Thanksgiving is a popular topic for ESL learners of all ages. The holiday combines so many things learners love talking about: food, family, and the universal feeling of gratitude. This Thanksgiving lesson was made especially for ESL beginners aged 6-11. It is 100% socially distanced and one of the best lessons I have ever taught….
Listening makes up 45% of the time adults spend communicating, so it’s no wonder that it’s ranked as the most sought after skill by English language learners. What is surprising is how little ESL teachers spend on listenings, especially considering learners often rank it as the most difficult skill to master. ESL textbooks provide listenings,…
It’s Thriller night! Here are two lessons for your intermediate and advanced ESL classroom based on the music video for Michael Jackson’s Thriller (1983). Both lessons contain variations for in-person instruction with and without group work as well as online classes. Intermediate lesson: extended listening and making predictions with a Thriller lyric gap fill Advanced lesson: speaking about horror tropes then using them to create short…
Have you ever wondered where jack-o’-lanterns come from? You and your students will find out together with The English Blog’s fun and festive Halloween Live Listening: Stingy Jack. This free 50 minute lesson plan contains everything you need to do a live listening about the origin of jack-o’-lanterns and then tell student ghost stories in your socially distanced or online classroom. Stay spooky! 🎃👻
The kids are back in school this autumn but the specter of COVID brings a host of new restrictions to the classroom. Schools around the world have eliminated pair work, group projects, teacher and student circulation, sharing supplies, break times with large groups, and even giving students handouts. To help teachers everywhere this October, I’m…
Are you a native English speaker and/or educated in English? Do you feel lost in your current career? Are you a student or recent grad and not sure which direction to take? Think you might want to teach but not ready to commit? Do you want to experience a new language and culture for a…
If you’re looking for fun science videos and resources for bilingual classrooms or just have students interested in science, this is the article for you! Learning science in English is a great way for students to build their overall language skills and equip themselves with the language skills they need to participate in the global…
It’s estimated that 60-75% of people worldwide speak more than one language. With multilingualism being so common, why is it that so many people still believe they can’t learn a new language well into adulthood? The age at which you acquire a language does influence how you acquire that language, but it’s only one factor…
This post is inspired by The English Blog’s S2E05 vlog Teaching Writing to ESL Students. In the vlog, PJ mentions graded materials and how to use them. Graded materials are very common in ESL teaching and can be a great addition to your classroom. Graded texts are usually authentic English texts that have been simplified,…
Do you teach kids? Do you have them after school? Do they drive you crazy sometimes? Whether you tutor privately, teach group classes at an academy, or lead English club after school, you are bound to run into after-school exhaustion. The kids are bored, bouncing off the walls, badly behaved, or some combination of the…