Teaching adult ESL with no materials or time?
Here’s what works when nothing else does.
Most recent posts:
- The Vocabulary Game that Flopped and How I Fixed It
You know that game where someone shouts out a letter and a category, and you race to think of a word that fits? My family used to play a version of it, and we loved it. Competitive, fast-paced, lots of laughing when someone blanked on an obvious answer. So naturally, I tried it with my… Read more: The Vocabulary Game that Flopped and How I Fixed It - Your Adult ESL Students Have Gaps and That’s Completely Normal
I need to tell you something that might make your day easier. You know those gaps your students have? The ones where you’re teaching present perfect and suddenly realize half the class is shaky on simple past? Or you’re doing passive voice and someone raises their hand to ask what a past participle is? Those… Read more: Your Adult ESL Students Have Gaps and That’s Completely Normal
Older Posts:
4 Engaging Movie-Based Activities for Adult ESL Learners
Lights, camera, ENGLISH! Movies work in adult ESL classes. Or rather, movie clips do. They give students authentic language input. They’re engaging. Students hear vocabulary…
Create Listening Labyrinths Using Minimal Pairs: A Step-by-Step Guide
I’ll never forget watching Ahmed confidently grab a marker when I handed out the first listening labyrinth of the term. “You want a pencil?” I…
Linguistic Investigations: Teaching Students to Teach Themselves
I’ll never forget watching “Layla” lean over a pile of sentence cards, using her finger to separate them and making that little clicking noise in…
Talking Tickets: How to Get ALL Your Adult ESL Students to Participate in Discussions
Omar would not shut up. I mean that literally. The guy came from a family of twelve siblings, and apparently the only way to get…
Emotion Vocabulary: What Happens When Students Can’t Name Their Feelings?
I’ll never forget “Pablo” telling me, completely deadpan, that he felt “very boring” during our class discussion about emotions. He meant bored. But honestly? His…
5 Steps to Make Causative Verbs Relevant to Your Adult ESL Students
Ever walked into your classroom after getting your hair done and had a student greet you with “You cut your hair!”? You smile because you…
Study Habits: The One Question That Changes Everything
Half defiant and half remorseful, Faisal handed me a mostly blank paper with seemingly random words shoved into something vaguely resembling sentences. This was an…
Beyond Basics: Teaching the Passive Voice for Adult ESL Success
Teaching the passive voice went from not on my radar to one of my favorite things to teach! I’m about to admit something embarrassing. When…
Teaching ESL Students Who Have Nothing to Say
“I can’t speak because I don’t have anything to say.” Hui wailed this in class one day, and honestly? I felt that in my bones….
All About Me Worksheets: Why Starting Slow Gets You Further Faster in Adult ESL
I’ll never forget walking into my first intensive English program and watching experienced teachers hit the ground running on Day 1. Syllabus distributed, attendance checked,…
Participial Adjectives: 2 Tests to See if They’re Sneaky Verbs
“Teacher, I am very exhausting today.” I looked up from my desk to see Maria standing there, clearly tired. She meant exhausted, of course. We’d…
Three Destructive Myths About Digital Devices in the Classroom
Your students are scrolling. Right now, someone in your class is checking their phone while you’re mid-sentence. You know it. They know you know it….
Check Out These Fun Summer Vocabulary Ideas for Your Adult ESL Classes
When schoooooool’s NOT out for summer…Well, across the country, students and teachers look forward to the school-free summer months, but for many adult ESL courses/classes,…
Your Adult ESL Students Want to Steal this Game from the Kids
Have you heard of the game I Have…Who Has…? It’s everywhere in elementary schools, but most adult ESL teachers have never heard of it, which…
Talking about Etiquette and Manners in Adult ESL: Beyond Grammar and Vocab
Have you ever thoroughly disgusted someone without meaning to? Just going about your normal day, doing something completely ordinary, and suddenly everyone’s staring at you…
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