In my experience I have found it very difficult to get my students to really do any homework assignments I give out. I think there are a number of reason why this might happen. Firstly, your ESL class probably doesn’t count towards their overall grade. This really kills motivation to do homework. […]
Teaching ESL in China is not like teaching as a certified teacher in your home country. In general you’ll find things are more relaxed, disorganized, and unprofessional. You’re not really held accountable as much and the quality of your classes is not monitored as much. Of course I’m speaking generally. What […]
This is always a concern of every teacher. It can be frustrating when your students seem to be loosing interest or motivation in your classes. Below are five suggestions for how to foster student motivation and help them find a drive to learn English.
Put students in two teams and assign a leader to each team. Have them choose team names and write them on the board
In the activity each team will make a vocabulary test for the other team. All words must come from vocabulary they have been given in the past. Round up all […]
Teaching vocabulary traditionally was not a focus when teaching a second language. It has now become one of the staple categories of any language curriculum. With so many methods of teaching vocabulary available it may sometimes be hard to choose the one that best fits your needs. Of course it depends on […]
If you have been teaching ESL in China for a while then at some point I’m willing to guess that you’ve been asked, or even required to teach material to students that was way over their heads. If you’re in this kind of position I have a useful tip for you.
Maybe you’re preparing students […]
Listening is an activity not a passive action. It is a tiring experience listening to someone talk for an hour, especially if the person talking is not using your native tongue. The reason for this is because your brain is supplying the missing information, or words you miss along the way. When […]
This can be the most difficult question when dealing with Chinese students. For years they’ve been taught to simply memorize information and regurgitate that information on a test. There is very little room for independent thought or vivid imagination in the Chinese education system.
Sure to get even the most introverted students talking!
This activity is something you should only use if you already know your class quite well and have been teaching them for at least a few months. The debate works best if you have an idea of what specific kinds of pop culture your students are […]
In this activity students will listen to a number of common answering machine messages and answer questions based on those messages.
Before class you will need to prepare about 10 recorded voice messages. You can do this digitally on your computer if you have speakers to hook up to them, or with a radio and […]