So you’re teaching present progressive? As a native English speaker (if that’s what you are), you’ve been using this tense your entire life without thinking about it. “I’m eating.” “She’s working.” “They’re studying.” It feels completely natural. But here’s the problem: just because we USE it naturally doesn’t mean we can EXPLAIN it easily. When […]
Teaching the simple future isn’t really that simple. Sometimes teachers, especially those new to adult ESL, mistakenly believe that because a verb tense is called “simple,” students will breeze through it. I’m here to tell you that’s not how it works. Simple future is a mess. Okay, so it’s a functional mess that we use
Why is the simple present so danged hard? For reasons I still can’t fully explain, my students almost always struggled more with the simple present than with the simple past or simple future. Which feels backwards, right? But once I stopped pretending this tense was “easy” and started treating it like the sneaky little rule-hoarder
You’ll want to try these four fun simple past activities with your adult ESL students! Whether your students are just now dipping their toes into regular simple past verbs or already wrestling with simple past irregulars that refuse to behave, you’ve got options here. Yes, many adult ESL students find comfort in worksheets. Worksheets are
Subject-verb agreement has a reputation for being dry, tedious, and the grammatical equivalent of watching paint dry. And if we’re being real, that reputation is deserved…that is, if you’re just using worksheets where students circle the correct verb over and over until their eyes glaze over. But here’s the thing: subject-verb agreement is actually important.
Looking for superlative adjective games that actually engage adult ESL students? I’ve got two for you – one that feels like a game show, and one that gets students out of their seats and arguing about who on their team is the most punctual. Both games sneak in grammar practice through competition and conversation. Students
Picture this: You’re teaching plural nouns. Again. You hand out worksheets. Again. Students dutifully fill in the blanks, turning cat into cats and box into boxes. They finish in twelve minutes, and you collect the papers knowing full well that half the class will mess up the same spelling rules on next week’s quiz. Here’s
“I think these English classes are a waste of time and money. We don’t get to practice speaking enough.” I overheard a student say that in the hallway between classes. Thankfully, not MY student, but still. Ouch. Here’s the thing. After doing a mental review of my own grammar classes, I realized I was part
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 know what they mean, but there’s a gap there. They’re trying to compliment you, but what they’ve said is that you somehow managed to cut your own hair. (Which, let’s
Years ago, I had this quirky Korean student who assigned friendship and enemy status to words when he couldn’t remember the English term he wanted. If he forgot “mustard”, he’d mention ketchup’s yellow friend. Didn’t know the word “sour”? He’d say “sweet’s enemy”. His classmates loved it, especially the “enemies”…I guess that was more dramatic
