Teacher Discussion Forums

I used to write a one-page newsletter about what was happening in the class and the outside world. I'd give a copy to everyone as they came in and write some questions about the content on the board. When everyone was finally there, we'd go over the questions and answers. It was a way to make announ...

Write a long sentence on the board and ask how much you could cut out and still have the sentence make sense. When you've cut it down, show how you can make the rest of the words into more sentences. This is a slightly different version of an activity from the book Zero Prep . Here's a link: http://...

You may be able to find the Westcoast Reader at your public library, or maybe even get a subscription. Here's the link: http://www.capcollege.bc.ca/about/publications/The_Westcoast_Reader.html?PageMode=HTML Students usually love it, and the teacher's notes (which you can find at the site) have lots ...

I had a student who could read and write in Farsi but didn't want to learn to do it in English. So I printed out sets of clipart pictures, 5 to 10 each session, and got her to memorize the names of the objects. She was pretty good at that. I labelled all the objects, in case she ever changed her min...

Good idea -- reading in English improves all your English skills.

Here's an easy novel that a lot of my students liked:

http://eslfreepress.typepad.com/the_esl ... index.html

It may be too easy -- but the company publishes higher level books, too. Good luck.

This is hard, all right. It's always difficult to keep the ones with better English and more outgoing personalities from dominating the talk. When I want students to talk to each other , I get them working in pairs or circulating with some questions that they have to ask everyone. Then we reconvene ...

Thanks for all the good ideas! I was also glad to hear that in your class, the kids ended up doing most of the "work" and the parents didn't get bored. We'll try out all the ideas we have time for.

Hi -- I teach ESL to parents of small children (up to age 5). Lately we've decided to include the students' children in part of the class, because a lot of them need to learn English too and because some of the parents have a hard time getting away from their kids, out of the playroom and into class...

What subjects are you thinking of? I've got a lot of news stories on my site; please help yourself if you want.

http://eslfreepress.typepad.com/the_esl_free_press/

Here are some fact sheets on landlord/tenant law in BC, Canada: http://www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/rto/publications/factsheets/index.htm Your area may have an agency that handles the same kind of thing -- if so they've probably got lots of fact sheets, booklets and blank forms. You may have to simplify them,...

I've written an e-book of short readings on general knowledge subjects (life in Canada and the US). If you're interested, you can e-mail me for free samples. I'm also planning to start a free site with daily news articles in basic English, based on wire service content. Teachers (or anyone else) wil...

I was definitely "shy, polite and self-conscious" when I started teaching. I don't know if I could claim to be any of those things anymore, either in the classroom or in real life, but even at the beginning I found they didn't hold me back in teaching. It's as everyone else has said, you're almost s...

Thanks, I'm working on it.

I'd start by asking them what they wanted to learn English for -- brainstorm some topics. With adults, it's good to activate their background knowledge. Try to get them talking about something they know well, but have never talked about in English. They might be interested in talking about current e...

Hi, everyone. I teach an informal weekly ESL class for parents at my son's school. Right now we've got an Iranian lady who's very much a beginner. I've been teaching her mainly through writing -- our alphabet and some phonics. She works hard at that, but she doesn't seem ready to try to communicate ...