Warm Up Ideas II

5x5 Word Game Show

This idea comes from a tv game show I once saw in Spanish.
Think of a five-letter word, for example ‘heart’, and for each but one letter write a dot on the board, revealing only one of its letters, eg.:
.e...
Students call out a five-letter word, eg. ‘fears’. Circle the letters that appear in your word too, and put a square around the letters that not only appear in your word but are at the right place (e, a and r in my example). The goal is to find out the teacher's word in maximum five tries (hence the name; there are going to be five lines and five columns).
I found it an ideal warmer, especially if pairs can also give it a try, and this game can also work as a filler for those last two minutes of your lesson.

Susan (from Hungary)

Voltei para meu bloguinho depois de muito tempo!!!

Ai, ai... estou feliz de ter retornado para meu bloguinho querido!!!

Warm-up Ideas

Warm-ups help your learners put aside their daily distractions and focus on English. If they haven't used English all day, they may take a little while to shift into it. Warm-ups also encourage whole-group participation which can build a sense of community within the group. For new groups, see the list of ice breakers further down.

• Brainstorm (any level, individual or group)
  Give a topic and ask learners to think of anything related to it. Write the responses for all to see, or ask a volunteer to do the writing. You can use this to elicit vocabulary related to your lesson.
• Question of the Day (intermediate-advanced, individual or group)
  Ask 1-2 simple questions and give learners 5 minutes to write their answers. Randomly choose a few people to share their answers with the group.
• Yesterday (intermediate, group)
  Have a learner stand in front of the group and make one statement about yesterday, such as "Yesterday I went shopping." Then let everyone else ask questions to learn more information, such as "Who did you go with?" "What did you buy?" "What time did you go?" etc. Try this with 1-2 different learners each day.
• Describe the Picture (any level, group)
  Show a picture and have learners take turns saying one descriptive thing about it. Beginners can make simple observations like "three cats" while advanced students can make up a story to go with the picture. They aren't allowed to repeat what someone else said, so they need to pay attention when each person speaks. Variation for individual: take turns with the teacher.
• Criss-Cross (beginner-intermediate, large group)
  Learners must be seated in organized rows at least 4x4. Have the front row of learners stand. Ask simple questions like "What day/time is it?" Learners raise their hands (or blurt out answers) and the first person to answer correctly may sit down. The last standing learner's line (front-to-back) must stand and the game continues until 3-4 rows/lines have played. You can use diagonal rows if the same person gets stuck standing each time. To end, ask a really simple question (e.g. "What's your name?") directly to the last student standing. Variation for small group: the whole group stands and may sit one by one as they raise their hands and answer questions.
• Show & Tell (any level, individual or group)
  A learner brings an item from home and talks about it in front of the group. Give learners enough advance notice to prepare and remind them again before their turn. Have a back up plan in case the learner forgets to bring an item. Beginners may only be able to share the name of an item and where they got it. Be sure to give beginners specific instructions about what information you want them to tell.
• Sing a Song (intermediate-advanced, group)
  If you're musically inclined, or even if you're not, songs can be a lively way to get everyone involved.
• Mystery Object (advanced, group)
  Bring an item that is so unusual that the learners are not likely to recognize what it is. Spend some time eliciting basic descriptions of the item and guesses about what it is and how it's used. If possible, pass the item around. This is an activity in observation and inference, so don't answer questions. Just write down descriptions and guesses until someone figures it out or you reveal the mystery.

Ice Breakers

• Name Bingo (beginner, large group)
  Hand out a blank grid with enough squares for the number of people in your class. The grid should have the same number of squares across and down. Give the students a few minutes to circulate through the class and get everyone's name written on a square. Depending on the number of blank squares left over, you can have them write their own name on a square, or your name, or give them one 'free' square. When everyone is seated again, have each person give a short self-introduction. You can draw names randomly or go in seating order. With each introduction, that student's name square may be marked on everyone's grid, as in Bingo. Give a prize to the first 2-3 students to cross off a row.
• Name Crossword (any level, group)
  Write your name across or down on the board being sure not to crowd the letters. Students take turns coming to the board, saying their name, and writing it across or down, overlapping one letter that is already on the board. It's usually best if you allow students to volunteer to come up rather than calling on them in case a letter in their name isn't on the board yet, although the last few students may need encouragement if they're shy.
• Similarities (beginner-intermediate, group)
  Give each person one or more colored shapes cut from construction paper. They need to find another person with a similar color, shape, or number of shapes and form pairs. Then they interview each other to find 1-2 similarities they have, such as working on a farm or having two children or being from Asia. They can share their findings with the class if there is time.
• Pair Interviews (intermediate-advanced, group)
  Pairs interview each other, using specified questions for intermediates and open format for advanced students. Then they take turns introducing their partner to the whole class. Be sensitive to privacy when asking for personal information.
• Snowball Fight (any literate level, group)
  Give learners a piece of white paper and ask them to write down their name, country of origin, and some trivial fact of your choice (such as a favorite fruit). Have everyone wad the pages into 'snowballs' and toss them around for a few minutes. On your signal, everyone should unwrap a snowball, find the person who wrote it, and ask 1-2 more trivial facts. Write the questions on the board so the students can refer to them. Remember that each learner will need to ask one person the questions and be asked questions by a third person, so leave enough time. Variation for small groups: learners can take turns introducing the person they interviewed.
• Mystery Identities (any literate level, group)
  Write the names of famous people or places (or use animals or fruits for a simplified version) onto 3x5 cards. Attach a card to each learner's back. Give them time to mingle and ask each other questions to try to figure out their tagged identities. This is usually limited to yes/no questions, although beginners might be allowed to ask any question they can. Be at least 90% sure that the learners have heard of the items on the cards and especially the ones you place on their own backs.

ESL Games

Some of these can be used as warm-ups. Most of them can be linked to any lesson theme or grammatical form you're working on. These games usually require at least a small group to play, but you may be able to adapt some of them for one-on-one settings.

• Find Someone Who... (literate beginner-intermediate, group)
  Create a list of characteristics such as "likes chocolate," "has two children," or "can swim." There should be 10-15 items, and you can relate them to your lesson if you wish. Then let the learners mingle and get signatures of other learners who fit the descriptions. Make sure they are using appropriate question forms ("likes X" becomes "Do you like X?") and aren't just pointing to the items on the page. This can be made into a Bingo activity by putting the items on a grid.
• Pictionary (any level, group)
  Divide into 2-3 teams and give each a supply of paper if you aren't using a whiteboard. It's best if each team can sit around a table or have their own whiteboard space. Tell one member from each team what item to draw, and on your signal they may begin. The first team to guess wins a point. Play a fixed number of rounds and the team with the highest score wins. Notice that in this version, all teams are working independently at the same time to guess the same word, but you could take turns with each team. You can also give stickers or wrapped candy to the person or team guessing correctly if you don't want to make it competitive with points.
• Scavenger Hunt (any literate level, group)
  Divide into teams and hand out a list of items to be collected (a penny, a stick of gum, a signature, a pine cone, a shoelace, be creative). Define the searching range (classroom, house, campus, neighborhood, building). The first team to return with all the items wins a prize.
• Twenty Questions (intermediate-advanced, individual or group)
  Select an object in your mind and let the learners ask up to twenty questions to guess what it is. Trade places with the winner and let that learner select an object for the next round.
• Storyline (intermediate-advanced, group)
  Divide into groups of 4-6 people. Give everyone a sheet of paper and ask them to write the first sentence of a story at the top of the page. It may begin "Once upon a time..." if they like. Then they pass the page along to the next person in the group. That person reads the first sentence and adds one more to it to continue the story. Then that person folds the top of the page backwards so only his or her own single sentence is visible and passes the page to the next person. That person writes one more sentence, folds the paper back to hide the previous sentence, and passes it along again. When the pages have passed through the entire group one or two rounds, everyone unfolds the pages and reads the stories. They are often hilarious, and this game usually generates contagious laughter.
• Telephone (any level, group)
  Divide the group into two teams and have them stand in single file lines. Whisper a somewhat complex sentence (according to their level) into the ear of the first person in each line. Make sure no one else hears. Give the same sentence to each line. Then each person must whisper it into the ear of the next person until the end of the line. The last person must either say the sentence or write it on a whiteboard. The team whose final sentence most resembles the original one wins. In case of a tie, the fastest team wins. Try giving an easy sentence to start with to build confidence before moving onto a difficult one. If the game is too hard in the first round, learners will decide it's no fun.

Lesson Planning

Lesson planning and preparation can take an hour or more for every hour of teaching, but the time required will be reduced as you gain experience, plan lessons that carry over week to week, and find good teaching materials such as textbooks or online lessons.

How To Plan A Lesson

Whether you use published ESL resources or plan your lesson from scratch, you will need a basic structure. With some experience, you may only need to jot down a quick list of topics and activities and then gather your materials together, but especially for new teachers, it's usually helpful to write a complete lesson plan. Consider the following framework.

• Goals/Purpose
  Decide which communication skills you wish to develop. Will you focus on reading? writing? listening? speaking/pronunciation? a combination of these? In what context? Consider a useful application for the language you will practice, things such as taking phone messages, using the post office, or interviewing for a job. These types of specific skills are sometimes referred to as "competencies." Seemingly non-interactive themes like gardening or holidays are fair game, as long as you integrate communicative activities.
• Beginning
  It's often a good idea to begin with some kind of warm-up activity to help the learners focus on English and block out the distractions of daily life. This doesn't necessarily need to be connected thematically to the rest of the lesson, but it's nice if it is. Warm-ups usually take 5-15 minutes and practice material the learners already know. Avoid new material in a warm-up because the goal of a warm-up is to diffuse inhibitions and help students transition into English thinking and speaking. A game-like atmosphere can help capture student interest, or you may choose a quick review of the last lesson or homework. When reviewing, ask learners what they remember and then fill in missing pieces rather than simply summarizing the last lesson for them.
• Middle
  Most of your meeting time will probably be spent focused on one or two themes. Present new material and give learners a chance to practice it thoroughly. You may want to include pair or group work, silent reading/writing, games, or conversational discussion. Your lessons will be more interesting if you use real-life materials to support the text. For example, if the lesson theme is telling time, bring in a large clock with adjustable hands to demonstrate with. Show a video of a job interview, bring in a rental application, play a recorded clip from the radio, share photos of your family. Try to incorporate something outside of the textbook or printed lesson every time you meet.
• End
  Especially if the lesson content has been challenging, end by reviewing what what was covered as well as what the learners already know. By finishing with something familiar, learners will leave with the impression that English isn't too difficult after all.

You can use the following reproducible worksheet to design a thoughtful and complete lesson plan. You may choose to omit a section or add activities based on the time you have. Use the "Time" column on the worksheet for estimating the amount of time you wish to spend on each section. If you find during your lesson that your estimate was incorrect, you can adjust by adding or cutting another activity. New teachers frequently over-estimate the time needed for an activity, so it's wise to have some backup ideas to fill in leftover time. Write any handouts or real-life objects you will need in the "Notes/Materials" column.

• Lesson Plan Worksheet
  Blank photocopiable lesson planning worksheet.

Lesson Preparation

The first step of preparation is to plan your lesson. Once you have decided what to teach and how to teach it, look at your lesson and think about ways to expand it, and make note of what else needs to be done before your class. What can you bring to add interest? What will you photocopy and how many copies will you need? If you copy double-sided and have an odd number of pages, is there something fun like a cartoon or tongue twister you can put on the last blank side?

In addition to preparing a specific lesson every day or week, it's helpful to build yourself a collection of potential ESL resources to draw on as needed. Think about upcoming holidays or future themes in your textbook. Create an organized storage system from the beginning or you may find your growing collection of pictures, handouts, and games becoming unmanageable. Label all important personal items with your name. Here are some ideas for lesson preparation:

• Gather Basic Teaching Items
  These will make planning and teaching easier.
  • Good textbook or lesson (perhaps from the Internet)
  • Small white board with pens, if you don't have access to a classroom board
  • Blank paper (a student may ask for some)
  • Regular or picture dictionary
  • List of extra activities to fill leftover time (see the Activities section of this guide)
• Collect Useful Materials
  Be sure to protect your materials because they may be handled many times. Slip paper materials into page protectors or magnetic photo album pages, glue them onto card stock, or laminate them.
  • Cut out magazine pictures
  • Select photographs of a vacation, family members, etc.
  • Collect travel brochures and public service pamphlets
  • Save interesting newspaper or magazine articles
  • Save cartoons or humorous drawings
  • Borrow library books with pictures, such as children's stories or travel guides
  • Collect blank note cards or postcards for students to write on
  • Consider board or card games
  • Bring children's building blocks or legos
  • Bring objects like clothing, fruits, a clock, canned food, etc.
  • Find relevant handouts on the internet (see the Lesson Materials section of this guide)
• Make Your Own ESL Materials
  Creativity helps, but you don't need to be a creative genius to make useful materials to accompany your lessons.
  • Write simple quizzes
  • Write dialogs and role plays
  • Write tongue twisters to focus on a problem sound
  • Create crossword puzzles using vocabulary words
  • Make alphabet or vocabulary flash cards
  • Create games, drawings, posters, etc.
  • Use a craft with your lesson, such as cutting snow flakes or decorating Easter eggs
• Use Available Technology
  If you have access to a TV and VCR, cassette/CD player, overhead projector, or even a computer, use them to bring variety to your lessons. Always be prepared with a non-technical backup activity should your equipment unexpectedly fail.
  • Videotape TV commercials or news clips, or borrow a library video
  • Copy outlines, diagrams, cartoons, etc. onto overhead transparencies
  • Tape record a few minutes of radio talk
  • Choose a popular song to play and make a worksheet of the song lyrics with missing word blanks; if you use a cassette, record the song 2-3 times for easy playback
  • Play background (instrumental) music while students work on an activity
  • Find a website your students can use for ESL activities (see the Further Resources section of this guide)

Lesson Planning Tips

Lesson planning will help you teach with confidence. The longer your class session, the more important it is to have a good lesson plan. Here are some tips to consider.

• Plan Alternative Activities
  Always have one or two alternative activities in case the material you've selected doesn't take all the time you thought it would. How will you fill an extra 10 minutes? 20 minutes?
• Build on Previous Material
  Try to continuously practice material that you've covered recently. It's often possible to teach the same theme several sessions in a row which can help ingrain vocabulary and concepts.
• Balance the Challenge of Content and Activity Type
  If your content is challenging, choose activities that are relatively easy to do like fill-in-the-blank exercises or guided discussion questions. If your content is fairly simple, try more challenging activities like role plays or problem-solving.
• Create Your Own Materials
  Build your own library of materials to support your lessons. You can find several ideas in the Lesson Preparation section of this guide. Be creative. If you invest some time into developing and collecting materials, you'll cut down on your preparation time when you are actually planning lessons.
• Center Lessons Around the Student
  Keep the focus on the learners and minimize the time you spend talking as a teacher. In other words, make the lesson as interactive as possible. Focus on communication.
• Assess Needs
  Periodically take time to think through your particular learners' needs. Think about cultural factors as well as language deficiencies. This can help you prioritize what you choose to study. Are any of your students dealing with culture shock? What kind of language skills might help alleviate it? Try asking the students themselves what they would like to learn.
• Keep a Log
  After each class, write a brief log of what you did. Include notes about what worked or didn't with ideas for improvement. Write down specific page numbers you covered in a textbook. You could also keep your lesson plans collected together, making sure to write notes on them about the success of various activities and whether you modified the lesson during class.

English Skills

When we think of English skills, the 'four skills' of listening, speaking, reading, and writing readily come to mind. Of course other skills such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and spelling all play a role in effective English communication. The amount of attention you give to each skill area will depend both the level of your learners as well as their situational needs. Generally beginners, especially those who are nonliterate, benefit most from listening and speaking instruction with relatively little work on reading and writing. As fluency increases, the amount of reading and writing in your lessons may also increase. With advanced learners, up to half of your lesson time can be spent on written skills, although your learners may wish to keep their focus weighted toward oral communication if that is a greater need.

Teaching Listening

Listening skills are vital for your learners. Of the 'four skills,' listening is by far the most frequently used. Listening and speaking are often taught together, but beginners, especially non-literate ones, should be given more listening than speaking practice. It's important to speak as close to natural speed as possible, although with beginners some slowing is usually necessary. Without reducing your speaking speed, you can make your language easier to comprehend by simplifying your vocabulary, using shorter sentences, and increasing the number and length of pauses in your speech.

There are many types of listening activities. Those that don't require learners to produce language in response are easier than those that do. Learners can be asked to physically respond to a command (for example, "please open the door"), select an appropriate picture or object, circle the correct letter or word on a worksheet, draw a route on a map, or fill in a chart as they listen. It's more difficult to repeat back what was heard, translate into the native language, take notes, make an outline, or answer comprehension questions. To add more challenge, learners can continue a story text, solve a problem, perform a similar task with a classmate after listening to a model (for example, order a cake from a bakery), or participate in real-time conversation.

Good listening lessons go beyond the listening task itself with related activities before and after the listening. Here is the basic structure:

• Before Listening
  Prepare your learners by introducing the topic and finding out what they already know about it. A good way to do this is to have a brainstorming session and some discussion questions related to the topic. Then provide any necessary background information and new vocabulary they will need for the listening activity.
• During Listening
  Be specific about what students need to listen for. They can listen for selective details or general content, or for an emotional tone such as happy, surprised, or angry. If they are not marking answers or otherwise responding while listening, tell them ahead of time what will be required afterward.
• After Listening
  Finish with an activity to extend the topic and help students remember new vocabulary. This could be a discussion group, craft project, writing task, game, etc.

The following ideas will help make your listening activities successful.

• Noise
  Reduce distractions and noise during the listening segment. You may need to close doors or windows or ask children in the room to be quiet for a few minutes.
• Equipment
  If you are using a cassette player, make sure it produces acceptable sound quality. A counter on the machine will aid tremendously in cueing up tapes. Bring extra batteries or an extension cord with you.
• Repetition
  Read or play the text a total of 2-3 times. Tell students in advance you will repeat it. This will reduce their anxiety about not catching it all the first time. You can also ask them to listen for different information each time through.
• Content
  Unless your text is merely a list of items, talk about the content as well as specific language used. The material should be interesting and appropriate for your class level in topic, speed, and vocabulary. You may need to explain reductions (like 'gonna' for 'going to') and fillers (like 'um' or 'uh-huh').
• Recording Your Own Tape
  Write appropriate text (or use something from your textbook) and have another English speaker read it onto tape. Copy the recording three times so you don't need to rewind. The reader should not simply read three times, because students want to hear exact repetition of the pronunciation, intonation, and pace, not just the words.
• Video
  You can play a video clip with the sound off and ask students to make predictions about what dialog is taking place. Then play it again with sound and discuss why they were right or wrong in their predictions. You can also play the sound without the video first, and show the video after students have guessed what is going on.
• Homework
  Give students a listening task to do between classes. Encourage them to listen to public announcements in airports, bus stations, supermarkets, etc. and try to write down what they heard. Tell them the telephone number of a cinema and ask them to write down the playing times of a specific movie. Give them a tape recording of yourself with questions, dictation, or a worksheet to complete.

Teaching Speaking

Speaking English is the main goal of many adult learners. Their personalities play a large role in determining how quickly and how correctly they will accomplish this goal. Those who are risk-takers unafraid of making mistakes will generally be more talkative, but with many errors that could become hard-to-break habits. Conservative, shy students may take a long time to speak confidently, but when they do, their English often contains fewer errors and they will be proud of their English ability. It's a matter of quantity vs. quality, and neither approach is wrong. However, if the aim of speaking is communication and that does not require perfect English, then it makes sense to encourage quantity in your classroom. Break the silence and get students communicating with whatever English they can use, correct or not, and selectively address errors that block communication.

Speaking lessons often tie in pronunciation and grammar (discussed elsewhere in this guide), which are necessary for effective oral communication. Or a grammar or reading lesson may incorporate a speaking activity. Either way, your students will need some preparation before the speaking task. This includes introducing the topic and providing a model of the speech they are to produce. A model may not apply to discussion-type activities, in which case students will need clear and specific instructions about the task to be accomplished. Then the students will practice with the actual speaking activity.

These activities may include imitating (repeating), answering verbal cues, interactive conversation, or an oral presentation. Most speaking activities inherently practice listening skills as well, such as when one student is given a simple drawing and sits behind another student, facing away. The first must give instructions to the second to reproduce the drawing. The second student asks questions to clarify unclear instructions, and neither can look at each other's page during the activity. Information gaps are also commonly used for speaking practice, as are surveys, discussions, and role-plays. Speaking activities abound; see the Activities and Further Resources sections of this guide for ideas.

Here are some ideas to keep in mind as you plan your speaking activities.

• Content
  As much as possible, the content should be practical and usable in real-life situations. Avoid too much new vocabulary or grammar, and focus on speaking with the language the students have.
• Correcting Errors
  You need to provide appropriate feedback and correction, but don't interrupt the flow of communication. Take notes while pairs or groups are talking and address problems to the class after the activity without embarrassing the student who made the error. You can write the error on the board and ask who can correct it.
• Quantity vs. Quality
  Address both interactive fluency and accuracy, striving foremost for communication. Get to know each learner's personality and encourage the quieter ones to take more risks.
• Conversation Strategies
  Encourage strategies like asking for clarification, paraphrasing, gestures, and initiating ('hey,' 'so,' 'by the way').
• Teacher Intervention
  If a speaking activity loses steam, you may need to jump into a role-play, ask more discussion questions, clarify your instructions, or stop an activity that is too difficult or boring.

Teaching Reading

We encounter a great variety of written language day to day -- articles, stories, poems, announcements, letters, labels, signs, bills, recipes, schedules, questionnaires, cartoons, the list is endless. Literate adults easily recognize the distinctions of various types of texts. This guide will not cover instruction for learners with little or no literacy in their native language; you will need to work intensively with them at the most basic level of letter recognition and phonics.

Finding authentic reading material may not be difficult, but finding materials appropriate for the level of your learners can be a challenge. Especially with beginners, you may need to significantly modify texts to simplify grammar and vocabulary. When choosing texts, consider what background knowledge may be necessary for full comprehension. Will students need to "read between the lines" for implied information? Are there cultural nuances you may need to explain? Does the text have any meaningful connection to the lives of your learners? Consider letting your students bring in their choice of texts they would like to study. This could be a telephone bill, letter, job memo, want ads, or the back of a cereal box. Motivation will be higher if you use materials of personal interest to your learners.

Your lesson should begin with a pre-reading activity to introduce the topic and make sure students have enough vocabulary, grammar, and background information to understand the text. Be careful not to introduce a lot of new vocabulary or grammar because you want your students to be able to respond to the content of the text and not expend too much effort analyzing the language. If you don't want to explain all of the potentially new material ahead of time, you can allow your learners to discuss the text with a partner and let them try to figure it out together with the help of a dictionary. After the reading activity, check comprehension and engage the learners with the text, soliciting their opinions and further ideas orally or with a writing task.

Consider the following when designing your reading lessons.

• Purpose
  Your students need to understand ahead of time why they are reading the material you have chosen.
• Reading Strategies
  When we read, our minds do more than recognize words on the page. For faster and better comprehension, choose activities before and during your reading task that practice the following strategies.
  • Prediction: This is perhaps the most important strategy. Give your students hints by asking them questions about the cover, pictures, headlines, or format of the text to help them predict what they will find when they read it.
  • Guessing From Context: Guide your students to look at contextual information outside or within the text. Outside context includes the source of the text, its format, and how old it is; inside context refers to topical information and the language used (vocabulary, grammar, tone, etc.) as well as illustrations. If students have trouble understanding a particular word or sentence, encourage them to look at the context to try to figure it out. Advanced students may also be able to guess cultural references and implied meanings by considering context.
  • Skimming: This will improve comprehension speed and is useful at the intermediate level and above. The idea of skimming is to look over the entire text quickly to get the basic idea. For example, you can give your students 30 seconds to skim the text and tell you the main topic, purpose, or idea. Then they will have a framework to understand the reading when they work through it more carefully.
  • Scanning: This is another speed strategy to use with intermediate level and above. Students must look through a text quickly, searching for specific information. This is often easier with non-continuous texts such as recipes, forms, or bills (look for an ingredient amount, account number, date of service, etc.) but scanning can also be used with continuous texts like newspaper articles, letters, or stories. Ask your students for a very specific piece of information and give them just enough time to find it without allowing so much time that they will simply read through the entire text.
• Silent Reading vs. Reading Aloud
  Reading aloud and reading silently are really two separate skills. Reading aloud may be useful for reporting information or improving pronunciation, but a reading lesson should focus on silent reading. When students read silently, they can vary their pace and concentrate on understanding more difficult portions of the text. They will generally think more deeply about the content and have greater comprehension when reading silently. Try extended silent reading (a few pages instead of a few paragraphs, or a short chapter or book for advanced students) and you may be surprised at how much your learners can absorb when they study the text uninterrupted at their own pace. When introducing extended texts, work with materials at or slightly below your students' level; a long text filled with new vocabulary or complex grammar is too cumbersome to understand globally and the students will get caught up in language details rather than comprehending the text as a whole.

Teaching Writing

Good writing conveys a meaningful message and uses English well, but the message is more important than correct presentation. If you can understand the message or even part of it, your student has succeeded in communicating on paper and should be praised for that. For many adult ESL learners, writing skills will not be used much outside your class. This doesn't mean that they shouldn't be challenged to write, but you should consider their needs and balance your class time appropriately. Many adults who do not need to write will enjoy it for the purpose of sharing their thoughts and personal stories, and they appreciate a format where they can revise their work into better English than if they shared the same information orally.

Two writing strategies you may want to use in your lessons are free writing and revised writing. Free writing directs students to simply get their ideas onto paper without worrying much about grammar, spelling, or other English mechanics. In fact, the teacher can choose not to even look at free writing pieces. To practice free writing, give students 5 minutes in class to write about a certain topic, or ask them to write weekly in a journal. You can try a dialog journal where students write a journal entry and then give the journal to a partner or the teacher, who writes another entry in response. The journals may be exchanged during class, but journal writing usually is done at home. The main characteristic of free writing is that few (if any) errors are corrected by the teacher, which relieves students of the pressure to perform and allows them to express themselves more freely.

Revised writing, also called extended or process writing, is a more formal activity in which students must write a first draft, then revise and edit it to a final polished version, and often the finished product is shared publicly. You may need several class sessions to accomplish this. Begin with a pre-writing task such as free writing, brainstorming, listing, discussion of a topic, making a timeline, or making an outline. Pairs or small groups often work well for pre-writing tasks. Then give the students clear instructions and ample time to write the assignment. In a class, you can circulate from person to person asking, "Do you have any questions?" Many students will ask a question when approached but otherwise would not have raised a hand to call your attention. Make yourself available during the writing activity; don't sit at a desk working on your next lesson plan. Once a rough draft is completed, the students can hand in their papers for written comment, discuss them with you face to face, or share them with a partner, all for the purpose of receiving constructive feedback. Make sure ideas and content are addressed first; correcting the English should be secondary. Finally, ask students to rewrite the piece. They should use the feedback they received to revise and edit it into a piece they feel good about. Such finished pieces are often shared with the class or posted publicly, and depending on the assignment, you may even choose to 'publish' everyone's writing into a class booklet.

Tactful correction of student writing is essential. Written correction is potentially damaging to confidence because it's very visible and permanent on the page. Always make positive comments and respond to the content, not just the language. Focus on helping the student clarify the meaning of the writing. Especially at lower levels, choose selectively what to correct and what to ignore. Spelling should be a low priority as long as words are recognizable. To reduce ink on the page, don't correct all errors or rewrite sentences for the student. Make a mark where the error is and let the student figure out what's wrong and how to fix it. At higher levels you can tell students ahead of time exactly what kinds of errors (verbs, punctuation, spelling, word choice) you will correct and ignore other errors. If possible, in addition to any written feedback you provide, try to respond orally to your student's writing, making comments on the introduction, overall clarity, organization, and any unnecessary information.

Consider the following ideas for your writing lessons.

• Types of Tasks
  Here are some ideas for the types of writing you can ask your students to do.
  • Copying text word for word
  • Writing what you dictate
  • Imitating a model
  • Filling in blanks in sentences or paragraphs
  • Taking a paragraph and transforming certain language, for example changing all verbs and time references to past tense
  • Summarizing a story text, video, or listening clip (you can guide with questions or keywords)
  • Making lists of items, ideas, reasons, etc. (words or sentences depending on level)
  • Writing what your students want to learn in English and why
  • Writing letters (complaint, friend, advice) - give blank post cards or note cards or stationery to add interest; you can also use this to teach how to address an envelope
  • Organizing information, for example making a grid of survey results or writing directions to a location using a map
  • Reacting to a text, object, picture, etc. - can be a word or whole written piece
• Format
  Clarify the format. For an essay, you may specify that you want an introduction, main ideas, support, and a conclusion. For a poem, story, list, etc., the format will vary accordingly, but make sure your students know what you expect.
• Model
  Provide a model of the type of writing you want your students to do, especially for beginners.
• Editing
  Consider giving students a checklist of points to look for when editing their own work. Include such things as clear topic sentences, introduction and conclusion, verb tenses, spelling, capitalization, etc.
• Correction
  Minimize the threatening appearance of correction. Instead of a red pen, use green or blue or even pencil, as long as it's different from what the student used. Explain to the students that you will use certain symbols such as VT for verb tense or WO for word order, and be very clear whether a mark (check mark, X, star, circle) means correct or incorrect as this varies among cultures.

Teaching Grammar

Grammar is often named as a subject difficult to teach. Its technical language and complex rules can be intimidating. Teaching a good grammar lesson is one thing, but what if you're in the middle of a reading or speaking activity and a student has a grammar question? Some students may have studied grammar in their home countries and be surprised that you don't understand, "Does passive voice always need the past participle?" But even if your student's question is simple and jargon-free, explaining grammar is a skill you will need to acquire through practice. If you don't know how to explain it on the spot, write down the specific sentence or structure in question and tell the student you will find out. There are several resources below that can help you understand and explain various grammar issues.

Consider the following as you integrate grammar into your lessons.

• Acknowledge your role.
  As a volunteer, you aren't expected to be a grammar expert. You may have difficulty explaining the 'why' behind grammar points, but you can recognize 'right' and 'wrong' wording and your students will still benefit from your English sensibility.
• Find good lesson plans.
  It's difficult to make a good grammar lesson from scratch, so any searching you do for appropriate grammar lessons in textbooks or on the Internet will be time well spent. See the Lesson Materials section of this guide for possible resources.
• Use meaningful texts.
  The sentences you use to teach and practice grammar shouldn't be random. Choose material that is relevant. For example, if your learners are preparing for citizenship or need workplace English, use these contexts to create appropriate examples. If possible, bring in real-life, authentic texts to illustrate your points.
• Teach basic grammar words.
  Although you need not be fluent in grammar jargon, it's a good idea to teach at least some vocabulary (noun, verb, past tense, etc.) to assist you in your explanations. Intermediate and advanced students may be familiar with many such words already. As a practice activity, you can choose 2-3 parts of speech, specify different symbols for each (underline, circle, box), and have students mark their occurrences in a sentence or paragraph.

The links below will help you understand and explain various grammar points. The first two are from British sources, so don't be distracted by non-American spelling.

• BBC Skillswise: Grammar
  Fact sheets, games, quizzes, and worksheets on a variety of practical English grammar skills.
• EduFind.com: Online English Grammar
  Explanations and examples of grammar points organized categorically; click on Table of Contents.
• Guide to Grammar and Writing (Capital Community College Foundation)
  Concise explanations of hundreds of grammar points; uses a lot of grammar terminology.
• Verb Tense Chart (Purdue Online Writing Lab)
  Active and passive verb tenses in past, present, and future forms with examples.
• OWL Handouts: ESL (Purdue Online Writing Lab)
  ESL-oriented explanations of a variety of grammar issues.
• Englishpage.com: Irregular Verb Page
  Alphabetical list of irregular verb forms; simple blank-fill worksheets for students by level.
• Eslflow.com: Grammar Lesson Plans
  Links to off-site grammar lesson plans in many categories.

Teaching Pronunciation

Pronunciation involves far more than individual sounds. Word stress, sentence stress, intonation, and word linking all influence the sound of spoken English, not to mention the way we often slur words and phrases together in casual speech. 'What are you going to do?' becomes 'Whaddaya gonna do?' English pronunciation involves too many complexities for learners to strive for a complete elimination of accent, but improving pronunciation will boost self esteem, facilitate communication, and possibly lead to a better job or a least more respect in the workplace. Effective communication is of greatest importance, so choose first to work on problems that significantly hinder communication and let the rest go. Remember that your students also need to learn strategies for dealing with misunderstandings, since native pronunciation is for most an unrealistic goal.

A student's first language often interferes with English pronunciation. For example, /p/ is aspirated in English but not in Spanish, so when a Spanish speaker pronounces 'pig' without a puff of air on the /p/, an American may hear 'big' instead. Sometimes the students will be able to identify specific problem sounds and sometimes they won't. You can ask them for suggestions, but you will also need to observe them over time and make note of problem sounds. Another challenge resulting from differences in the first language is the inability to hear certain English sounds that the native language does not contain. Often these are vowels, as in 'ship' and 'sheep,' which many learners cannot distinguish. The Japanese are known for confusing /r/ and /l/, as their language contains neither of these but instead has one sound somewhere between the two. For problems such as these, listening is crucial because students can't produce a sound they can't hear. Descriptions of the sound and mouth position can help students increase their awareness of subtle sound differences.

Here are some ideas for focusing on specific pronunciation features.

• Voicing
  Voiced sounds will make the throat vibrate. For example, /g/ is a voiced sound while /k/ is not, even though the mouth is in the same position for both sounds. Have your students touch their throats while pronouncing voiced and voiceless sounds. They should feel vibration with the voiced sounds only.
• Aspiration
  Aspiration refers to a puff of air when a sound is produced. Many languages have far fewer aspirated sounds than English, and students may have trouble hearing the aspiration. The English /p/, /t/, /k/, and /ch/ are some of the more commonly aspirated sounds. Although these are not always aspirated, at the beginning of a word they usually are. To illustrate aspiration, have your students hold up a piece of facial tissue a few inches away from their mouths and push it with a puff of air while pronouncing a word containing the target sound.
• Mouth Position
  Draw simple diagrams of tongue and lip positions. Make sure all students can clearly see your mouth while you model sounds. Have students use a mirror to see their mouth, lips, and tongue while they imitate you.
• Intonation
  Word or sentence intonation can be mimicked with a kazoo, or alternatively by humming. This will take the students' attention off of the meaning of a word or sentence and help them focus on the intonation.
• Linking
  We pronounce phrases and even whole sentences as one smooth sound instead of a series of separate words. 'Will Amy go away,' is rendered 'Willaymeegowaway.' To help learners link words, try starting at the end of a sentence and have them repeat a phrase, adding more of the sentence as they can master it. For example, 'gowaway,' then 'aymeegowaway,' and finally 'Willaymeegowaway' without any pauses between words.
• Vowel Length
  You can demonstrate varying vowel lengths within a word by stretching rubber bands on the longer vowels and letting them contract on shorter ones. Then let the students try it. For example, the word 'fifteen' would have the rubber band stretched for the 'ee' vowel, but the word 'fifty' would not have the band stretched because both of its vowels are spoken quickly.
• Syllables
  • Have students count syllables in a word and hold up the correct number of fingers, or place objects on table to represent each syllable.
  • Illustrate syllable stress by clapping softly and loudly corresponding to the syllables of a word. For example, the word 'beautiful' would be loud-soft-soft. Practice with short lists of words with the same syllabic stress pattern ('beautiful,' 'telephone,' 'Florida') and then see if your learners can list other words with that pattern.
• Specific Sounds
  • Minimal pairs, or words such as 'bit/bat' that differ by only one sound, are useful for helping students distinguish similar sounds. They can be used to illustrate voicing ('curl/girl') or commonly confused sounds ('play/pray'). Remember that it's the sound and not the spelling you are focusing on.
  • Tongue twisters are useful for practicing specific target sounds, plus they're fun. Make sure the vocabulary isn't too difficult.
  • The Sounds of English, American Accent Training, and EnglishClub.com websites below offer guidelines for describing how to produce various English sounds. You can find representative practice words for every English sound on the English is Soup site.

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Teaching ESL

Getting Started: The Basics of Teaching

The following principles apply to almost any kind of teaching. Some of these points may seem like common sense, yet these are the types of issues professional teachers spend years learning and perfecting. Many of these ideas are adapted from Teaching By Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy by H. Douglas Brown and How To Teach English by Jeremy Harmer.

• Make Lessons Interesting
  Bored students won't remember much of the lesson. Don't talk for long blocks of time. Instead, keep students involved and interacting with you and each other in English. Some may come from cultures where teachers lecture and students listen quietly. If interaction makes your students nervous, provide plenty of support by giving clear and very specific directions. Say, "Yuko and Yan, you work together," rather than "everyone get into pairs." Vary the types of skills you practice and activities you use, add games, and bring in real-life objects like a telephone, cook book, or musical instrument. Vary your own dress or behavior patterns for a day. Keep in mind, though, that some degree of predictability will be appreciated by your students, fostering a feeling of safety.
• Make Yourself Understandable
  Simplify your vocabulary, grammar, and speaking speed to the degree necessary to be understood, and keep any instructions simple and logical. New ESL teachers frequently slow down the pace of their speech but forget to modify their vocabulary and grammar for beginning students. As your students' English ability increases, so should the complexity and speed of your English. Some of your interaction at an intermediate level and most of it at an advanced level can use natural grammar and speed, but make sure you slow down or repeat any highly important points. Teach your learners how to ask for clarification when they need it. Try to anticipate unknown vocabulary and be prepared to explain it. Appropriate language modification gets easier with experience.
• Motivate With Rewards
  Learners will truly want to learn when they perceive a personal reward. To boost internal motivation, remind them of the benefits that English can provide, such as English-speaking friends, better job opportunities, easier shopping, or less stress at the doctor's office, and then teach language that will bring them closer to those benefits. Motivation can be boosted externally by praise and encouragement as well as tangible rewards like prizes, certificates, or check marks on an attendance chart. Motivation can be hindered by over-correction or teaching a topic that the learner will not use in daily life.
• Provide a Useful Context
  Learners will remember material better and take more interest in it if it has relevant contextual meaning. Arbitrary rote learning (word lists or grammar drills) may be useful in solidifying language forms, but unless there's a real-world application, sooner or later it's likely to be forgotten.
• Remember that Native Language Affects English Learning
  A learner's native language will provide a basis for figuring out how English works. Sometimes the native language can affect English production. To illustrate, the Japanese language does not use articles (a, an, the) so correct article usage is frequently difficult for Japanese learners. Spanish uses idioms such as "I have thirst" or "I have sleepiness" so Spanish speakers may forget to use "I am..." with an adjective instead of a noun. Most teachers, however, have little if any understanding of their students' native language. While a familiarity with the native language may shed light on certain errors, it is certainly not essential. In fact, intermediate and advanced students are often able to tell you whether a specific error is related to their native language.
• Don't Assume All Errors are Bad
  Native language interference contributes to a gradual process of learning in which language is refined over time to become more like natural English. For example, a learner may progress through phrases such as "no I like peanuts," "I no like peanuts," and finally, "I don't like peanuts." Teachers must not get discouraged watching students exchange one error for another; this process is a natural part of language learning. Selectively choose errors to work on rather than trying to fix everything at once. Give priority to problems that hinder communication rather than incorrect but understandable errors. With gentle corrective feedback, students will keep improving.
• Encourage Learners to Think in English
  Too often ESL learners will get stuck in a habit of thinking in their native language and then mentally translating what they want to say or write into English. This is time consuming and frequently leads to confusion when direct translation isn't possible. Thinking in English requires learners to use learned words, phrases, and language structures to express original ideas without focusing too much on language rules or translation. To illustrate, how would you change the statement "Linda ate an apple" into a question? Of course, "Did Linda eat an apple?" More than likely you didn't think about adding the modal 'do' (in the past tense 'did' because 'ate' is past tense) before the subject, changing the irregular verb 'ate' to 'eat' and raising your vocal intonation at the end of the sentence. While it's unreasonable to expect beginning ESL learners not to rely on native language translation to some degree, one way you can minimize it is to explain new vocabulary using simple English, drawings, or gestures and allow dictionary lookups only as a last resort. You might also ask them to speak (or write if they are able) for several minutes without stopping. At some point, mental translation will become cumbersome and learners should begin developing an ability to use English independently from their native language.
• Build Confidence in Your Students
  Learners must believe in their own ability to complete a task. Without self-confidence, they are unlikely to take risks, and risk-taking is necessary in language learning. Learners need to feel that it's safe to make mistakes. By trying out new or less familiar language, they may find that they are indeed capable of more communication than they thought. Try to reduce feelings of embarrassment when mistakes are made, and give far more compliments than criticisms. Make some tasks easy enough that everyone is guaranteed success.
• Account for Different Learning Styles
  Some people are hands-on learners, some like to watch, some like to have detailed explanations. Some people learn better visually, others audibly. Some like to work in groups, some work better individually. Language teaching should take a variety of learning styles into account through varied activities.
• Know Your Students
  Learn how to pronounce students' names (or ask for easier nicknames) and then remember and use them. Build trust with your students by building relationships and being approachable. Make sure quiet students are included and more assertive ones don't dominate the lesson.

Focus On Communication

Interaction requires communication, the transfer of a meaningful idea from one person to another. Good teachers go beyond the building blocks of English such as vocabulary lists or grammar drills to develop a learner's oral, written, and even non-verbal communication skills. Every lesson should prepare your students for real-world interaction in some way. Think meaningful and usable.

When communication breaks down, native speakers usually try to clarify any potentially unclear items by asking questions and offering explanations. They ask for repetition or more information, confirm that the other person has understood what was said, expand on words or topics, or repeat back a paraphrase of what they just heard to confirm that they got it right. This is one of the greatest communication skills, but it can be difficult and ESL learners need to be taught how to do this in English.

Teachers bring communication into their lessons by guiding learners through tasks or activities which require meaningful communication in a relevant context. Here are some tips for making your lessons communicative:

• Clarification Skills
  Teach your students how to ask for clarification. The following phrases may serve as a starting point and can be expanded or adapted to an appropriate language level.
  • Do you understand?
  • Excuse me? / Could you repeat that?
  • Once more. / One more time.
  • Please speak more slowly.
  • How do you spell that?
  • Did you say ______?
  • What does ______ mean?
  • How do you say ______ in English?
  • I don't know.
  • I don't understand.
• Pair and Group Work
  When students must work with each other or one-on-one with you, they are forced to communicate. Make sure you have taught them how to ask for clarification when they don't understand something. If students share the same native language, limit its use as much as possible. Information gap activities, role plays, and collaborative problem solving are some communicative activities explained in more detail in the activities section of this guide.
• Individual Communication
  Some types of communication are not highly interactive. For example, you can have students give a speech, write a letter or composition, or report group work results to the class. As long as they are producing original language to convey their own thoughts, they are practicing communication.
• Interactive Teaching
  Specific practice activities aren't the only place where communication can occur. While you are teaching your main lesson, you don't need to do all the talking. Involve your students by asking them for related vocabulary words, the spelling of a word they suggest, the past tense of verbs (especially irregular ones), examples beyond those in the textbook, etc. Draw out what they already know and connect it to their life experiences. For example, if your text contains the word 'allergy' and you aren't sure if the students understand it, rather than simply teaching "an allergy is..." and moving on, ask if anyone knows the meaning and can explain it, what types of allergies the students can think of, and whether anyone has an allergy. Ask for the spelling of the plural form, 'allergies.' If your students have a lot to say, these side-tracks can become time-consuming. You will need to decide how much time you will allow for this so you can still complete your lesson.
• What Communication is Not
  Some elements of your lesson will probably not be communicative. For example, memorization, vocabulary lists, reading, listening tasks, grammar structures, and pronunciation practice do not require any original language to be produced by the learner, yet they are all valuable building blocks for communication. As a teacher, you should be aware of the difference between what is communicative and what is not and balance the two.

Teaching Adults

Adults bring life experiences and a level of maturity into the classroom that children and adolescents do not. Their expectations and motivations reflect this. Here are several keys to keep in mind when teaching adults:

• Adult classrooms may present great diversity
  Be prepared for diversity of cultural background, age, previous formal education, previous exposure to English, life experiences, and current life situations.
• Adults respond well to knowledgeable, enthusiastic teachers
  You must be comfortable with the subject matter you are teaching and communicate enthusiasm for the subject matter and your role as a teacher. This will help you gain respect and is especially important if you are younger than your students. If you must teach material which is challenging for you, try not to communicate a negative attitude about the material to your students. If a student asks a question which you can't answer, don't be afraid to say, "I don't know, but I'll find out for you."
• Adults are not too old to learn a second language well
  Although native language learning and literacy are best accomplished in childhood, when it comes to learning a second language, research has shown that adolescents and adults outperform children. Adolescents even surpassed children in pronunciation skills. One of the reasons children appear to acquire a second language faster than adults is simply that they get a lot more practice with other children and have lower inhibitions, but many adults have attained a high level of fluency in a foreign language.
• Adults need a comfortable and safe learning atmosphere
  Trial and error should be encouraged in language learning. Adults will take more risks in an environment where it's safe to make mistakes without embarrassment. You may want to minimize public reading and writing until your learners gain confidence, especially if literacy skills are deficient. The same goes for standing in front of the group to speak.
• Adult learning is transformative
  Learning in childhood is said to be formative, when skills and concepts are developed for the first time. Adults, on the other hand, are extending and refining their knowledge based on existing knowledge and beliefs. They are changed or transformed by learning experiences.
• Adults need repeated practice of a concept or skill
  Adults generally need patience and repetition to solidify new language concepts or skills. If adults have already developed bad habits with English errors, these will take time and effort to break. Adults also tend to have a lot on their minds and limited time to practice English outside the classroom.
• Adults learn well with question asking and answering, and problem finding and solving
  These activities require mature thought processes which stimulate and motivate adult minds.
• Adults want practical, real-life contexts
  The more relevant and useful the subject matter, the more motivated your learners will be. Adults enjoy materials that relate to their personal experiences and interests, and they want to be able to apply what they're learning in the real world.

Running Dictation

Duration:15-30 minutes

Number of Students:Pairs or small groups

English Skills:Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing

Objective:

Remember words and phrases and dictate them to your partner

1. Break students up into groups of 3-4, or pairs for small classes
2. Put one sentence on a piece of paper for each team
3. One leader from each team goes to the board and tries to remember their sentence
4. The leader returns to their group and dictates the sentence while team members write it down
5. First team to finish correctly gets a point
6. Change words/sentences and switch leaders

• Use pictures for children who can't spell and have them draw the picture instead of writing the words
• Use multiple sentences for more advanced students
• Place
  sentences around the room and have each group member do one each.
• Groups have to put the sentences into the right order before turning in the paper

Make each team's paper different so students don't simply listen to other teams. Leaders are not allowed to take their paper, write down anything, or yell across the room. They are allowed to return to board to look at their paper as many times as they like. Use words from class to reinforce learned vocabulary and grammar structures.