Great English Teaching Tools
We've put together a (growing) key list of some of the better resources online. This list is by no means exclusive as there are so many resources online that it's not possible to explore them all.
Great places to find an idea on how to teach a particular English topic and sometimes a good explanation and discussions on teaching theory. Or perhaps you're looking for more exercises that effectively teach a particular grammar point or topic.
Online resources are constantly changing and new websites are always popping up. If you know a resource that should be on this list, please give us a shout at tefl@vantage-siam.com.
TEFL Exercise & Activity Types
Study Phases Exercises
Trainer Chris runs through the different types of exercises that teachers can give students in the Study phase of your Engage-Study-Activate (ESA) lesson to practice both vocabulary and grammar.
Here's a list of different exercise types to add variety to your classes and keep your students engaged.
Vantage's Lead Trainer goes over each type in the video.
Activate Phase Activities
Here's some key activities you can use in the third and final phase of the ESA methodology.
The shortlist will help you quickly choose the right type of activity to have your students speaking about your lesson’s topic and building fluency.
TEFL Teaching Resources
Looking for some ideas, resources, and exercises to help complete a lesson plan. Here are some sources that we've found pretty valuable:
British Council Teaching English - A very good place for discussions of teaching methods and classroom exercises. They also have webinars and sometimes free classes. they have "sister' sites that are age specific like their "LearnEnglish Teens" FB page.
Cambridge English - Discussions on this Facebook page relate to teaching tips and assessment strategies.
Woodward English - A good source for simple explanations. There are three ways to pronounce "ed." If you want to know why and get a great handout for your class, check this out.
Dave's ELT - David Hopkins is a consummate educator that never tires of exploring and presenting new teaching ideas and methodologies. Getting his Facebook page on your timeline is a great way to get exposed to all the material Dave filters through.
UsingEnglish.com - On UsingEnglish.com, you'll find an incredible collection of tools and resources for learning and teaching English as a second language, including a grammar glossary, printables, and teacher handouts.
EverythingESL: This is an awesome place to find ESL teaching resources, from lesson plans to teaching tips and resources.
What Works Clearinghouse: In the What Works Clearinghouse, you'll find scholarly publications for effective outcomes in English language learning.
ManyThings: On this website, you'll find quizzes, word games, puzzles, and a random sentence generator to help students better grasp English as a second language.
Vocabulix: This online tool is designed to help jumpstart students' vocabulary skills, with more than 90 vocabulary lessons, and the option to create lessons of your own.
Wordsteps: This makes it easy for students to build their own vocabulary collection, and even access their vocabulary through a mobile device for English language learning on the go.
One Stop English: Specially designed for English language teachers, One Stop English has a monthly topics series, news lessons, and even an app for on the go ELL teaching.
ESL Party Land: A great site for English teacher, ESL Party Land has lesson plans, strategies, worksheets, flashcards, quizzes, games, and even vocabulary resources to help you be a better ELL teacher.
Cambridge English Teacher is a comprehensive teaching development and training site include everything teachers need from lesson plans to webinars. A lot of stuff is free; others requirement an annual paid membership.
Welcome to English Tools—a diverse range of teaching resources from simple tools that can alphabetize your sentences or generate word searches to worksheet creators. Most have lots of options for customization
English Reference Resources
From reference books to a pronunciation guide, you and your students will get a lot of use out of these links.
Dictionary.com: This site isn’t just for looking up words, although it’s quite useful in that function. Dictionary.com also offers a word of the day, games, quotes, translation, and much more.
Thesaurus.com: Like Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com goes beyond simple reference, bringing inspiration and fun in the form of synonyms, fun word facts, and even search trends.
Common Errors in English Usage: Read Paul Brian’s Common Errors in English Usage on this website, and even get links to the book’s blog, calendar, and entry-a-day Facebook page.
Idiom Site: With the help of this site, English language learners can make sense of common idioms.
Fonetiks: Direct students to this incredibly useful pronunciation guide with instant sound and samples by native speakers
English Grammar Resources
Places the try to make sense of the structure of English...and maybe put a bit of fun in the whole process
Road to Grammar - A free website that provides a wide variety of resources for teaching grammar. These resources include lessons, quizzes, and games. It also features a section called "downloads" where you can download free materials to use in your class.
Brain Pop - This another wonderful website that offers grammar lessons and activities it helps students polish their grammar skills. The content is neatly organized into separate categories with an easy navigation layout.
Grammarly Handbook - features a variety of grammar lessons covering different topics such as adjectives, nouns, prepositions, verbs, interjections, punctuations, writing mechanics, and sentence style and sentence clarity. The lessons are explained in a clear and easy to grasp language illustrated with several examples.
Grammar Bytes - Grammar instruction with attitude. Here you find bite-sized (mini) grammar lessons and exercises presented in a really friendly and sometimes silly way. Interactive exercises let you test your skills, and they also contain easy-to-understand explanations with the correct answers. The site also posts a daily grammar workout on its Twitter account.
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