Teaching Vocabulary to EFL and ESL Students

Updated 17 February 2012

You might also be interested in:

• Grammar
• Listening
• Pronunciation
• Reading
• Writing

Basic Tips

• Use it. You should use a word 10 times while speaking or 20 times while writing.
• Read. Reading will allow you to learn vocabulary passively. Best of all, it's fun!
• Study. People interested in teaching as a profession can earn an online teaching certificate from the comfort of their home.
• Play games. Scrabble, Boggle, Crosswords, or Vocabulary Bags can help students with vocabulary. 
• Look online. There are lots of lesson plans and worksheets in the lesson planning link.
• Mnemonics. Thinking of related words or pictures can help students remember vocab.
• A word a day. Use it correctly and you'll be on your way to having a larger vocabulary.
• Slangs and idioms. These are a part of English speakers everyday lives. Learning these expressions will help you on exams as well.
• Vocabulary cards or notebooks. Keeping a small notebook with you will help you make the most of your time and review vocab.
• Don't stare. Simply staring at a word won't help you commit it to memory. You have to use it.
• Look it up. Dictionaries are great for expanding your vocabulary.
• Take online tests. There are tons of websites that have vocabulary tests and games.
• Thesaurus. It's a book of synonyms and antonyms. It will help you use other words besides "good" or "bad".
• Roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Learning what they mean can help you understand new words.
• Groups words. Arrange them by themes, synonyms, antonyms, etc.
• Mental images. Think about the word. Visualise something that it reminds you of.
• Association. Associate the new vocabulary word with one that you already know.
• Rhyme. Create a rhyme using the vocabulary word.
• Create. Write a story or sentence that includes that word.
• Translate it. Sometimes it's easier to translate the word into your native language.
• Part of speech. Know what part of speech the word is and if it can be made into other parts of speech.
• Collocations. There are no reasons for collocations. They just have to be memorised.
• Spelling. Students spell the word aloud. It helps them remember it and review the English alphabet.
• More tips. How to teach your students vocab.

General Test Taking Tips

• Read and follow all the instructions. It only takes a minute or two and can save you a lot of time.
• Forget cramming. You should study a little every day. Don't try to learn everything the night before.
• Eat breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day and is necessary to help you think. 
• Bring your materials. Have your pencils, erasers, watch, and ID ready the night before.
• Go early. Make sure you leave your house ahead of time so that you get to the class a few minutes before the test begins.
• Pace yourself. Don't work too slowly or too quickly. If you've finished early, go back and check your answers.
• Check your answers. Make sure you haven't made any simple mistakes.
• Don't panic. It's just a test. The worst you can do is fail.

Specific Test Taking Tips for Vocabulary

• No blanks. Guess if you have to, but don't leave any blanks on a test.
• Eliminate answers. If there are four and you can eliminate two then you have a 50-50 chance.
• Move on. If you don't know the answer, guess and go to the next one.
• Go with your first answer. It's usually the correct one. 
• Same letter. Sometimes you may find the same letter repeating itself. That's ok. Don't second guess yourself.

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Teaching English Abroad If You're a Non Native English Speaker

Updated 10 February 2012

For the purposes of this article an English speaking country will be considered: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK or the US. Non native English speakers (NNS) have a more difficult time finding a job teaching English abroad. Here are some ways that will increase your chances of getting an English teaching job abroad. The fact that speaking another language can also help you since you know what it's like to learn English and may speak the students' native language. Read more about NNS teaching English. 

• If you have a passport from an English speaking country your chances of getting a job teaching English overseas will increase. If you are currently living in an English speaking country to become a citizen.
• Where you went to school is very important. Some places want you to have spent at least 10 years in the school system of an English speaking country. Furthermore, many employers want you to have a degree from an English speaking country. Some of them won't consider degrees from non-English speaking countries even if all the courses were in English. This can be difficult for French Canadians.
• Your English level is also a very important factor. Is your English at the same level as a native speaker? Taking an exam such as Cambridge, Michigan, or TOEFL can prove to your employer that you have a native speaker level of English. When looking for TEFL jobs try calling or visiting the school instead of just emailing. By doing this they will be able to hear your English and see that you are fluent in English.
• The time you've spent in an English speaking country will also come into play. Did your family immigrant when you were just a child or did you go as an adult? The earlier you immigrated the better your chances of getting a job as a TEFL teacher.

Suggested Countries and Programmes

• China
• European countries such as Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and Spain. You'll have to have the appropriate work visas to work in Europe if you aren't from an EU country.
• Japan has an instructor's visa and the JET programme. There is also a Specialist in Humanities/International Relations work visa  but you will have to prove a degree or 3 years of related experience.
• International schools. To work in an international school you'll need to be a qualified teacher.
• Korean universities. You'll need to have a masters. You could get the E7 or the E1.
• Latin America
• Saudi Arabia gets non-native speakers visas to teach in universities.
• Universities around the world get NNS visas as long as they're qualified. A masters degree is essential.

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5 Tips for Giving Homework

Updated 18 February 2012

Daily: Chances are that if you don't assign homework the majority of the students aren't going to review what you did it class.

KISS: Keep it short and simple.

Make it relevant:  Creating schedule (present), describing people (present), explaining about how they met their partner (past), talking about their favorite teacher (past), naming goals (future) or making predictions about their country (future) work well. Opinion and T/F questions are good as well. Try asking your students to simply read an (online, newspaper, magazine) article, tell the class about it and give their opinion on what they read. Ask students to listen to something (news, movies, interviews, youtube, etc.) then say what they remembered or what their opinion is.

Don't assign homework at the end of class: Typical classes are often wrapped up by the teacher saying, "Ok class, do exercises A and B on page 27 for homework." Students might not have heard and they will probably forget about it. In addition, they have no time to ask questions about it. Write the assignment on the board and go over the exercise to make sure the students know what is expected. Another idea is to assign homework after you deal with the particular teaching point you were practising.

Acknowledge it: If you can't correct it on your own go over it as a class. Students can check their own or exchange papers. By doing this you can answer any questions students may have.

Read more: Here are some more homework tips that you might be interested in.

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Games to Use in the TEFL Classroom

Updated 18 February 2012

Games can be used throughout class: at the beginning for a quick warmer, in the middle to lighten the mood, or at the end as a reward. You can teach useful language, such as "it's your turn" or "pick a card".

Be aware of games where many people aren't involved, such as Hangman or Charades. Try to play these games in small groups. You can also try playing online games.

You can either make your own games or print them off the internet. Teaching English to young learners has some good games. You can find some more ideas in the lesson planning links.

Boardgames
You can make your own or base it off a popular board game, such as Snakes and Ladders. Try laminating them or putting them in a sheet protector. Groups will finish at different times so be sure to have something for them to do when they're done.

• Scrabble is good for vocabulary.

Card Games
These take more preparation and should be laminated. You could base them off popular games such as Go Fish or Memory.

• Taboo. Either buy the game or have students make the cards. Have a maximum number of cards that you give to students or else they'll use up the whole lot. I usually give my students 10 cards for 1 minute.

Chalkboard Games

• Fly swatter. Write vocab words on the board in random places. Divide the class into two teams. Give one person from each team a (new) fly swatter. Describe a word. First person to hit the correct word wins.
• Hangman. Popular, but students don't learn much unless you're practising letters with beginners.
• Tic-tac-toe. Great for kids and adults.
• Hot seat. One person sits with their back to the board. The teacher writes a word on the board. The other students try to define the word and have the student say it.
• Board race. Copy a text a couple of times and put them on the board. Put students in pairs. One person runs to the board, memorises part of the text, runs back to their partner and tells them what they remember and that student writes it down.
• Create words. Write a long word on the board, such as "International" on the board. Give students a minute to find as many small words as they can in the word on the board.
• Trivia. Try using Power Point to play it.
• Word Association. Write words on the board and have students write the first word that comes to their mind.

Paper Games

• Erase speech bubbles. Get a comic. White out the words in the speech bubbles. Photocopy it and give it to students. Have them write dialogues in the bubbles. Share with the class.
• Dominoes. This works well with vocabulary such as prefixes, suffixes or collocations.
• Word pool. Have a bunch of words: nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, conjuntions. Students have to make the most creative sentence they can.
• Concentration / Scattegories. This is the game where you have categories, such as cities, verbs, adjectives, parts of a house, clothes, adverbs, etc. There's a time limit and you can even have the students use specific letters.
• Tic-tac-toe. Have students put words, pictures, numbers, etc in the squares.
• Word Association. Say a word. They have to write down words related to it and explain why they choose those words.
• Describe it. Student A has a picture from a newspaper or magazine. They describe it to Student B who has to draw a picture of it. This is good for directions, such as left, right, top, bottom, etc.
• Alphabet race. Give students a topic (cities, countries, animals, food, etc.). Have them think of a word for each letter.
• Half a picture. Each student describes their half and the other student has to draw it. Compare pictures at the end.

TPR Games

• Fox, Fox what time is it? Great for numbers. Students say "Fox, Fox, what time is it?". He says a number from 1 to 11. Students take that many steps. If he says "midnight", students have to try to get to the opposite side before he tags them. If they're tagged, they become foxes as well.
• Run and touch. Put pictures around the room. Call out the word and have students run and touch the picture. To make it more difficult, put up more than one picture of the same item in different places.
• Simon Says. Do as I say not as I do. Once the students catch on, have one of them be Simon.

Other Games

• Chinese whispers. Have the students sit in a line. Tell the first student a word or sentence. He turns to the next person and repeats it. This continues down the line. The last person has to write the word or sentence down.
• Time Capsule / Desert Island. Ask students what 10 things they would put in a time capsule or bring to a desert island.
• 20 Questions. You can use famous people, movies, books, places, food, etc. Questions must be Yes / No format.
• I spy with my little eye. Pick an object in the room or use magazine pictures that have many objects in it. Say, "I spy with my little eye, something red / an animal that walks slowly, etc" The other students have to guess what it is.
• Boggle. Can be great to practise vocabulary.
• Long sentences. Start a sentence, such as "My aunt's cat is fat." or "I went to the shops and bought milk." The next student has to add a word, and so on. Students have to remember the order of the words. You can also try this on paper. Students can add words. There's a time limit and the group with the longest sentence wins.
• Translations. Bring in sentences in the student's native language. Have them translate it into English.
• Order words. Take a long sentence, cut it up, have the students order the sentence.You can use paragraphs as well.
• Need more ideas: Check out these great games for ESL and EFL.

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Teaching Reading to ESL and EFL Students

Updated 18 February 2012

You might also be interested in

• Grammar
• Listening
• Pronunciation
• Speaking
• Vocabulary
• Writing

Basic Tips

• Sets of 3. Reading is usually broken down into three sections: before reading, while reading, and after reading.
• Variety is the spice of life. Cut the reading up and having them order the paragraphs. Take out the headings or sub-headings. Ask them to give their opinion. Talk about three things they've learnt. Give them pictures about the story and have them order those.
• Look online. There are lots of lesson plans and worksheets in the lesson planning link.
• Make reading fun. Many children read bedtime stories. Reading should be fun. Remember that when planning your activities.
• More ideas. Here are some more ways to teach your students reading.

Before Reading

• Use visuals. Have them discuss the title and photos that go with the reading. Have students guess what it'll be about.
• Applicable. Ask students to give their opinion on the subject of the text.
• Daily. Make sure that students are reading a bit outside of class.

While Reading

• Spot the mistake. Read aloud but make some mistakes. Have the students catch the mistakes.
• Vary the reading style. Have them read quietly, aloud, alone, with partners, small groups, or listening to you / other students / the CD.
• Be dramatic. Can you role play any parts of the reading? It'll make the reading come alive. It also gives a chance for active students or class clowns to participate in class.
• Stop. Every once and a while stop and make sure the students understand what they just read. Ask them some questions or have them tell you what's going on in the reading.
• Relate it to history. If the test has dates, ask students what was happening in the world at that time.

After Reading

• Before and After. Have students talk about what they think happened before the text was written and what they think will happen.
• Vocabulary. Look at the vocabulary words in detail.
• Fix the mistakes. Give them sentences or a summary about the text. Make them find the factual mistakes and fix them.
• Write a letter. Have students write a letter or email to a character in the story.
• Rewrite the end. Students have to create a new ending to the story.
• Interviews. Some people can be characters from the story and others can interview them.
• General and Specific. Even if students haven't understood every detail, they should be able to answer some general questions about the reading. This will boost their confidence and make them realise that they have understood parts of it.
• Grammar. Make connections with difficult grammar points or recent grammar structures that you've just introduced.
• Extension Activities. Write a review, create a cover, make a comic, or a map can help students understand the reading more.

General Test Taking Tips

• Read and follow all the instructions. It only takes a minute or two and can save you a lot of time.
• Forget cramming. You should study a little every day. Don't try to learn everything the night before.
• Eat breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day and is necessary to help you think.
• Bring your materials. Have your pencils, erasers, watch, and ID ready the night before.
• Go early. Traffic, rain, or a flat tire can happen on test days. Make sure you leave your house ahead of time so that you get to the class a few minutes before the test begins.
• Pace yourself. Don't work too slowly or too quickly. If you've finished early, go back and check your answers.
• Check your answers. Make sure you haven't made any simple mistakes.
• Don't panic. It's just a test. The worst you can do is fail.

Specific Test Taking Tips for Reading

• First and last. Read the first and last sentences of each paragraph. They usually contain the most important information.
• Exact wording doesn't mean it's correct. Often in exams you will find exact words of phrases from the text in the answers.
• They're in order. Questions are usually taken from the text in order. The answer to the first question can be found at the beginning and the answer to the last question can be found at the end.
• You don't have to understand it all. Don't spend your time trying to figure out every word.
• Use visuals. Use the title and photos to help you.

Disclaimer:

• Please join my Patreon page
• I use affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you make a purchase after clicking on links. Read more at my FTC Disclosure and Privacy Policy Statement