’s a classic among TPR
ing of clothes, ironing, etc., or re-
place these actions with personal
hygiene (brush our teeth, wash our
Student A – You need to find a pharmacy
and you ask someone for directions. You
have lost your voice, and you can’t say
activities, one that is more commonly hands, comb our hair, etc.) a word.
used to teach the parts of the body. But
why not go beyond the simple, “Simon • Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes Student B – You will be stopped in the
says touch your nose” and try more – A classic song used to teach kids street by someone who needs directions,
complex commands? Say you are teach- the parts of the body. but this person can’t speak, so you must
ing your students how to give directions.
interpret their gestures to find out where
Clear up a space in the classroom, one • Wheels on the Bus – The wheels on they need to go.
your students can easily maneuver the bus go round and round and so
around. Your commands could be direc- should your students - go round the
tions: “Simon says turn right, Simon classroom! Have them line up and go SO, GET YOUR STUDENTS OUT OF THEIR
says go straight ahead.” Create a mini around the classroom in a single or SEATS AND GET MOVING! THEY’LL
neighborhood! Place a flashcard or pic- double file, or arrange their seats so ENJOY THE CHANGE OF PACE, BUT
ture on each of your students’ desks: a that they resemble a bus. ABOVE ALL, THEY WILL LEARN PLENTY.
bank, a pharmacy, a shopping center,
etc. Arrange the desks so they create And these are but a few. ESL Kids has

39
English for Children Under 5: Fal-
low Land or Fertile (Kinder)garden?
fective, but especially if they are
Although tremendously rewarding, So, what does all of this mean to you accompanied by movement. Songs
teaching English to children ages 3 as an ESL teacher? like “Head, Shoulders, Knees and
to 5 can be a daunting task. It is obvious that since children at this Toes”, or “This Is the Way We...”
These little learners are full of energy and stage can’t read or write, most of the accompanied by actions are great
enthusiasm, which you may put to good English language learning will have to be ways to teach vocabulary or verbs.
use, but to keep them interested and mo- imparted through sensorimotor activities,
tivated, classes have to be fun. You must games, stories, and videos just to name • Keep it fast paced and engaging.
also keep in mind that there are language a few. Children under 5 also have a very Switch from one activity to another
learning goals that need to be met – af- short attention span, which means you and use fillers if needed.
ter all, they’re not enrolled in classes to may have to switch activities every 5
merely have fun. They need to start minutes or so. • Arts and crafts and mini-projects
learning English. are wonderful ways to teach vocabu-
So, in the ESL classroom for very young lary, seasonal activities and holidays.
As an ESL teacher you need to under- learners, you should keep in mind the fol-
stand that children at this stage essen- lowing essentials: • Don’t worry about what they can’t do
tially: (read or write). Focus on what they
• You need to have tons of toys and CAN DO and make use of their abili-
• Present an egocentric intuitive intel- realia to use in games and activities. ties. Most children under 5 can count
ligence– it’s hard for them to see the This includes, cars, planes and all to ten, so board games with dice are
viewpoint of others - and there is no types of transport, animals, tea sets great for the ESL classroom.
logical thought. and cooking utensils, plastic fruits
and vegetables, as well as flash-
• Are capable of symbolic thought, cards of varying sizes. KEEP IN MIND THAT CHILDREN AT THIS
which means they can mentally STAGE UNDERSTAND MORE THAN THEY
represent the world around them • Repetition is key. Greet them every ARE ABLE TO PRODUCE VERBALLY.
through words, images, and sym- day with the same song, or greet-
bols, i.e., “cat” can be any cat and ing till they naturally say it back. It
not just theirs. doesn’t matter if you spend an entire They may not say a whole lot in English,
class hour only asking questions with particularly 3-year olds, but that doesn’t
• Attribute life and thinking to inanimate “Do you like...?”, as long as they mean they are not learning. Their flex-
objects, i.e., clouds cry because they spontaneously answer, “Yes, I do”, ible little brains are taking it all in, and
are sad. or “No, I don’t”. soon enough they’ll be spouting off some
greetings and short answers right back at
• Are able to classify objects, i.e., all • It will get VERY physical. You’ll you.
the blue blocks, all the animals, all of need to jump, hop, move your arms,
the large toys vs. the small ones, etc. and clap your hands, which means Above all, give them a chance to be ful-
you’ll end up exhausted, but oh, so ly immersed in the English language.
• Cannot grasp abstract concepts, but exhilarated. Speak to them in English all the time, and
only concrete objects or physical sit- illustrate what you wish them to do if they
uations. • Make sure videos are short. Re- don’t understand.
member they have short attention
• Are able to engage in make believe. spans. Make the viewing short, but THOSE OF US WHO HAVE TAUGHT
to the point, making it thus more ef- LITTLE ONES WILL READILY ATTEST TO
• Have memory skills. fective. Ask them to count how many THE FACT THAT THEY ARE BLESSED
birds, children, or fruits they see in WITH A UNIQUE ABILITY TO ACCEPT THE
• Use imagination. the video. Ask them to raise their NEW LANGUAGE WITH NOTHING BUT
hands as soon as they see a zebra, NATURAL CURIOSITY AND OPENNESS.
• Are able to understand the difference lion or any other animal. If they watch a video in English or listen
between past and future, although to a song, they won’t very likely demand
they can’t grasp the concept of time • Act out role plays with puppets. a translation, unlike their adult counter-
expressed in days, weeks, months, Children enjoy them, and it’s a very parts. Which makes them more often
years. effective way to teach ways to an- than not an absolute pleasure to teach.
swer a question or replies to greet-
The biggest development for children at ings. Do you have any experience teaching
this stage is language, accompanied by a English to this particular age group?
great deal of sensorimotor activity. • Music and singing are highly ef- Please share with us!

40