Resources for Teachers

Classroom Activities

• Jazz Chants, by Carolyn Grant: This book offers a variety of jazz chants to help your students become familiar with the rhythm of language - and they are fun! Used copies can be found on Amazon (click the title link above) for just a few dollars. A jazz chant is just a short section of speech spoken to a rhythm, and can be combined with claps or finger snaps or even music! For an example of a jazz chant in practice, watch this video.

• In My Opinion, by Phil Keegan: The 60 contemporary, thought provoking topics are presented in two basic formats. Just over half of them are in the form of a questionnaire that students fill out and/or respond to orally. They then compare their responses to discover the 'gaps' in their views relating to good-bad, right-wrong, liberal-conservative, likes and dislikes, and so on. The remainder of the activities are in the form of opinion cards, twelve to a page. Each card is a question that asks the cardholder to take a position, initiate an opinion for discussion, to be agreed with or challenged by the others in the class. This book is reproducible.

• Talk-a-tivities, by Richard Yorkey: a reproducible book with information gap activities. Each activity includes instructions and an answer key.

• Conversation Strategies, by David Kehe and Peggy Dustin Kehe: 29 Pair and Group Activities for Developing Communicative CompetenceEach activity has three parts: a teacher's introduction, a written introductory exercise to be done by students individually, and pair/group practice that makes use of information gap and other interactive formats. Each fun, student-centered activity begins with controlled language and moves to open, imaginative exchanges. The work is enjoyable for students and teacher. Easy to use in any intermediate level class.

• Games for Vocabulary Practice: Interactive Vocabulary Activities for All Levels, by Felicity O'Dell and Katie Head: A selection of more than 50 vocabulary games and activities for classroom use, based on 18 topic-based units.

Teacher Professional Development

• BBC Learning English Classroom Teaching Tips with the Teacher's Room: This site has short, engaging videos, explanations, and tips for English teachers on topics such as giving directions, error correction, teaching intonation, and so much more.

• Christian English Language Educators' Association (CELEA): This group welcomes all who are followers of Christ and teach English to speakers of other languages. Their Teacher Toolbox pages contain a wealth of resources for many contexts, and their yearly conference, Christians in English Language Teaching (CELT), offers opportunities for networking and education. Membership is $15/year. You may also register for the CELT conference and receive a year's membership in that fee.

• Learner English: A Teacher's Guide to Interference and Other Problems, edited by Michael Swan and Bernard Smith - a practical reference guide which compares the relevant features of a student's own language with English, helping teachers to predict and understand the problems their students have. Languages include Dutch, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Greek, Russian, Polish, Farsi, Arabic, Turkish, Swahili, Malay/Indonesian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai, as well as various Scandinavian, South Asian, Dravidian, and West African languages.

• Teaching Adults: An ESL Resource Book, from New Readers Press, is a step-by-step resource guide providing instruction for teaching adult English language learners. Includes 50+ ready-to-use activities.

• Making It Real: This comprehensive text explains not only theory, but dozens of practical tips on teaching literacy to pre-literate adult refugee students. In addition, pages 104-108 contain an annotated bibliography. This book (available for free download as a PDF in the link) is highly recommended for teachers who are looking for more ways to adapt their instruction.

• A Handbook for Tutors Working with Adult ESOL Literacy Learners – this handbook describes these learners, gives effective strategies for planning and tutoring, and provides other resources. It is created to be usable for tutors without teaching backgrounds.

• Teaching English Language Learners the Good News - manual for church-based ESOL teachers and directors. This is the manual used for the Southern Baptist Convention and Mission to North America training workshops.

Lesson Planning and Reference

• The ESL Miscellany, by Pro Lingua Associates: Ever feel stuck when planning a lesson? Want some tips on teaching cultural aspects? Need some vocabulary lists and grammatical explanations? This book is a wealth of knowledge for all ESL teachers and is fully photocopiable.

• The ESL Teacher’s Book of Lists (2nd edition): As we get to know our students, we often find certain areas of need that they'd like to focus on, such as medical, school, or work vocabulary. This excellent resource (fully photocopiable) offers numerous lists of themed vocabulary words, grammar, pronunciation, and even themed units for teachers to consider in planning. This can be especially useful for teachers of advanced students, who don't need textbook practice as much as personalized life information. The first edition is available here.

• Keys to Teaching Grammar to English Language Learners, by Keith Folse: Written for classroom teachers (K-12, ESL, EFL), this book teaches the most common ESL grammar points in an accessible way through real ESL errors together with suggested teaching techniques. Relevant grammar terminology is explained.

• The New York Times' Learning page offers articles and lesson activities to use with English language learners.

• One important aspect of lesson planning is finding out what your students want to know. Why are they studying English? What do they wish to learn, and what will help them in their daily lives? Consider giving your students a formal or informal needs assessment (on paper or verbally, in English or with an interpreter) to find out how to make the class most relevant to your students. A sample survey for intermediate and advanced learners is below: