Classroom Tips for ESL Teachers

When was the last time you taught or coached someone? Spending hours planning your lessons so that your students receive high-quality instruction is likely part of your routine. There aren’t perfect classrooms, but they are all unique. Books and printed materials are part of the learning experience, but there is another ingredient that seasons the classroom: the teaching practices and strategies that are honed throughout the years or with some help. Keep reading to uncover some useful tips to use in your ESL classroom.

English is important in today’s global economy. Whenever people surf the Internet in search of information, they often do so in English, which is likely why the language is considered a lingua franca. In some cases, English is even mandatory to study. Another benefit of learning English is that more job opportunities in multinational companies become available.    

ESL or EFL?

ESL refers to teaching English as a second language to speakers of other languages. ESL courses are commonly aimed at people who have immigrated to English-speaking countries or learners who want to study or work in countries where English is the official language. There is another term that is often confused: EFL or English as a foreign language.

Even though EFL and ESL share the learning of the language as a common theme, there are some differences. The approach with ESL is to grow vocabulary in formal and informal settings, which will prepare the learner to enhance their speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills. Students will basically be capable of functioning in an English-only environment. To accomplish this, total immersion is the most helpful. 

On the other hand, EFL focuses on experiencing the language. The learner will be able to understand the language to feel as though they are part of the community. In summary, the student’s approach goes beyond the four main skills.

Tips for Teaching ESL 

Incorporate Technology into the Classroom

Technology has changed the way education is received. MOOCs and online courses are terms that many schools or institutions started to use more in 2020. As an ESL teacher, there are a bunch of free resources on the  Internet to liven up your online or in-person class to reinforce students’ knowledge.

Educational apps, like Kahoot!, allow for whole class participation. On the platform, students use their phones or computers to create their own anonymous usernames to review the content learned. They earn points based on how quickly they answer each question correctly. You can create grammar or spelling-based exercises for students to have a more interactive and engaging class. 

Additionally, if you want your ESL students to explore their creativity and put into practice what they have learned, you can ask them to create their own PowerPoint presentations about vocabulary or grammar explanations using fun transitions and animations. Plus, students can add activities or short quizzes at the end for their peers to solve. The beauty of this is that students can show their ideas to the class and help each other feel more confident. 

Games, Prompts, and Questions

You can use games to enhance the English learning experience. Fun tasks indirectly help students retain more information for longer periods of time. Apart from helping learners to acquire the language in an interactive way, they can get to know the rest of their classmates. Show pictures or graphics when explaining a complex topic or vocabulary words that might seem difficult to understand. 

You can base your games on everyday topics or specific vocabulary terms. Ask students to use a synonym, antonym, idiom, or phrasal verb to replace the specific vocabulary word in a sentence. Also, you can draw a box with different word pairs to be placed in the correct blanks. With this, students will learn vocabulary without memorizing a long list of random words. But if you want to tackle other areas, such as reading comprehension or listening, writing a story with blanks needing to be filled is quite useful.  

Create a short story about a specific topic and leave space to include possible conjunctions, interjections, or prepositions. Here, you will cover both reading comprehension and grammar. In case you want to go the extra mile with your ESL class, include a couple of open-ended questions at the end of the story. This is extremely helpful to improve students’ understanding of a topic, and it creates a connection with the text.

Writing Activities

Writing is, without a doubt, one skill that requires practice. It’s not a secret that writing can be frustrating for some students because it takes time to master. ESL students might feel intimidated when they see a white screen with nothing else but a prompt to answer. However, students can become stronger writers if they’re encouraged and supported from the beginning of the writing process. The way to start can be as simple as asking a question.  

Prompts are topics or questions that students are asked to answer. This is very common in essays or creative writing because it gives students a general idea of what they can write about. Each prompt should include clear and specific instructions. There are four types of prompts: descriptive, narrative, expository, and persuasive. All of them can be written in the form of a question, topic, or scenario to encourage the ESL learner to write. 

Try it out! Devote ten minutes of nothing else but writing in your ESL classes to awaken the skill in your students. The more someone writes, the closer they will be to finding their own voice and style. 

Beyond the Classroom

Don’t limit yourself to interaction only inside of the classroom; have your students build their own learning environment outside. Motivate your students to expose themselves to English by attending plays, shows, or online webinars with other English speakers. The main purpose of this is to increase students’ exposure to English so that they become more comfortable being around the language.

Also, consider assigning students one or two books  a month to read. Independent reading increases one’s enjoyment of books. Create a list of different titles so that students can choose their favorite ones. It doesn’t matter if one title gets chosen more than once because you just want to help stimulate a love of reading. At the end of the week, ask your students about what they read and their thoughts on the story. Listening to audiobooks also counts and is an excellent idea for students who want to practice their listening skills. 

Takeaway

Many ESL students expect to learn lots of words or phrases that they can use in their everyday conversations. Some of them will likely start learning English from scratch, so it’s a good idea to ask them about their goals on the first day of class. This will help you as you prepare lessons based on their needs. English is a global language. Technology is a great ally, but there should be other activities to complement what you teach in the classroom.