TESOL is an acronym standing for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Generally speaking it is the same as TESL or TEFL and it is used as an umbrella term primarily in the USA. TESOL refers to the teaching of the English language to students whose...
Using Humor (or Humour) in the classroom is always good and a good joke can really make a difference. It's an excellent way of breaking the ice with your students, getting the class relaxed and generally fostering a friendly atmosphere to work in. However, don't over...
Imagine you're in a TEFL class and a student is speaking and they say something which is wrong. The obvious mistake a new teacher makes is to stop them there and then, interrupt them, and correct them. But this is bad teaching on a number of levels not least because...
TOEIC or Test of English for International Communication is an English exam designed to test a user's ability in the workplace. The test consists of a 2 hour multiple choice test of 200 questions on listening and reading comprehension. There is also a TOEIC...
Context is the positioning of a word or phrase. This can be used by the teacher to help students gain an understanding of its meaning. For example, look at this sentence. I saw a bright red fligret in the sky. This contains the unknown (and non-existent) word,...
TEFL teachers often talk about Language Items. But what exactly do they mean? Simply put, they are small self-contained pieces of language which you can teach or practice in a lesson. (That's the most usual definition in TEFL.) Once you have the language item, you can...
An Idiom is a phrase which has a very different meaning from what it appears to be. It has a figurative meaning which is very different from the literal meaning. For example, in The Godfather famously Luca Brassi sleeps with the fishes This doesn't literally mean that...
Generally speaking, we can divide language classrooms into two types: monolingual and multilingual. In a monolingual TEFL class all the students speak the same mother tongue and are learning English. In a multilingual TEFL class, however, the students speak a...
As a TEFL teacher, you will be faced with one of two types of classroom: Monolingual or Multilingual. In a monolingual classroom, all the students speak the same first language and they are all learning English. This type of classroom is typical in countries like...
Multiple-Choice Questions are a tried and tested method of checking how much your students know. This article looks at the practical side of things for TEFL teachers: writing a good question and preparing your students for multiple-choice questions in exams. Before...
Fluency (or what some people might call Volubility and Loquaciousness) is the ability to speak smoothly and at length about a subject without effort. And if there are pauses, these are to gather thoughts or allow a point to sink in rather than to search for the right...
There are 3 approximate (and overlapping) groups when it comes to TEFL: adults, teenagers, and young learners. This article is all about teaching English to Teenagers, possibly the most likely scenario for new teachers and arguably the most difficult... but also quite...
Exams are big business and a great number of students work towards one of the major English exams; many more work towards local exams.This means that preparing students for exams is also big business and many teachers either take this on with classes approaching and...
Eliciting is when a teacher gets the students to provide information rather than telling them directly. For example, in an EFL beginners' class a teacher could hold up a ball and say, "Ball. This is a ball. Ball." Alternatively, the teacher could hold up the ball...
A Placement Test is simply a test of English which a student will take to determine their learner level. They are often used during a needs analysis and when a new student joins a school. The result of the test will give the school a good indication of which class...
Quite simply, a TEFL Lesson is a set period of time where you - as a TEFL teacher - work with your class in learning English. It is part of the hierarchy of learning English where the yearly syllabus is divided into short periods: English > Syllabus > Lesson...
Role Plays or Simulations are an extremely valuable method for learning and practicing the English in your TEFL/TESOL classroom. Essentially the students are placed in a certain fictitious situation where they must use English. It allows creativity on the part of the...
The Audio-Lingual Method is a method of teaching foreign languages popular in the mid 20th Century. It is similar to the Direct Method (and is in fact descended from it) in that the teacher presents the students with plenty of language practice and examples in English...
The Key English Test or KET is an international examination looking at beginners learning English. It is offered by Cambridge Assessment. There are 3 parts to the exam: Reading & Writing Listening Speaking The total time for the exam is 1hr 50mins and there are...
PET stands for Preliminary English Test. PET is an exam for people who can use everyday written and spoken English at an intermediate level. It covers all four language skills, providing practical language practice in a variety of everyday work, study and leisure...
The Ideal TEFL Classroom is the best possible place where you can give your lessons. And remember that since it's probably the most important room in your professional life so it's worthwhile getting it right! In the world of TEFL it's not easy to predict exactly...
Survival English is a term we used to talk about the essential English someone needs to know in order to survive - live or work - in an English speaking environment. Typical students of Survival English might be: going to the US on holiday taking an English course in...
This is an Example TEFL Lesson Plan which illustrates some of the ideas presented in the article on TEFL Lesson Planning. It will give you a good idea of how to approach the subject and lay out your plan. Obviously what we show here will need to be tweaked and...
One of most common situations a TEFL teacher will find themself in is Explaining Unknown Words. A typical scenario is when a class is working on a text or watching a video and then a student will simply ask what the meaning of a certain word is. They may well use you...
Many teachers like to use Sweets or Candy as Incentives for their students, especially with younger classes. TEFL teachers heading abroad will often fill their bag with candy from back home not only to motivate their class but also offer a little bit of cultural input...
Qualifications for Students indicate how well a person knows English. NB For qualifications in order to teach, see Essential Qualifications to Teach English. There is no single, standardized qualification system showing how well a person can use English, however over...
Dogme language teaching is a methodology (and also sometimes thought of as a movement) for teaching English which encourages teaching through conversation and without textbooks in a naturalistic fashion. It aims to take language teaching back to its roots and was...
Production, in TEFL terms, is simply producing language; in other words, speaking or writing. It is taking the raw material (language) and forming it into coherent utterances and sentences for others to hear or read. Language learning often follows this pattern: INPUT...
Lesson Snapshot is a method by which you as a teacher can try to look objectively at the way you teach and check out your style and methods from the point of view of your students. Basically you video a typical lesson to provide a snapshot of your lesson which lets...
The Deficit Paradigm has been used to explain why students misbehave in class and underachieve. Essentially it means that the reason students perform badly is because they have problems with their families, their backgrounds, their community and/or their culture. They...
