Teaching resources websites

Below are some examples of ESL Resource websites:

http://www.starfall.com

https://www.mes-english.com

www.onestopenglish.com

www.english-to-go.com

www.lessonplanspage.com

www.esl-lounge.com

www.lyrics.com

www.puzzlemaker.com

Board-Advancing Games
Using game pieces (buttons, shells, etc) to represent the players, the children can perform
certain tasks to roll the dice to move forward on the board. The board itself can be as
colourful and imaginative as the teacher wants to make it. The spaces on the board must
form some sort of pathway to a finishing point, which is the goal. Sometimes the board can
be placed on the floor, as in Twister.
Tasks may include giving synonyms, antonyms, identifying objects on pictures, doing simple
math calculations, or any task that reinforces the lesson of the day. Students can play either
in teams or in pairs.

Word Focus Games

Once students have reached the upper beginner level and are comfortable within their
range of vocabulary, they can begin to do word focus games. Words can be made from a
parent word; for example “teacher” makes ear, her, teach, reach, cheer, each, hear, here,
arch, tea, and eat. By working in teams, students can find and make words within their
known vocabulary and experiment and come up with new words. For the first several times,
offer some words to get the students started.
Treasure Hunt
A treasure hunt is a favourite game of ESL teachers and students alike. It allows students to
work cooperatively in a group effort to determine the required items. During the process,
conversation around consensus and negotiation must be used to make the hunt effective.
For example, if the students are told to bring back something beautiful, then they have to
collectively decide on what is beautiful. The following steps are recommended for a treasure
hunt:

1. Divide the class into groups (for younger children, instructions will be given orally
and will be much simpler).
2. Give an identical list of treasures to each group.
3. Read the items aloud for children to ensure that all understand the vocabulary.
4. A time limit should be given.
5. Say, "go" to indicate when the groups can begin their searches.
6. At the end of the time limit, or when the first group returns, everyone gets together
to check each item, giving points for each completed item.

Depending upon the age group, treasure can include stickers, shiny coins, colourful shells,
pencils, nametags, feathers, buttons, and other unusual objects.

Here are a few interesting tasks for treasure hunts:

1. List five countries your group members would like to visit.

2. Who has the largest shoe size in your group?
3. Find something useless.
4. Make a dinner menu in English.
5. Find a photograph.
6. Collect the autographs of three people outside your group.
7. Find something that smells good.
8. Make a crazy hat for your teacher.
9. Write down six ways of making people laugh.
10. Find a picture of something good to eat.
11. Guessing Games
12. Guessing games can be very effective ways to reinforce target vocabulary. "Guess
What I Am" or "Guess Who I Am" can be used to reinforce animals, professions, or
people. Each student takes a turn miming while the other children ask questions of
that student until the identity is guessed. The one who guesses correctly is the next
student to mime. Questions need to be closed; that is, they require a yes/no answer.
For example, "Are you a person?" is an example of a closed question as opposed to,
"Are you a man or a woman?" Using closed question format requires that both
parties use extended vocabulary to successfully complete the game.
 13. Summary: Games can be used to develop or reinforce specific language, to add
diversion to the classroom, or just to break the ice. However, their most important
function is to give practice in communication.
14. It is recommended that competition be downplayed for most games, that the rules
are few, and that they be clearly explained and demonstrated where possible.
15. Although the categories may overlap, games are usually categorised, depending
upon their emphasis: board games, word-focus games, treasure hunts, and guessing
games.
16. One of the best sources for games in your classroom is the students themselves!

Suggested Activities
Find someone who . . .

Hand out this sheet to every student and ask them to "find someone who" and write their
name in the blank after each item.

Likes to go to the library __________________________________

Has more than four brothers and sisters __________________________________

Has been to Asia __________________________________

Lives with their grandparents __________________________________

Has seen a Hollywood movie __________________________________

Can speak three languages __________________________________

Values Survey

Each student has the following handout. They are to go around their class and ask each
other the questions on the sheet. Tell the students that there are no right or wrong answers,
just opinions.

Which would you rather be?

____ a farmer
____ a fisher person
____ a business person
____ a teacher
If a genie gave you one wish, what would it be?
____ to be rich
____ to be famous
____ to stay the same

What kind of gifts do you prefer?

____ something someone made
____ money so that you can buy what you want
____ a gift that somebody buys for you

How would you like to spend an afternoon with a friend?

____ at the beach
____ at the movies
____ chatting

What is the most important quality in a "special friend/girl/boy friend"?

____ beauty
____ personality
____ interests and hobbies

Which do you like least?

____ a person who is loud and aggressive
____ a person who is dishonest
____ a person who talks about other people

Values Voting

This is a fast-paced activity that involves the entire class. The categories of information can
easily be changed to accommodate age and interest. These examples are appropriate for
ages 8 and up.

Begin with the question "How many of you ______________?" Students raise their hands if
the phrase is true of them.

 Have a dog as a pet

 Are afraid of storms
 Think parents should be stricter with their kids
 Do not like movies
 Plan to go to school forever
 Have been in love
 Like to eat sweet things
 Want to end all wars
 Want to get better grades in school
  Think their teacher is exciting

The Most Influential Person

Have students think about people that have affected their lives in some way. Have them
decide who has been the most influential. Ask them to write about this person/these people
and include information such as descriptions, how long they have known these people, and
what these people did that had such an impact on their lives. Divide the students into
groups to share their writing

How to deliver great lessons

o be prepared

o arrive on time

o speak clearly and reasonably slowly

o use body language and gestures (TPR)

o use props, visuals, board work, realia (real life/world things), other resources

o make the lesson interesting

o make the lesson relevant to your students’ lives

o use authentic materials

o use humour, but be professional

o use lots of encouragement and sincere praise

o use different approaches from lesson to lesson

o use different styles of activities to appeal to visual, auditory, tactile, and kinaesthetic
learners

o use English only

o keep an eye on the time and pace the lesson

o give your students a time limit before you begin an activity (you don’t have to stick to it!)

o keep to rules and routines. Manage your class effectively and positively.

o discipline with consistency and fairness to all students

o if an activity isn’t working, give it up! Move on, revise it, try again in another lesson.

o if you don’t know the answer to a question, admit it

o if you’ve made a mistake, admit it

o show your human side!

o don’t always correct every mistake a student makes.

o have several means of eliciting responses

o make sure your activities get the students practising the new language

o have extra activities handy

o monitor during activities. Try to get around to everyone.

o encourage creativity and risk-taking with the language

o be sensitive and alert to your students’ needs

o self-evaluate each lesson

o try to chat with other teachers daily about your lesson, or lesson planning in general

o during the lesson: SMILE! Have fun!

o be aware

o make sure your lessons display continuity

o take initiative and be creative

How to Teach English to Children

Make It Fun

Many years ago now, my son said to me after picking him up from kindergarten, “We didn’t
really do anything today. We just played and painted pictures!” I remember thinking to
myself “I’m sure what they did in class today contained some kind of academic merit”, it
turns out that it was well hidden beneath a thick layer of fun. Later that evening my son said
some words to me that I had not heard him say before and he asked me if he got the
meanings correct. The words were from one of the games he was playing earlier that day.
So don’t get discouraged if the learner seems to be more interested in something else, as
you never know what is going on in their minds.

Many educators believe that children learn best through play. And what is true of Native
English-speaking children, in this case, will also be true of your non-native English-learning
students or L2 (second language) students. Here are some ways you can make learning
more fun with your students:

Playing games is fun not only do games play on the competitive nature of most children,
but games also give them a goal to accomplish. When you win a game, you have really
done something, and you can feel good about your success.

There are so many games that can be used in an ESL classroom; we’ll only cover a
few today. Here are a few games that require little to no preparation, and are super fun for
young students.

Simon Says: The classic Simon Says is great for practicing listening skills. You can use it to
review body parts (“Simon says touch your head“) or prepositions (“Simon says put your
foot on your chair”) and so much more.

Hot and cold: Here is a game that you can use when teaching online.

Look at my favourite toy, it is a….? (Note, have a toy with you in the lesson) Tell the child to
close his/her eyes then pretend to reach through the screen and hide it somewhere in the
child’s room. Then have him/her search the room for your toy. If he’s wandering away from
it, he’s cold, and as he gets closer he’s warm, warmer, and finally hot when it is found! (Tell
the child to close his/her eyes and pretend to reach though and get the toy back)
Remember to use TPR and a big smile.

This game will sharpen your child’s emotional skills—he/she’ll learn patience, perseverance
and the idea that just because you can’t see something, it doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Memory: Memory is great for learning vocabulary. Try putting a vocabulary word on one
card and a picture showing the word on another. Or put synonyms or antonyms on two
different cards. Lay all the cards on the table and have students try to remember where the
matches are.

Be Creative
Doing the same things in class every day is boring for your students, and you’re liable to fall
asleep on the job too, so be creative with your plans.

Change things up on a regular basis. Rearrange your students’ seats so they get a different
inspirational view from time to time. Give your students the test before you teach the
material, and let them answer the questions as they learn. Invite guest speakers in whenever
you get the chance.

When you are teaching shorter lessons with the same learners, be mindful that the students
can start to remember the lessons patterns and can predict what comes next. It can be a
good idea to simply switch the delivery order of the content. This works well and keeps
them on their toes.

You can keep the same basic schedule every day, but vary the types of exercises you do.
Rotate between doing exercises from the textbook, having students work on the computer
on social media or ESL learning websites, and giving them real-life materials to work with
rather than ESL materials.

Try a poem by any well-known poet rather than a simple reading passage. You can also
have students come up with their own games, activities and exercises. Have your
students write quiz questions for each other, or give them some simple game supplies and
let them make their own review game for the latest grammar point. You might be surprised
at how creative students can be.

(Note: some of these activities may not work with very young learners. However, once you
become familiar with activities and more comfortable teaching, it becomes easier to adopt
and adapt any lesson or activity to suit the learning environment).

Make It Active

Having learners move their bodies when learning language is a great way to break the ice
and make it an inclusive environment. The more language learners move, the better and
faster they understand what you are teaching and the more easily they can retain the
information.

TPR (Total Physical Response) works really well with children. In essence, you associate
physical movements with language instruction. Students move as they learn. They follow
instructions, copy your movements and get their whole bodies involved when they practice
language concepts. This is one of the most effective ways to teach ESL to children, more so
for children that are in the early stages of establishing their L1 first language.
Using hands-on material is also a great way to get your students moving as they learn
English. You can use simple items like flashcards, but you can also be more creative with
what you give your students to handle.

Small World Play: Try collecting animal figures that show up in a book or story your class is
reading, and let students retell the story using the figures. Try using this small world
play when you do units on different subjects. Create a small scenario that includes play-
sized items that represent those found in the real world.

Mystery Bags: Really target your students’ sense of touch by putting items in brown paper
bags. Then have them reach into the bags without looking and describe what they are
feeling.

Jenga Discussion: Rather than giving students a list of discussion questions on paper, write
each question on a Jenga block. Then have students answer the question on the block they
pulled for their turn. Or, (for very young learners Jenga can have single target words, nouns,
numbers, colours, verbs and so on each side)

Educative Play

Very young learners can be tricky, in that it can be difficult to gage how your lessons are
working out. It may feel like you are not getting anywhere because you often do not get
that instant feedback you do with older children. We need to remember that they are still
learning their first language at this development stage.

When you have learners at this stage, especially when your students are very young,
educative play is a useful technique for teaching them without ever letting on! Students can
be encouraged to play with one another in a variety of ways, either with board games or in
a playroom or space, depending on the way your classroom is laid out, or if online, how the
area is set up, do they have resources available to use. The idea with educative play is for
teachers and assistants (including parents of very young learners) to participate in the play
in English, asking questions those students can answer.

Examples of such questions may include:

 What are you doing?

 What are you playing?
 Can I play?
 What’s that?
 Would you like this (block, ball, doll)?
Keep in mind your access to resources can be limited especially if you are teaching young
learners online. One way of getting around this could be by asking what type of toys the
learners have on hand. Obviously, this would be best to know before the lesson begins but
if you are teaching something like body parts and the child is playing with a doll, Improvise
and encourage the child to use the doll when you are teaching the vocabulary for body
parts.

*If you are in a situation where you are teaching a one-on-one or in an online environment
with young learners, the examples above can be contextualised to suit this situation.

The key to making educative play fun and useful is to make sure that you engage students
without frustrating them. Asking them repetitive questions or simply asking too many
questions can be frustrating and counterproductive. Ask about one question every minute
or so.

You should always encourage your students to answer you in English, but don’t force them
to speak to one another in English. With time, students will start using their English with
each other. When this happens it is a very good way to see your hard work pay off.

Active Games

Kinesthetic learning is another great learning style and is very much like TPR in many ways.
It is also very useful in the classroom. Active games can also be a great way to get ESL
learners of all ages, especially beginners, up and moving.

A good game for beginners is Simon Says, or your own version if you have one.

Simon Says can be a very useful way to reinforce new vocabulary while also upping the
energy. That’s why it’s a great choice either at the beginning or in the middle of a class.

The obvious way to use Simon Says is to reinforce a vocabulary lesson involving body parts.
But what you might not think of is using Simon Says to reinforce the use of action words,
like “dance,” “jump” or “clap” And of course “stop”. Simon Says is good for prepositions as
well.

Always be sure to introduce the words you plan to use in lesson format before introducing
the game. For very young learners and older children just beginning, I often prepare
flashcards for the target vocabulary and pre-teach the words just before starting the activity.
Students can always assume they understand what you’re saying, particularly if they’re
following the rest of the group. Make sure you use TPR when introducing the game as you
would with all games at all development stages of learning.
It is equally important to start taking away your actions when appropriate so that the
language itself can be used to prompt the children into the directive you are giving them.
This way they are not relying on remembering your actions to understand what to do. It is a
good idea to take the away the action slowly and see how the learners react. If the reaction
is positive, start to take away different actions for the target words over the next few
lessons.