Rike Neville | Teaching Adult ESL

Teaching ESL Grammar When You’re Clueless about the Rules

Teaching ESL grammar when you aren’t sure what the past perfect is can be overwhelming for new teachers. At the first adult language school where I taught, I’d be assigned a new round of courses every month. We had 10 levels each of grammar, reading, writing, and speaking/listening courses, as well as TOEFL prep and …
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Three Grammar Games Guaranteed to Get Them Speaking

Grammar glee? Yeah, I’ve got it. My students? Not so much. So when I overhear adult ESL students telling each other how much fun my grammar class is and how much they learn, YES, my head fills the doorway. The secret? Just play a grammar game! Our adult ESL students want opportunities to talk, especially …
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6 Exciting Subject-Verb Agreement Games & Activities for Adult ESL

Subject-verb agreement need not be a musty grammar concept! First, let’s do a quick run-down on subject-verb agreement in case we have a new teacher reading this. Subject-Verb Agreement in a Nutshell What is subject-verb agreement? Subjects must agree with their verbs. A singular subject takes a singular verb. Plural subjects take plural verbs. Sounds …
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3 Legitimate Reasons Commonly Confused Words Often Confuse Us

Do your students ask for your advise in learning vocabulary? Its a common question, right? You might want to take a brake in your lessen to insure your students have a through knowledge of commonly confused words. But first, what causes this confusion? Exactly why are commonly confused words so confusing? While some of the …
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Two Engaging Multi-Level Vocabulary Games for Adult ESL

Adults love vocabulary games as much as children do, but unlike kids, they tend to want fun and educational games. Adult students have limited time, and they’re usually paying for their English classes. They prefer games that give them English practice, but they’re not likely to object to prizes! ^_^ Still, you might run into …
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Teach Idioms to Adult ESL Students with Fun Strategies

Unlike a brain freeze, teaching idioms to adult ESL students will really make your day! ESL teachers know that idioms are a quirky, delightful, and sometimes baffling part of the English language. They can be the spice that makes language learning more flavorful. If you’re looking for some fun and effective ways to teach idioms …
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Getting into the Nitty Gritty of Practical English for Adult ESL

Somehow, in every Intensive English Program I’ve taught in, practical English is always relegated to the lowest level classes, the beginners. Even then, we rushed through it, almost dismissively, trying to hurry them into higher levels of English–the level they need to master to pass those English proficiency exams to get into university. It’s like …
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12 Exciting Ways to Use TED Talks with Adult ESL

Stop thinking TED Talks are just for high-level adult ESL students! I’ve successfully used them with students from high-beginner and up, and you can, too! I’m going to share with you twelve ways you can use TED talks to help your students develop their proficiency in the four language domains, make connections to their lives, …
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Discover Two Ideas for Cultivating Insightful Discussion Questions for ESL

Did the dropped pin echo in your speaking class? Was that a heavy sigh, a set of rolled eyes, or the clink of students mentally disengaging? Cultivate lists of discussion questions for ESL that are tailored to the needs of your adult learners, and you’ll rarely have a quiet moment again. So where do you …
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The 5 Best TH-Pronunciation Activities for Adult ESL

Why do we need TH-pronunciation activities? The voiced TH and the unvoiced TH are two of the most difficult sounds for many of our adult ESL students because these rare phonemes simply don’t exist in many languages. /θ/ is even rarer than /ð/. Imagine going your entire life never making a specific sound and then …
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The Battle of B and P Sounds: Moving Toward Pronunciation Precision

If you’ve had the privilege of teaching students whose mother tongue is Arabic, you’re no stranger to their unique challenges when grappling with the b and p sounds. It’s the structure of the Arabic language’s sounds and those oh-so-subtle distinctions between the b and p sounds in Arabic that create significant challenges when it comes …
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4 Surefire Strategies for Refining R/L Pronunciation

When you teach Korean, Chinese, or Japanese students, you know you’re going to run into R/L pronunciation blunders. Before I knew about this common pronunciation error, I wondered why I kept hearing people talk about eating lice. I assumed it was a cultural dish because I hadn’t yet trained my brain to immediately switch r/l …
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Teach Idioms to Adult ESL Students with Fun Strategies

Dear Past, Hello Future: Another New Year

5 Fun and Educational Health-Themed Activities for Adult ESL Classes

Beyond Basics: Teaching the Passive Voice for Adult ESL Success

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Teaching ESL Grammar When You’re Clueless about the Rules

Three Grammar Games Guaranteed to Get Them Speaking

6 Exciting Subject-Verb Agreement Games & Activities for Adult ESL

3 Legitimate Reasons Commonly Confused Words Often Confuse Us

Two Engaging Multi-Level Vocabulary Games for Adult ESL

Teach Idioms to Adult ESL Students with Fun Strategies

Getting into the Nitty Gritty of Practical English for Adult ESL

12 Exciting Ways to Use TED Talks with Adult ESL

Discover Two Ideas for Cultivating Insightful Discussion Questions for ESL

The 5 Best TH-Pronunciation Activities for Adult ESL

The Battle of B and P Sounds: Moving Toward Pronunciation Precision

4 Surefire Strategies for Refining R/L Pronunciation