Teaching ESL to Adults Blog

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Dec 6, 2009, Teaching Reading to ESL Students

Here's a list of steps for teaching reading to ESL students. How to prepare ESL reading activities. Teaching ESL reading comprehension and ESL beginning reading.

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Oct 12, 2009, Please and Thank You

Probably 100% of the ESL students I've met know the word "please." It's one of the first words English language learners are taught. "Thank you" is right up there, too.

When teaching students how to make requests and the various different ways to do so, I always tell them, "just add 'please' to your request and you don't have to worry about your request being in perfect English."

So here is my request to my readers who ask me for resources or ideas: please write "please" in your request.

I don't mind responding to the several emails I get every day, sometimes I even enjoy it, but I'm getting a little persnickety about the word "please."

So if it wouldn't be too much to ask, I'd greatly appreciate adding the word "please" to requests for information or help.

Thank you!

(Incidentally, many of my ESL students have mentioned that they think Americans say "thank you" a lot. Hmmm.)

Oct 9, 2009, Contacting Teaching ESL to Adults

I love to get your ESL questions and comments. Please remember that if you want a response from me, you must fill in your email address in the contact form. Otherwise, there's no way for me to get back to you (and I'm sure you're probably thinking I'm a flake for not responding!).

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Sep 30, 2009, TEFL or CELTA Certificates

Factors to consider in deciding between a TEFL or CELTA cerficate to begin your career teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. CELTA vs TEFL, which is best?

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Sep 30, 2009, TESOL Certificate Course Criteria

A TESOL Certificate can open the door to English language teaching positions all around the world, but with so many programs being offered, how do you choose the best TESOL course?

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Sep 30, 2009, Accredited TEFL and TESL Courses

When considering an accredited TEFL course or TESL course, it is important to look at the accrediting agency and their requirements for teacher training program certification.

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Sep 29, 2009, Christian-based ESL Curriculum?

I received this message from Sally in the U.S. Unfortunately, she did not supply an email address for me to answer her. Hopefully, she'll come back to my site for the answer.

Sally writes:

"I will be teaching ESL to Spanish speakers through my church. I'm excited, but nervous. I've never taught ESL.

I taught HS 20 years ago -- Media and English degrees.

I have just found your site and think it will help me. I'm open to any other help anyone wants to offer.

We don't have a curriculum or supplies. We have thought it would be good to be able to use a biblical, Christian based, curriculum. I haven't been able to find one. Any thoughts?"

My response:

Dear Sally,

That's great news, and you're right, teaching ESL is exciting. It seems that churches and other non-profit organizations are great places for non-English speakers to get low-cost or free English classes. And it also seems that these organizations are often expected to provide services with limited or no resources! That's a shame.

What and how you teach will depend upon (1) the English level of the students, (2) their age, and (3) their purpose in learning English.

You didn't mention the specifics of the first two items, but there are tons of free resources online to address the first two issues. It just takes time to find them. However, I want to address the third issue in more detail.

One thing that ESL/EFL teachers, especially teachers of adults, need to ask themselves is WHY are these students taking this English class.

In your case, Sally, is it to get a deeper understanding of the Bible or of their Christian beliefs? Or is it so that they can get a job or make advancements on their current jobs? Is it so that they can take care of the day-to-day tasks of living in an English-speaking country? Is it so that they can feel better about themselves and have more confidence in their English speaking abilities? Is it to gain "survival skills?" Etc.

The teacher has to put the students' needs first. While it's fine to approach a class from a particular orientation, in this case a Christian orientation, the lessons should be something that the students can use in the "real world," in their day-to-day lives. The material and topics covered should be transferable to the students' lives outside of the church.

I don't know of any Christian-based curriculum, Sally. You may be the person to create such a curriculum. I would just suggest that you find a way for students to transfer the English skills that they learn with you into their day-to-day lives.

Best of luck,

Debra

Aug 30, 2009, CELTA Course Locations Around the World

Complete list of Cambridge CELTA Course Locations with contact information. Over 250 locations throughout over 50 countries.

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Jul 22, 2009, Privacy Policy for Teaching ESL to Adults

Updated Privacy Policy for Teaching-ESL-to-Adults.com

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Jul 13, 2009, Do We Need Another ESL Forum?

I receive several emails every day asking all sorts of questions.

Here's a sample of what I received today:

"I work in Graduate Medical Education and have encountered very bright international physicians. However, their English skills are marginal, especially reading and comprehension. International graduates who are new to this country are also very hard to understand, especially in the rural south. Because of their advanced level of education IMG's often pretend to understand what they hear and comprehend what they read. That can be a problem in a patient care setting. Any suggestions?"

"I am an American living in New York. Is it better for me to take my teaching certification here in N.Y or to go overseas and study over there? I am confused as to which is a better option in regards to being prepared to start initially in the country I want to teach in (does this give me a better head start?) or to start here and find a job through the internet once the course is through. Please help. Thanks."

While I love hearing from readers, I find that answering these questions takes A LOT of time. Plus, I just don't always know the answers.

So here are my questions to my readers:

1. Do you think it would be useful for me to set up a forum on this website so that readers can ask me AND other readers ESL-related questions?

2. Or are there already enough ESL forums out there?

3. Would you visit and participate in a forum on this website?

Thank you for taking the time to get back to me by contacting me through the "permalink" below.

Permalink -- click for full blog post "Do We Need Another ESL Forum?"

May 31, 2009, Resources for Middle School ESL Student

An anonymous reader in the U.S. writes:

Hello:

I know your site is about teaching adults, but I have not found anything about tutoring middle school ESL students. I have a 14-year-old middle school boy from China dumped by his parents to live with some relatives. He has been here now two months. He has been attending public school (6th grade) and is absolutely clueless. They are making him read 6th grade science textbooks about volcanoes and such and he can't even carry on a decent conversation. Like "Hi! How are you?" In addition he is very angry and not cooperative with school work in general. Please help me make this a productive summer for him.

My response:

Dear Anonymous,

I hope that while he is in school he is being provided with ESL instruction.

Without knowing all the info (location, finances, etc.), my best recommendation would be to get him a private ESL tutor. Depending on the area of the country, you could have luck with craigslist.org. Look under "Lessons."

If I were you, I would also talk to the the school (for starters) and start finding out the resources available in your community.

Best of luck,

Debra

Mar 19, 2009, Teaching ESL Verb Tenses

When teaching ESL verb tenses to adults, verb conjugation is only the beginning of the lesson. You also need to teach the functions of the verb tenses, as well as each form of the verb tense.

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Mar 16, 2009, Contact Teaching ESL to Adults

Contact Teaching ESL to Adults if you have any questions, suggestions or comments about this site.

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Feb 15, 2009, How to Build a Successful ESL Site

An Anonymous reader writes:

Hello,

I just completed my master's degree in education with a major in TESOL on January 16, 2009. I had originally wanted to teach ESL at a community college, but after sending my resume to several places and no calls for interviews, I'm thinking of tutoring adults in my home or theirs. I want to create a website to advertise my services to clients. I just don't know exactly what to write for the text and how to make sure that people see my website when they do a search.

Do you have any advice?

Thanks

My response:

Dear Anonymous,

Congratulations on your degree!

If you're serious about building a website that people will absolutely find in the Search Engines, I highly, highly recommend this program.

It takes work to build a successful site where people will find you and your service, and ALSO from which you can make money. It also takes work to build a bad site where no one finds you.

I've used SBI/Sitesell for two sites and am doing very well as far as traffic and income from my sites alone. Do a Google search for "teaching esl adults" or "teaching adults esl" and you'll find my site in a top position. My ESL site gets over 1,300 visitors four days a week (when teachers are looking for help).

The point is, you can build a very successful site with all the tools this "program" offers you. Not only will it entirely help you build a site from scratch, but it will also tell you (along with your brain power) what to write, or rather, it tells you what people are searching for so that you can know what to write that will attract visitors from the Search Engines.

However, it takes time and work. The cost is $299USD per year for EVERYTHING you need (and more). AND you can make money off the site itself for years to come.

Sorry to sound like a sales pitch. I've just never found a product that works so well and for which I am so grateful.

Best of luck to you and let me know if you have any questions. If you forget the URL for the program, you can go to the bottom of any of my pages and click on "Powered by Site Build It!"

Best,
Debra

Click for more info

Feb 5, 2009, Voiced and Unvoiced Sounds in ESL

One of the first steps in teaching pronunciation to ESL students is teaching the concept of voiced and unvoiced sounds. This will help with past tense pronunciation and other pronunciation challenges.

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Feb 2, 2009, Teaching Titles to ESL Students

Mr., Ms., Miss, and Mrs. are all well-known titles for native American English speakers, yet they are often difficult for English language learners. And it's something so basic to native English speakers that ESL tutors and ESL teachers often take this for granted.

I usually notice that these titles are difficult for ESL students when they are reading aloud. This leads to an impromptu discussion about the pronunciation of each of these titles, as well as how to appropriately use them. (There's also an opportunity for a small reinforcement of the s/z distinction and voiced and unvoiced sounds.)

These titles can also lead to a mini-history lesson about the title "Ms." And even in how to address letters.

The two main points here are that for the ESL teacher or tutor, there are many ideas for lesson plans, and flexibility is important during a class.

Jan 26, 2009, Developing Best ESL Lesson Plans

The best ESL lesson plans are learner-centered and focus on the needs of the student. Every lesson plan should have a topic, objectives, tasks, and an evaluation.

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Jan 7, 2009, How To Start Teaching ESL

Eileen from the U.S. writes:

"I am new to Chapel Hill, NC. I want to return to teaching ESL (I taught at Berlitz in the U.K. many moons ago) and need to know whether I need to be certified, where to start, etc. I would appreciate any advice on what to do first. Thanks!"

Unfortunately, she did not provide me a return address, so I hope she'll check back here for the answer!

Dear Eileen,

Thank you for contacting me. I've written a page about How To Start Teaching ESL. You can read it by clicking the link below.

Best regards,

Debra

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Jan 5, 2009, Using ESL Cloze Exercises

ESL cloze exercises and worksheets can be used for lessons, quizzes and tests. ESL cloze worksheets can consist of sentences, paragraphs or longer passages and can be used for any ESL grammar point.

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Jan 5, 2009, Make This an "Exclusive" ESL Site?

An anonymous writer from the U.K. writes:

"Hi,

I am a newly qualified ESOL teacher and came across your website whilst browsing for similar websites. I think it is a great place to share ideas and resources and I personally believe it would be a good idea if you made a bit exclusive for members to register and use like many similar sites."

My response:

Hi U.K.,

Thank you for writing to me and congratulations on your new ESOL certification.

Sometime in the future I may add a "members only" section of the site (perhaps for my ESL Tutoring Business e-book), but for now, I like having everything easily accessible to everyone.

Best,
Debra

Jan 3, 2009, Qualifications for an Excellent ESL Teacher

An anonymous reader from Canada writes:

"Hi, You have done a lot of preparatory work with very useful information! I am not a teacher but have always been interested in teaching. Lately, I have thought about a second career and thought about teaching ESL to adult students. Can you share with me what you think are qualifications that would make an excellent ESL teacher. I feel I have a lot to offer students. I have not attended teachers' college although I have an undergraduate degree in business. Going to teachers college is not in my plan as I am in my early fifties."

My response:

Dear Reader in Canada,

Thank you for writing. You certainly don't need to return to college, but studying for a certification in teaching ESL will provide you with a lot of useful information and tools to specifically teach ESL. Plus, it will give you even more credibility in getting students. Of course, there are going to be different qualifications depending upon where/who you want to teach.

Please read these three pages on my site for more info.

Duties of an ESL Teacher

Description of an ESL Teacher

How to Start Teaching ESL

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Good luck and Happy New Year,

Debra

Jan 2, 2009, Happy New Year to All

I wish all my readers a very Happy New Year.

My hope for the new year is peace and prosperity for all. And my other hope is for our continued hope for the future.

Blessings to all.

Dec 17, 2008, Submit Your Site to Teaching ESL to Adults

Submit your site for inclusion in my list of quality resources for teaching English to adults.

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Sep 11, 2008, 9/11 as an ESL Conversation Topic

It's hard for Americans not to recall the events of seven years ago. In so many ways, we are still recovering. But are the events and causes of this day appropriate for ESL class topics?

Last year, I made a comment to one of my ESL students from Europe. I said that the events of that day have not only changed life for Americans, but have also "impacted the whole world." As an educated American, I thought that was a valid comment.

My ESL student pointed out to me that that was indeed a very American perspective. Her opinion was that we Americans think that the whole world has changed due to the events of 9/11. However, it was her opinion that this was not so. That people in her country do not think about these events as particularly significant.

I won't go into the rest of the conversation we had. The question is whether this is an appropriate topic for conversation. I'd say it is. But we have to remember that in an ESL conversation class, the point is to get the English language learner to talk, whatever the opinion, whatever the perspective, whatever the topic.

Sep 11, 2008, Irregular Verbs List

A wonderful anonymous reader wrote to me to highlight an error on my Irregular Verbs List (Thank you!). This is a particularly important page to get right because many teachers have written to asking if they can use the page for their students. (I hope you all caught the error, too!). I think it's all good now.

If anyone else finds an error on this or any other page, please use the contact page to let me know.

Thank you all so much.

Permalink -- click for full blog post "Irregular Verbs List"

Jul 12, 2008, Irregular Verbs List

Irregular verbs list of common English verbs. Great for use with ESL/EFL students. This is a comprehensive list of irregular verbs.

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Jul 4, 2008, Tennis Player Makes ESL Error

I really love tennis. It's the one sport I never tire of watching. Wimbledon has some extra excitement this year as the Williams sisters will be competing against each other in the finals.

So how is this related to ESL or English? Check out this part of an AP article.

"After Dementieva ended her loss to Venus with five consecutive groundstroke errors, she was asked about the final and said she couldn't imagine facing a sibling, adding, 'For sure it's going to be a family decision.'

That was interpreted by some as a comment similar to what Dementieva said in 2001 following a loss to Venus in the quarterfinals of a tournament at Indian Wells, Calif., setting up a Williams-Williams semifinal. Asked to predict the outcome, Dementieva said then: 'I don't know what Richard thinks about it. I think he will decide who's going to win.'

Dementieva's comment Thursday was relayed by a reporter to Venus, who said: 'Any mention of that is extremely disrespectful for who I am, what I stand for, and my family.'

Later, Dementieva issued a statement through the WTA saying English is not her first language and clarifying her comments: 'What I meant was it is a unique situation for a family to be in, to be playing for a Grand Slam title.'"

I can totally understand how Dementieva could make this mistake. I can only imagine some of the pressure players feel when they have to address the press in their non-native languages.

Jul 2, 2008, Differences Between EFL and ESL

Differences between EFL and ESL primarily relate to where English is being taught. TEFL is taught in a non-English speaking country. TESL is taught in an English-speaking country.

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Jun 28, 2008, Shamelessly Posting Some Praise

Linda from Spain writes:

"I just wanted to let you know how absolutely great I think your site is!

I have, actually, been teaching ESL for around two years. As an Englishwoman with a decent education, but not the qualification, I was asked to teach a group of people who could not afford classes. As you say, it has been the most amazing and rewarding experience.

During these two years I have relied a lot on the internet to research topics and to refresh my memories (my education was a long time ago!), but your site, which I only discovered this weekend, is far and away the best, the most practical and original. (I was so tired of exercises which presumed that the student, learning the present tense of a verb, had previously swallowed whole an English dictionary, for example! or supposed that they had a knowledge of "Western" cultures.)

I am about to embark on an online course, get a qualification and, hopefully, do this for a living, inshallah! I have no doubt that I will be returning to your site for tips and advice very soon!"

Thank you, Linda, for your kind words. It's emails like this that make it all worthwhile.

--Debra

Jun 2, 2008, Book on Starting an ESL Tutoring Business

I've decided to write an e-book about how to start and run an ESL tutoring business. I'll be referring to all the prior questions I've received, but I'd like this book to be very thorough, so I need your help.

Almost on a daily basis, I receive emails from folks asking questions about teaching ESL. Some of the questions are about teaching methods or grammar--most of those questions I answer with links to certain pages on my website or my stand-alone blog at www.esl-tutor.com.

I also receive many questions about the business part of running an ESL tutoring business. And lots of questions about how to get started.

Please use link below ("permalink") to send me questions you might have about starting and running an ESL tutoring business.

If you send me an original question, you'll get a free copy!

Thank you,
Debra

Permalink -- click for full blog post "Book on Starting an ESL Tutoring Business"

Jun 1, 2008, Duties of an ESL Teacher

Description of the duties of an ESL teacher in universities, community colleges, non-profit organizations, K-12, adult schools and private tutoring.

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May 26, 2008, About Teaching ESL to Adults

Here's information about Teaching ESL to Adults and the ESL tutor behind the site.

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May 24, 2008, Free ESL Worksheets for Beginners and Beyond

Free ESL Worksheets for Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced English students. No membership required to download ESL cloze exercises.

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May 20, 2008, One Reason Americans Wait to Open Gifts

Leeann in the U.S. writes:

"I think that we ask 'Should I open this now?' to when receiving a gift to save the giver the immediate awkwardness of expecting a positive reaction.

It's like asking someone to read a poem or story and then standing over them,waiting for their reaction. It may be unfavorable.

By asking, 'Should I open this now?' it gives both people an 'out' to let thereceiver open the gift in private and if the immediate reaction isn'tfavorable, then they can at least soften the blow.

That's what I think anyway. :)

Leeann"

Thanks for the response, Leeann! It makes a lot of sense!

May 19, 2008, "Should I Open It Now?"

I consider it a part of my responsibility as an ESL tutor to address cultural issues and especially cultural differences that enable my ESL students to understand "American culture" a little better. As most of my ESL students are very advanced, I don't often make culture the main topic of any lesson. Of course, it invariably comes up. There isn't really any way to avoid it! The student usually brings the topic to class.

The depth of our discussion about culture depends on the topic and the interest of the English language learner. I'm often able to explain the origin of many aspects of "American culture," the "why" of what we do, and a bit of history about the custom. To further our conversation practice, I also elicit information about the customs in the student's home culture.

Last week, a student stumped me by asking me the "why" of something we Americans do. She wanted to know why we often ask when receiving a present, "Should I open it now?" First, I was able to confirm that, yes, we usually do ask this question. However, the "why" of it was something I couldn't definitively answer. I speculated that it has something to do with economics and embarrassment. That the receiver of a gift doesn't want the giver to feel embarrassed about the cost of the gift, whether it is a costly or an inexpensive gift.

I'd love to hear some suggestions from other people familiar with American culture as to why we ask, "Should I open it now or later?" And I also welcome non-Americans to share their customs around receiving gifts in their home countries.

You can use the "contact" link on the navigation bar to the left to write to me.