500 Tips for TESOL Teachers

16 Teaching reading Reading is both a matter of quality and of quantity. Students need to learn the skills of target language re ...

meaning from context. You can also get learners to think about ways in which they read effectively in L1. By talking about good ...

speaking. Be accepting of the idea that their talk in such situations will inevitably be less accurate than in a more structured ...

12 Create an atmosphere of acceptance. Many learners find it rather threatening to speak in the target language. You can help th ...

7 Accept that there will be many mistakes in early drafts. This is particularly the case for less proficient learners, of course ...

1 Expect grammatical errors. They are a normal part of language development and you can’t get rid of them by pointing them out. ...

8 Capitalize on learners’ existing knowledge. Especially if they have previously learnt in a formal way, your learners will no d ...

4 Adapt activities, where appropriate. You might see an activity as being broadly beneficial, and yet unsuitable from a particul ...

observe them. You can ask a colleague to observe you, and then talk together about what happens. The most important thing is att ...

6 Observe the situation you record and make notes about it as soon as you can. Many important aspects of a situation are lost in ...

specifically identified language needs. The following suggestions should help you to gain maximum pedagogic benefit from the aut ...

paragraphs. This repetition contributes to the cohesion of the text. Writers also create cohesion by referring back to things th ...

best ways of getting learners to work with meaning is to give them a good pre-listening task, which sets up a reason for listeni ...

10 Spend some time on specific language features. Spontaneous speech particularly is often full of prefabricated chunks: phrases ...

6 Ask learners to interpret the text more deeply. You could ask them to think about reasons for actions, viewpoints of character ...

experiences. The rest of the tips in this section give ideas for particular games. 3 Who am I? Choose a famous person, someone a ...

‘D‘which link to the central topic. Examples for this one could be ‘disaster’, ‘deep water’, ‘driving too fast’, and so on. 11 H ...

5 Give learners sufficient time to get into role. Allow them time to make sense of the briefings and to tune in to the role that ...

2 Get learners to make a commentary. Give learners a short extract on an issue they know about, with the sound off. Get them to ...

10 Radio bulletins. Give learners copies of the front page of a newspaper, and ask them in groups to make a set of headlines for ...