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ESL Teaching and Learning Tips

Hello ESL Teachers and ESL Students! My name is Dr Yanni Zack, an American ESL specialist, and I am here to help and answer your questions regarding ESL teaching or learning. Please post your comments/questions here. I will reply here within a few days. Thanks, Yanni
Online MA TESOL programs -- Manuel Zaragoza -- 16 June 2009
I am currently researching online MA TESOL programs in the United States. I see that you recommend Alliant International University in San Diego, CA. You also mention the U of Phoenix. These two ...
Re: Online MA TESOL programs -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 17 June 2009
Manuel, Regarding your question about Online MA in TESOL Programs, I am able to let you know that from my own personal experience, the MA in TESOL Program from Alliant is top notch. It is very ...

New Teacher Moving to China...with NO experience!! -- Katrina -- 20 May 2009
I just recently applied for a teaching job in China and got it! Besides the absolute and utter love for children and a few Nanny jobs....I have no "classroom teaching" experience. Now that my flight ...

reading -- maaike Kuijsten -- 7 May 2009
I am teaching English one to one, to a lady from Afghanistan, she can't read at all. I am using a "word building" book to help her recognise sounds. But she "forgets" the sounds every week. So we ...
Re: reading -- Yanni Zack -- 8 May 2009
The best way to teach ESL to someone who has a very limited vocabulary and has no recognition of letters or sounds is to use pictures (visuals). Using a word building book in the beginning is not a ...
Re: reading -- Kathy -- 21 May 2009
WOW! I'm doing the exact same thing: teaching a lady from Afghanistan who knows only a few words of English!! A couple things: Are you meeting more than once a week with your student? And for how ...

Teaching ESL to High School Students -- wendy -- 1 May 2009
Hi! I am teaching all boys at a high school in Asia. I played the Boggle Game with the students last week; however, many of the teachers are upset and say that my teaching method is WRONG and that ...
Re: Teaching ESL to High School Students -- Yanni -- 2 May 2009
Wendy, I would first of all ignore the other teachers comments. Are they your supervisor? If not, then the only one you need to get the confidence from for your teaching is the supervisor, and not ...

ESL for Indian Adult -- Kimberly White -- 30 April 2009
Hello, I am an English tutor who teaches grammar and comprehensive skills to children of all ages. I have been approached by an Indian Priest (from India) to improve his grammar and speaking skills. ...
Re: ESL for Indian Adult -- Yanni Zack -- 2 May 2009
Kimberly, My suggestion to you is to develop the speaking skills for this person and use vocabulary and material that relates to his being a Priest. This will give him the motivation to and interest ...

Adavnced and proficiency students -- Anna -- 18 April 2009
Hi I have a couple of years' ESL experience, but this year I am teaching advanced and proficiency students for the first time, and having some big problems! I've tried debates, roleplays, ...
Re: Adavnced and proficiency students -- Shelley Vernon -- 19 April 2009
Hi Anna My tip would be to implicate the students more in their own learning by having them choose the debate topics and prepare for class before hand rather than doing homework afterwards. For ...
Re: Advanced and proficiency students -- Yanni Zack -- 20 April 2009
Anna, Shelly gave you some great strategies and tips in working with your advanced students. Also, let them create their own learning activities so that they will now be "buying in" to the ...
Re: Advanced and proficiency students -- Shelley Vernon -- 19 April 2009
Hi Anna My suggestion is to implicate the students more in their learning process by getting them to choose what they talk about. Give them homework to prepare for the next class for example: ...

Helping ESL students take standardized tests -- Donna -- 7 April 2009
Hi, I have an ESL student who is trying to get into the nursing program. She is having difficulty scoring high enough on a standardized test in reading and writing. She did great on the math but her ...
Re: Helping ESL students take standardized tests -- Yanni Zack -- 11 April 2009
Donna, Since she needs help with English on a standardized test for becoming a Nurse, I suggest you work on developing vocabulary with her as well as comprehension question (for essay) that relate to ...

pronunciation help -- jana -- 23 March 2009
hi. i am teaching english in southern mexico. i have one student who consistantly has problems pronouncing hi d when it is at the end of a sentanc. i am hoping for some ideas as i am very new to ...
Re: pronunciation help -- Yanni Zack -- 24 March 2009
I need more specific information regarding what you have tried to help this student in working on his pronunciation problem so I can give you ideas and strategies to use.

please help me -- AMANTINA -- 23 March 2009
HI I`M AMANTINA FROM KOSOVO I HAVE STARTED TO TEACH THE MIDDLE AGE STUDENTS HERE BUT I HAVE TOO MANY DIFFICULTIES ON TECHING THEM BECAUSE THEY NEED TO COMMUNICATE BUT I DO NOT KNOW MANY METHODS ...
Re: please help me -- Yanni Zack -- 24 March 2009
Amantina, I would first recommend that you look through some of the previous posts in this section as there are others who have asked similar questions. I know that you will find lots of ideas, ...

help needed -- mark -- 20 March 2009
I am going to try my hand at teaching English in China, I have no formal teaching experience, I posses an economics degree and been involved with different businesses for over 40 years. I dont know ...
Re: help needed -- Yanni Zack -- 21 March 2009
Mark, Before I can offer any advice, it is important to know and have more information. What grade level are you teaching? Children? Young Adults? Adults? What level? Beginners, Intermediate or ...
Re: help needed -- mark -- 23 March 2009
Thank you for responding yanni , I was told that I will be teaching beginners (young adults), oral English only. I have no classroom experience, so if you are game , your help would be greatly ...
Re: help needed -- Yanni Zack -- 23 March 2009
Mark, Since you will be teaching beginning young adult learners oral English, here are my suggestions: 1. Find out what their interests are. 2. Create beginning lessons using visuals/pictures for the ...

teaching kindergarten -- judy archer -- 19 March 2009
I am teaching classes of about 30 kindergarten students in China. I have been playing games with the students and they seem to enjoy the games and to be learning at a satisfactory rate. However, ...
Re: teaching kindergarten -- Shelley Vernon -- 19 April 2009
Hello there, I recommend stories and songs in particular and of course games that CAN be played with larger groups. There are plenty of games that can be played by thirty children without anyone ...
Re: teaching kindergarten -- Yanni Zack -- 21 March 2009
If you find you have to teach with a whole group, and especially with kindergarten students, I would suggest that you use music such as Greg and Steve songs to teach such things as parts of the body, ...

What else can i do? -- Kathereen -- 17 March 2009
Hi... well i need help. I am teaching in china. and i've done songs games (not too many). But now it seems that i've got nothing else to give. I try thinking bout more games but my mind is ...
Re: What else can i do? -- Yanni Zack -- 21 March 2009
Please provide more information. In order to give more accurate assistance, please tell us what age and grade level you teach

teaching english -- M -- 6 March 2009
I am a new teacher teaching english in korea and i have no clue of what i have gotten myself into i teach at a place where the children are already advanced at english, lower than kids in the USA but ...
teaching english -- Joe -- 11 March 2009
M. Okay, I'm putting myself in your shoes. Here is what I would do first. I would give them all a writing assignment which simply provides them with some seat work during the "Dead time" in the ...
Re: teaching english -- Jerome -- 7 March 2009
A good place to start would be right there at your own desk and on your own computer. The web has many interesting, helpful sites where you can begin your research. I think it interesting to note, ...
Re: teaching english -- Yanni Zack -- 7 March 2009
Here is my advice- Stop, take a deep breath, and then look at your options. I don't know about the economy in Korea. However, I do know if you quit and jump from job to job, you will be looked at ...

Ive just started privately tutoring a middle aged Chinese man. -- Naomi -- 5 March 2009
Ive just started privately tutoring a middle aged Chinese man. His English is already very good, but he wants to improve because he is running a business and wants to be able to better interact with ...
Re: Ive just started privately tutoring a middle aged Chinese man. -- Joe -- 11 March 2009
Yes, I certainly do know of some activities. Depending upon the level that he is at. Go to the various web sites and down load anything on becoming a citizen in that country. Believe me, he is ...
Re: Ive just started privately tutoring a middle aged Chinese man. -- Yanni Zack -- 5 March 2009
Naomi, First off, teachers need to learn to be creative and to "think outside the box." Now, what I would recommend is to create lessons that focus on your client's business needs and give him ...

number recognition -- Anne -- 15 February 2009
Help, please! I have a beginning ESL student who cannot recognize or accurately state the numbers 3-5 (he now knows 1 and 2). Although he can recite them, he cannot remember what they look like. How ...
Re: number recognition -- Yanni Zack -- 16 February 2009
Here is a way to teach numbers using a kinesthetic approach: Have the student trace each number in a box of sand, and then say the number out loud. This uses all three learning modalities, auditory, ...

Developing vocabulary through powerpoint -- Halevy -- 14 February 2009
Hi, I'm an English teacher in a primary school in Brunei Darussalam. I'm currently having difficulties on what strategies to teach young english learners to develop their vocabulary on the ...
Re: Developing vocabulary through powerpoint -- Yanni Zack -- 15 February 2009
Halevy, In response to your question, I would recommend that instead of using a power point presentation to teach vocabulary that you use pictures/visuals for the vocabulary words the students are ...

Good advice is needed!!!! -- Ivan -- 9 February 2009
Hi....i 'am new in teaching English here in KOrea and one of concerns right now is ....MODULESI badly needs help.. Thanx...
Re: Good advice is needed!!!! -- Yanni Zack -- 9 February 2009
Please provide more information about what specifically you need. You mentioned modules? What type? Kind?
Re: Good advice is needed!!!! -- Ivan -- 10 February 2009
My students were 12 and 14...their parents wants them to learn conversational ENglish...based on my assesment, they are not yet excellent on reading ...and vocabulary exercise is needed... Pls...

economics and chemistry -- Mr.UTRSRIDHARPRASAD -- 9 February 2009
SIR, What is ESL and how do we learn it also please guide me on other related terms like TEFL, TESOL and so on. Thank you
Re: economics and chemistry -- Yanni Zack -- 9 February 2009
ESL stands for English as a Second Language. It involves having the teacher use different teaching strategies, i.e. role play, visuals, pictures, cooperative group learning , to help those who ...

Games and activities for 11-12 year olds who can`t read or write English -- Nick -- 31 January 2009
I am teaching final year elementary school kids who are quite shy and have little energy and was wondering if people could suggest any activities which might get me through the lesson.
Re: Games and activities for 11-12 year olds who can`t read or write English -- Yanni Zack -- 3 February 2009
Nick, Here is my advice: First, talk to these students and find out what their interests are. Then, create games, i.e.bingo, concentration, Jeopardy around their interests as a way to motivate them ...

First ESL class -- Sunita Ghosh -- 26 January 2009
Hi, i have to take three children , one is 13 , second one is 10 and the third one is 7 years. The elder two can speak in monosyllables but comprehension and speech fluency is poor. They are ...
Re: First ESL class -- Yanni Zack -- 28 January 2009
The best way to get these students motivated to learn English is to first find out what their interests are, and then develop activities/lessons based on their interests. This is called a "hook" in ...

Games for classroom -- Jen -- 23 January 2009
I'm a mother helping out with a classroom party in my daughter's first grade class. They're having a South African themed party and I'm looking for a game to play in the classroom ...
Re: Games for classroom -- Yanni Zack -- 23 January 2009
Since the class has a South-African Theme party, you could do the following games: 1. Jeopardy- students have to provide answer in form of a question for specific fact about South African Culture, ...

Teaching techniques -- ella -- 13 January 2009
Good afternoon=) Please help me...I need teaching techniques in teaching an academy class. Academy class contains 4 -6 students. thanks so much=)
Re: Teaching techniques -- Yanni Zack -- 13 January 2009
The best strategies to use in teaching ESL to any group of students is to include hands-on learning, role play situations where the students become active participants in the learning, and lots of ...

teaching strategies -- arianne -- 13 January 2009
Hi, I'm Arianne! I really need your help. I really need some teaching strategies for online ESL class for individual and group class. Pls....thanks!
Re: teaching strategies -- Yanni Zack -- 13 January 2009
When teaching an Online Class, it is important to first know if this is a class where students would all be seen on web cams, or where students are merely chatting in a chat room. If students and the ...

First ESL Adult Class -- Tom -- 28 December 2008
Hi! I am trying to formulate my first adult beginner ESL class. I was told that the class retention rate is low. It starts out with 35 students, and throughout the semester there is only 8-12 ...
Re: First ESL Adult Class -- Yanni Zack -- 29 December 2008
Tom, Here are some strategies to use when teaching students in beginning ESL Classes: Remember that you need to start off with the basics. I usually start of by teaching personal pronouns and ...

how to get to? -- heide -- 10 November 2008
Good morning sir. I have great passion and liking on how to enter in a job as an ESL Teacher. What characteristics should I possess inorder that i may be accepted in the job. I have been going ...
Re: how to get to? -- Yanni Zack -- 13 November 2008
First off, just be yourself. Be positive, and emphasize the strong qualities you have as an ESL Teacher. Remember, you are having to sell yourself to future employers, and give them a reason why they ...

English games -- Martina Kozakova -- 30 October 2008
Dear Sir or Madam I have started teaching English and I would like to ask you for some helpful games for children between 10 to 12 with elementary English. Thank you very much. Yours sincerelly ...
Re: English games -- Yanni Zack -- 30 October 2008
Martina, Here are some fun games to use when teaching English: Charades Concentration using pictures Jeopardy- using various English word categories, i.e. action words (verbs) nouns, prepositions, ...

Best progression for individual student without confusing her with IPA symbols and grammatical terms -- Rob -- 29 October 2008
Recently, someone requested for me to teach English to an adult who IS literate in her own language (Spanish), but NOT very well-versed in grammatical terminology (also, she is not the best speller ...
Re: Best progression for individual student without confusing her with IPA symbols and grammatical t -- Yanni Zack -- 5 November 2008
I encourage you to consider teaching her vocabulary that is associated with her business needs and to use pictures, visuals with her that relate to the specific terms, concepts associated with her ...
Re: Best progression for individual student without confusing her with IPA symbols and grammatical t -- Rob -- 6 November 2008
Thanks. That is essentially how I started, but now I need to find ways to help her USE that vocabulary, and that is how I have come to the point of asking the question as I did. Right now, the ...
Re: Best progression for individual student without confusing her with IPA symbols and grammatical t -- Yanni Zack -- 6 November 2008
Rob, The best way I can suggest to use the vocabulary would be to develop situations using real life situations/experiences associated with her business. Concept teaching is very important as well. ...

I can't come up with a solution -- A.Y -- 14 October 2008
I'm teaching kids at an orphan home in Tajikistan. I have 34 children from 3rd to 11th grade and their levels of English ability are all different, even the ones in same grade. I separated them ...
Re: I can -- Yanni Zack -- 14 October 2008
First, you need to stop, and "think outside the box". Find out what the interests are for these students. Then, tailor your lesson and vocabulary to those interests. Remember to use lots of visuals, ...

Hi im an ESL Teacher Teaching collage students in mexico that are studing to be chefs -- MELISSA -- 1 October 2008
Hi I need help with ideas with these students there studying to be chefs but have an English class that lasts 2 hrs 5 days a week. Does anybody have ideas that might make them more interested in ...
Re: Hi im an ESL Teacher Teaching collage students in mexico that are studing to be chefs -- Yanni Zack -- 2 October 2008
Melissa, I encourage you to make learning fun. Since these are students who are studying to be chefs, teach them vocabulary that includes cooking and recipe terms. Use lots of visuals, and have ...

How to teach my students to speak politely -- Joe -- 24 September 2008
Hey there! I am teaching English as a foreign language in Taiwan. My students are college non-English majors, yet most of them speak fairly frequently. I notice that two or three of them often speak ...
Re: How to teach my students to speak politely -- Yanni Zack -- 25 September 2008
Joe, Good Question. I would recommend that first, you set some basic ground rules for your class regarding the need to speak politely in class to both you and the other students. If the students ...
Re: How to teach my students to speak politely -- Marat I. Kayumov -- 31 May 2009
Dear Joe, It is essential you set limitations concerning the language your students use by telling them off in the most polite manner you are only capable of any time you hear something ...

Be an Advocate for your students -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 20 September 2008
As an educator with over 25 years experience working with all different types of learners, and now being an advocate for people with physical and learning disabilities, I have found that we as ...

I am a new teacher -- Niamh -- 21 August 2008
I have recently arrived in Brazil and I am teaching private classes. Although I have done a TEFL course I feel I still need some advise on planning a class as his english is quite advanced. I have a ...
Re: I am a new teacher -- Yanni Zack -- 29 August 2008
I agree that it is important to use content from his interests and hobbies. You might want to consider using visuals, and then having him give you vocabulary from these visuals, or having him write a ...
Welcome back! -- Sarah -- 29 August 2008
Hello Dr Zack NICE to see you back! Sarah

grammar -- my thanh -- 12 August 2008
Dear Dr Yanni Zack thank you very much for your interesting ideas about teaching adj and adv. But here I want to teach about position as well as the irregular forms of some adjs and advs. For ...

Teaching Grade 4 English in a British school -- Sarah -- 4 July 2008
I need to design a teaching and after school tutoring plan for a Grade 4 English (British system) student. How different is it from the American system? Any tips?

Advantages to team games in TESOL Classroom -- Daniel No -- 30 June 2008
Hello, I was just wondering what some advantages to playing team games in the classroom are. Also what are the best ideas to teach games to students who have no english? I'm a beginner teacher ...

English phonics video curriculum -- Lori -- 15 June 2008
I have been asked by a school in Thailand to find a video curriculum that will teach phonics comprehensively to K-8 students to learn to read English. They wish to have a video curriculum since the ...
Re: English phonics video curriculum -- Ileana Borbon -- 26 July 2008
What I do is to search a short video in Youtube done by native English speakers. It could be from kids stories to sports and political news, or interviews (artists, singers...). I watch the video and ...

Tips to teach 7/8 year olds -- Marigel -- 13 June 2008
Hi! I'm a teacher of English in Argentina. I have a class of 7/8 year olds this year and I find it really difficult to make them answer questions from a text. This is a group with quite a low ...

Grammer teaching game -- Shim -- 7 June 2008
Help me!! I just started career as a teacher in Korea. Im Korean. :( But I got a problem in grammer lesson. I want to do fun game for grammer lesson, but don't have any creative idea. Can you ...
Re: Grammer teaching game -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 12 June 2008
Shin, A good way to teach grammar with a learning game is to play either charades or 20 questions. For example, when teaching verbs, have students act out in pantomime the action for the verb, then ...

absolute beginners -- Felipe Sader -- 25 May 2008
Hey! I just started teaching ESL a few months ago in Malaysia, I have work mainly with Korean kids and I´ve been able to cope with it pretty well, mainly because all my students have not been ...

counselling -- suresh -- 23 April 2008
my son is 15 yrs old but he does not study what should i do
Re: counselling -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 4 May 2008
Suresh, I encourage you to find out what your son's interests are, and then let him begin to read books and articles about his interests. This will help motivate him to want to learn new things. ...
Re: counselling -- lata -- 28 April 2008
You need to give finer details of the issue to get the right counselling. Not reading is a symptom ,we need to find out the reason.

Very New to Teaching English -- Mark -- 9 April 2008
Hello all, I am an American now living in Jordan. I do not have a background in teaching. My whole background has been in IT. I am currently working for a training center and they would like me to ...
Re: Very New to Teaching English -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 9 April 2008
Mark, the best way to teach new students beginning English skills is to use lots of pictures/visuals. This is used to teach basic vocabulary. Also, start with the basics- pronouns, conjugation of the ...
Re: Very New to Teaching English -- Mark -- 10 April 2008
Tnank you very much sir for your help. I hope I will be able to keep their interest.

Is there a best teaching strategy for all subjects? -- jitz -- 4 April 2008
Good day! I just want to know if there is a best teaching strategy for all subjects in school. Thanks for the reply!
Re: Is there a best teaching strategy for all subjects? -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 5 April 2008
Jitz, The best way to teach any subject is to make it fun for the students. I have found from my own experience that when students are engaged in active, hands-on learning, i.e. role play, ...

ESL student newspaper -- Casey -- 25 March 2008
Hi all, I would like to have my ESL (university) students design their own newspaper for a couple of weeks. I'm not sure how to start and can't find much on the Net. Advice please. Casey

a few things regarding 2 classes -- Kate -- 17 March 2008
Hello, I am an American Peace Corps volunteer teaching 2 classes of students in Morocco. The first class is Kindergarden and I have about 30-35 students depending on attendance. This class takes ...
Re: a few things regarding 2 classes -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 18 March 2008
Kate, Here is a web site that should help you in developing your students' reading: www.readinga-z.com This site has free books you can down load, print out, and use with your students. Books are ...

one on one tutoring -- bhless -- 12 March 2008
hi, I'm here in the Philippines. I'm tutoring a fourteen-year old Korean girl... she is smart but I'm running out of strategies in teaching her... I hate dead air and I always want the ...
Re: one on one tutoring -- Ariem -- 23 March 2008
Why do you run out of strategies? There are only a few of them. What you need to do is to make variations out of them. A simple change in your strategies would mean a lot of difference in the lesson. ...
Re: one on one tutoring -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 13 March 2008
Since she seems to be smart and you need additional resources, I would suggest that you have her start using the local (English Paper) and practice reading it out loud. Then, have her summarize the ...

Hard to handle Classes -- Danielle -- 8 March 2008
Help, I am teaching different level classes and while the older kids are a pleasure to teach, the 6 and 7 year olds are really difficult. I have tried many different games and songs with them. They ...
Re: Hard to handle Classes -- Yanni Zack -- 11 March 2008
Danielle, I understand your frustration in working with Young Children who have difficulty listening. Remember that Young child have a short attention span. Thus, you have to create short lessons, ...

Doing A Vocabulary Demonstration -- daxx -- 27 February 2008
I'm Daxx, i'll be giving a demonstration at a English Learning Academy here, and im so confused on how to go about it. i mean how do you choose what to teach. i like the idea of using colors ...

communicating with parents -- md -- 20 February 2008
Is there a resource of common 'behavior' vocabulary that can be referenced when communicating with parents over the phone? Looking for Spanish terms dealing with student behavior.

Poetry -- Ravichandran -- 19 February 2008
I would like to know some activities that I can conduct for average intermediate students to help them enjoy poetry and interpret the poem (meaning making).

creative teaching workshop -- Dewi Rosmala -- 27 January 2008
I was unexperienced head of language centre at siliwangi university Indonesia. Hope in presented an english creative teaching workshop for elementary school. As you know in my country English is a ...

Books for private tutoring -- Steve -- 23 January 2008
Does anyone know of a good book or books to uses for private esl tutoring? Most of the standard books are geared to teaching groups or classes.
Re: Books for private tutoring -- Yanni Zack -- 13 March 2008
I agree that you don't need books for private tutoring. Use the resources you have available- use the local newspaper (English Version) and have the student write about what they read and ...
Re: Books for private tutoring -- Tutors, Inc. -- 15 February 2008
Do you need books for teaching materials or books for learning how to tutor privately? Every tutor should know his/her students' individual needs and prepare accordingly. You don't need a ...

first time teaching kids -- han -- 14 January 2008
Any ideas how to approach the new class without looking too serious or too silly. Thank you for your feedback.
Re: first time teaching kids -- Yanni Zack, Ph.D. -- 14 January 2008
My recommendation is to make sure you are prepared, and have reviewed the material you plan to teach. Also, it is important to make the learning fun, i.e. use visuals, and have the students be active ...

Teaching People older than you -- Tiff -- 6 January 2008
Hi, I'm a teenager trying to teach a group of adults conversational english. I don't know how to engage them and keep them on track because I am younger than them. They are beginners but I ...
Re: Teaching People older than you -- ariem -- 23 March 2008
hello tiffany. Your question is quite interesting. I am also an educator who deals with adult students. My students are twice older than I. Teaching adult students is very challenging because of so ...
Re: Teaching People older than you -- Ariem -- 23 March 2008
HI TIFFANY AM SORRY FOR SOME ERRORS IN MY SPELLING. aM NOT VERY GOOD AT COMPUTERS THOUGH BUT AM TRYING MY BEST TO BE GOOD AT IT. plEASE BEAR WITH THE TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS.
Re: Teaching People older than you -- Choatle -- 21 March 2008
Your age is irrelavent, you know something they do not, so in this respect you are superior. You must not fixate on age. Yes they have more life experience, but your the one who speaks English, not ...
Re: Teaching People older than you -- Yanni Zack, Ph.D -- 7 January 2008
I would suggest that you start out teaching beginning ESL students by using both visuals and role playing to develop their basic vocabulary. Pictures are an important part of any ESL lesson.

CELTA -- Coral Rose -- 2 January 2008
Hello, Im currently studying a part time CELTA course due to finish end March and I just wondered if there were any recent CELTA graduates who would be willing to take me under their wing and give me ...

teaching through songs - what's Ur oppinion? -- sylvia -- 19 December 2007
Hi everybody.. I want to ask if any of U have ever tried to teach english vocabulary through songs? I'd like to know if U know any good artocles or books about it as I need to write my diploma ...
Re: teaching through songs - what's Ur oppinion? -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 21 December 2007
Sylvia, Using songs to teach Beginning ESL Students is a great strategy. There are a lot of songs out there you can use- current hits, rock and roll, country music, as well as songs from movies.

teaching beginner adults to work at hotel-subjet:the holidays -- nicole -- 1 December 2007
Hello I have come across your page and I am a little desperate for some advice. I am a student who is trying to become a teacher of english. I have a practicum on thursday and they are all adults, ...
Re: teaching beginner adults to work at hotel-subjet:the holidays *Picture* -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 2 December 2007
Nicole, The best advice I can give you in teaching vocabulary is to use both pictures, i.e.visuals, of situations found in a Hotel Setting, as well as engage in role-play situations where the ...

Help Assessment of English Program Effectiveness -- Czar -- 20 November 2007
Sir, I'm A college student and I'm having my thesis and the topic is "Assessment of the English Program Effectiveness". Could you help me with this? I need to know how i am going to assess ...
Re: Help Assessment of English Program Effectiveness -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 21 November 2007
Czar, I commend you for working on your thesis and for selecting the topic of Assessment of English Language Programs. In order to develop a well-written and researched thesis, you are going to to ...
Re: Help Assessment of English Program Effectiveness -- Czar -- 22 January 2008
sir, thank you for your relpy. I hope you could give me some advice on where i could possibly get some related literature and studies regarding my topic entitled "An Assessment of the English ...

teaching without textbook or curriculum or degree, please help me! -- Rio -- 13 November 2007
I'm a native English speaking teenager studying abroad in Germany for a year, and I was asked to tutor a man (30 yrs, I think) in English. We had our first lesson last night, and there's ...
Re: teaching without textbook or curriculum or degree, please help me! -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 15 November 2007
Rio, You are off to a good start in teaching this man the basics, Introductions, i.e. Hello, days of the week, months of the year, numbers, etc. In terms of other strategies to use, I highly ...

Classification essays -- Ruta -- 7 November 2007
Hi, I've seen so many examples of classification essays that I have become confused. Is it possible to just have 1 item in a category? For example, one essay talked about types of restaurants. I ...

Teaching English at a Kindergarten -- Josie -- 4 November 2007
I am currently teaching English at a Korean kindergarten in Shanghai. I have been here for 2 months and don't know what to do. I teach 3 classes, 2-3 year olds, 4-5 year olds, and 6-7 year olds. ...
Re: Teaching English at a Kindergarten -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 6 November 2007
Josie, The best advice I can give you is to use lots of Total Physical Response activities with your students. Have them engage in actual body movements, i.e. show me the door, the sink, window, ...

Teaching strategies -- Ángela -- 20 October 2007
Hello I am an English Teacher in a High school. I would like to know which is the best strategy for teaching vocabulary to students.
Re: Teaching strategies -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 27 October 2007
The best way to teach vocabulary for any level, even High school students, is to use a variety of visuals or pictures that relate or correspond to a specific vocabulary word. This will help them ...

Tips for a New Teacher? -- Catie -- 24 July 2007
I am an American living in Mexico, and I'm about to begin teaching English to a small group of people ranging from 5 years old to middle aged. It's a very informal class, no pay, just ...
Re: Tips for a New Teacher? -- Ana Milena -- 20 October 2007
Catie: Congratulations for your labor!!!!. First of all, I think that you can work through project works such as: Global warming, environment, human rights, etc.. Do not forget you can use songs, ...
Re: Tips for a New Teacher? -- Ericka -- 17 August 2007
Start by teaching the alphabet. Once they have the sounds then move on to putting simple words together. Use words with short sounds first, then long sounds. While you are doing this use pictures, ...
Re: Tips for a New Teacher? -- Extefler -- 18 August 2007
Hi again- I think teaching the alphabet might be too boring for an informal group, and they may already know it quite well from learning their own language, if its Spanish. Purepecha languages bring ...
Re: Tips for a New Teacher? -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 18 August 2007
Katie, Extelfer gave some good tips and also a good suggestion for not teaching the alphabet to develop oral English skills. TESOL/TEFL teaching today should be based on the use of the Communicative ...
Re: Tips for a New Teacher? -- Extefler -- 13 August 2007
Hi Catie- Something else to consider doing is to bring in to class odds and ends of things you find that might be suitable for different students to read. Maybe advertisements, brochures, short ...
Re: Tips for a New Teacher? -- Fish -- 26 July 2007
The most important thing to remember is it needs to be fun. It won't be easy to teach a group with a wide range in ages, and they may have various levels of abitlity. It seems to me it would be ...
Re: Tips for a New Teacher? -- Dr.Yanni Zack -- 29 July 2007
Catie, Fish gave you some great advice- make learning fun!! I will add that another thing you can do is to have the more experienced students work with the less experienced students as peer tutors. ...

How to design reading comprehension questions and how to find articles for reading articles -- New2Teaching -- 28 June 2007
Hi there, I'm a new ESL teacher currently working in China. I'm currently trying to design exercises for GRE reading comprehension. I don't have any experience on this, and have no clue ...
Re: How to design reading comprehension questions and how to find articles for reading articles -- Dr.Yanni Zack -- 29 June 2007
Dear New2Teaching, In order to help your students develop their comprehension skills for the GRE Exam, I would recommend that you have them read different articles from the Newspaper (American ...
Re: How to design reading comprehension questions and how to find articles for reading articles -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 14 September 2007
As previously mentioned by an earlier poster, it is extremely essential to use additional or supplemental materials such as an English Newspaper with ESL students who need help in developing their ...
Re: How to design reading comprehension questions and how to find articles for reading articles -- john -- 9 September 2007
Well, I was told that best way for reading comprehension is from the Test preparation books for the GRE test. They have the typical questions like author's tone, purpose, and main ideas. You can ...

Teaching Story to my 4 1/2 year old son -- KamalaDevi -- 22 June 2007
Hello Mam, Can you please help me by telling the tips and methods of teaching stories to my 41/2 year old South Indian Boy .He is currently doing his kinder garden in a famous School . I believe he ...
Re: Teaching Story to my 4 1/2 year old son -- Pat -- 25 June 2007
Cinderella is a wonderful story, both for boys and girls. The story will always be popular. Try to speak only English when telling your boy a story when you want him to learn English. By staying in ...
Re: Teaching Story to my 4 1/2 year old son -- Extefler -- 23 June 2007
In America, we tell bedtime stories to our children. Sometimes we read them from little books, sometimes they are just stories we know. But often we pretend we are reading the story from the book, ...
Re: Teaching Story to my 4 1/2 year old son -- Dr.Yanni Zack -- 24 June 2007
Dear KamalaDevi, Exteller gave you some good suggestions in how to tell stories to your young son at bedtime. In addition to asking him questions, I would also suggest you get a copy of the story ...

Would + like ... -- None -- 21 May 2007
What will you do if you want to teach "Would you like..?" as in "Would you like a cup of coffee?"
Re: Would + like ... -- None other -- 22 May 2007
Try some play acting. When a visitor comes to your home, what do you ask? Would you like to sit down? Please, sit down. Would you like something to drink? Please have this tea/coffee/water/juice. In ...

How do I teacher ESL to adults who are not literate in their first language? -- Kelsi -- 6 May 2007
Hello from Portland, Oregon! Just curious about the best method to go about teaching adults to read & write in English when they are not literate in their native language. I'm starting a ...
Re: How do I teacher ESL to adults who are not literate in their first language? -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 10 May 2007
Kelsi, My recommendation would be to use lots of visuals, pictures, and TPR (Total Physical Response) when teaching your students. This will help them to begin to develop vocabulary words that they ...
Re: How do I teacher ESL to adults who are not literate in their first language? -- LA -- 7 May 2007
Hey kelsi: I have a similar challenge in my class too. however, my group is very mixed in ability levels. it,s hard not to bore the more advanced and literate students and not to overwhem those ...

Drilling Colors -- John Lee -- 26 April 2007
Was wondering if you had any ideas for a group of children 7-9 year olds. I can only think of putting colors on a board and getting them to repeat. What do you think? Thank you in advance.
Re: Drilling Colors -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 10 May 2007
Dear John Lee, I would recommend that you create a fun way to teach colors of children's clothes by using their clothes as an example. First, identify the different clothes the students are ...
Re: Drilling Colors -- Jerome -- 6 May 2007
Recent research regarding vocabulary acquisition has shown that our method of teaching vocabulary in "sets" is outdated and often counter-productive. Teaching colors is a prime example of this. The ...
Re: Drilling Colors -- Fish -- 6 May 2007
Thanks for your reply. I'm wondering what size of sets the research considered? I like keeping things in sets, just for the organizational qualities. I think using small sets of 3-5 shouldn't ...
Re: Fish/ Drilling Colors -- Jerome -- 7 May 2007
In looking back at my rather hastily written post I see that I made a few errors. I meant to say that "red" has higher frequency than "orange," so therefore in a Chinese context........... I also ...
Re: Fish/ Drilling Colors -- Fish -- 8 May 2007
Hi Jerome- Although I'm not so good at taking notes anymore, I think I've read a lot from UM, probably that Folse article at some point in time. You're right about crash memorization. ...
Re: Drilling Colors -- Fish -- 26 April 2007
This is one of the most fun things you can do with that age group. Make up games, anything is fun. Ask "Who is wearing a red shirt? (or what ever color shirt you have on that day, to demo the game.) ...

Listening/speaking prediction tasks plus during and post-listening/speaking tasks. -- Hubert Judge -- 22 March 2007
Dear Doctor, Do you know of any reliable resources that I could use that would help me to design listening/speaking prediction tasks plus during and post-listening/ speaking tasks for native speakers ...
Re: Listening/speaking prediction tasks plus during and post-listening/speaking tasks. -- Dr.Yanni Zack -- 26 March 2007
Hubert, In response to your question regarding materials that help develop listening, speaking, reading and writing with your students, I have found that the series called Exploring English works ...

Multilevel English Learning class -- Seema -- 14 March 2007
Hi, can anyone tell me where I can find lessons that would incorporate English Language learning levels 0 to 3 for adult learners. I have some ideas for strategies but i have yet to come across ...
Re: Multilevel English Learning class -- Fish -- 14 March 2007
I'm assuming you mean absolute beginners to low intermediate? That's pretty tough to keep all of them involved in the lessons. I think we've all tried to do that one time or another, and ...
Re: Multilevel English Learning class -- Heads Up English -- 18 April 2007
Teaching basic grammar to the whole class, which would be a review for the stronger students, is a good idea (if you also later work more advanced structures into the lesson). I would also break the ...

Oral English -- Ron -- 7 March 2007
I was hired to work as an Oral English Teacher. I have students from Grades 1 - 6, and 8. For the smaller kids I use games and action songs, for the older students I use exercises in describing, and ...
Re: Oral English -- Fish -- 30 March 2007
If you don't have a book to rely on from your school, then it's story time! Like you've already had them do, write stories. They can do this at home, but during the week, the assignment ...

Writing Center ESL advice -- Santanna -- 13 February 2007
Hi, I have a question regarding the tutoring of ESL students in a college writing center. I am a student at a local JC and work part-time in the writing center. The writing center helps students (NES ...
Re: Writing Center ESL advice -- Andrew -- 15 February 2007
Reading is the best way to learn word choice. L2 learners can have grammar stuffed down their throats endlessly, and after a while they just lose interest in developing skills. There are so many ...
Re: Writing Center ESL advice -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 25 February 2007
I also agree that students need to be given more opportunity to practice reading during this tutor time. My philosophy has and always will be that good readers are good writers, and good writers are ...

Sentence Coherence Confusion -- Xu Yuliang -- 25 December 2006
I recently came across a paragraph written by my co-worker and I personally hold the opinion that the paragrah does not flow as naturally as it could be and he disagrees. The following is the ...
Re: Sentence Coherence Confusion -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 31 December 2006
Xiu, I like how you changed the paragraph to give it more clarity. You are correct that the original way it was written was quite confusing for the reader. However, the way you changed it into ...
Re: Sentence Coherence Confusion -- fish4esl -- 26 December 2006
Great question. Article writing is difficult, isn't it? I am a communication guy, not necessarily a grammar guy. Language Arts is the meeting point between the two, and that's the sticky ...

Conversational English -- Sam -- 24 November 2006
Hello. I am interested in creating a tutoring service that supports people in learning conversational English. It may expand to include other languages in time. Is there anyone else who concentrates ...
Re: Conversational English -- fish4esl -- 17 December 2006
What country or part of the world?

Pronunciation Tips please -- ska -- 21 November 2006
Hi!!! Does anyone have any tips or suggestions as to how to get students to remember rules for past tense pronunciation? Does anyone have tips as how to teach the vowel sounds? On a whole does anyone ...
Re: Pronunciation Tips please -- Heads Up English -- 5 March 2007
With any language point, move the target language through controlled, semi-controlled, and free activities. For example: Controlled activities work to make the language automatic. Choral ...
Re: Pronunciation Tips please -- Fish4esl -- 21 November 2006
Past tense pronnciation? Do you mean they can't remember irregular verb tenses? Go, goed, went? That kind of thing? That's just rote memorization and practice. Otherwise, I enjoy, as do my ...

Reading for ESL/Non-ESL Mixed Classes -- William Bonderman -- 11 November 2006
Hello, I am a new first grade teacher from Boston, MA. For the first time I am teaching students who do not speak English as their primary language. At the same time, English is the primary language ...

Looking for advice, Please help! -- Jacqueline -- 8 November 2006
Aloha! If you are an American currently teaching English overseas, I would like to interview you! I am looking to get in contact with an American who teaches, or has taught within the past twelve ...
Re: Looking for advice, Please help! -- DB -- 9 November 2006
Greetings - I and others who post often here at elstechersboard would under most experiences be happy to help you; however, many of us are reluctant to give out our email addresses. The main reason ...

Need help with curriculum, class management and simply how to teach English to 1~2yrs old -- Coco -- 14 October 2006
Dear: Dr. Yanni Zack. Hi. I am a japanese, working in a preschool setting (3~5 students in a class, devided into close age groups) which has just opened few month ago. Students come to our school for ...
Re: Need help with curriculum, class management and simply how to teach English to 1~2yrs old -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 14 October 2006
Teaching young pre-school students is a very difficult and challenging assignment. My recommendation is to use lots of visuals, pictures, and music to teach vocabulary. For Classroom Management, it ...
Re: Need help with curriculum, class management and simply how to teach English to 1~2yrs old -- Coco -- 18 October 2006
Thank you, Dr. Yanni. I've been able to form a circle since I posted the message! We started to greet each other, take attendance, sing "Hello SongE and talk about what we'll do the day. The ...
Re: Need help with curriculum, class management and simply how to teach English to 1~2yrs old -- Diarmuid -- 5 February 2007
You cannot "teach" children as young as 2 or 3 ANYTHING. All you can do is place them in a safe and comfortable environment where they will learn from stimuli around them. It is absurd to try to ...

teaching English for nursing -- Carmen -- 7 October 2006
Hi! I am Spanish private teacher of English and maybe I will have a new student who is a nurse and wants to learn English. She knows little English and she would like to know how to deal with foreing ...
Re: teaching English for nursing -- Eleanor Brockman -- 18 February 2009
Carmen, she will also need body language, something you certainly can help her with. You could role play procedures, as simple as taking blood pressure or checking up on a patient at the bedside, to ...
Re: teaching English for nursing -- TEFL nurse -- 10 November 2006
Hi Carmen- Medical English for nurses, doctors and healthcare is truly a specialty English. Maybe a Spanish Esl teacher may not be the best choice for teaching med English to a Chinese nurse. An ...
Re: teaching English for nursing -- Teflnurse -- 5 February 2007
There is a "textbookish" manual for non-native English speaking healthcare workers wanting to learn anatomy and physiology terminology in the English language: "Anatomy and Physiology for English ...
Re: teaching English for nursing -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 14 October 2006
Carmen, The best way to teach your nursing student English is to design lessons with vocabulary that relates to the Nursing Profession. You might consider teaching vocabulary that pertains to medical ...
Re: teaching English for nursing -- Carmen -- 15 October 2006
Thank you for your reply! I will try to do what you say but I have to say that I'm a bit afraid of not doing well :S Bye
Re: teaching English for nursing -- silvia -- 25 June 2008
I'm teaching English in Switzerland at a vocational school for health care / nursing. We are going to use one of the following books next semester: Bradley, Robin A., English for Nursing and ...
Re: teaching English for nursing -- Carolle -- 18 January 2009
I would like to buy Robin A. Bradley book English for Nursing and Health care. I Look on the web site I could not find it. Help me find a easy way to buy it

Cambridge English Playway Books! -- Wendy -- 7 September 2006
Hi Dr. Yanni Zack. I am at a school here that uses the Cambridge English series of books along with a couple of other series of books. This week I went into a class of 7&8 year olds who all had a ...
Re: Cambridge Playway Books -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 9 September 2006
Wendy, I'm sorry to say that I am not familiar with this book. However, from past experiences, I have found that it is important to have a lot of pictures, i.e. visual materials, and to use these ...

Visual Impairment/ESL -- Shannon -- 19 July 2006
Has anyone worked with students who are visually impaired and learning English as a second language?
Re: Visual Impairment/ESL -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 21 July 2006
Shannon, Working with a Visually Impaired Student who is learning English as a Second Langauge requires the teacher to modify the way they teach that student. Specifically, the teacher needs to ...

TASER method -- Rheno747 -- 14 July 2006
I'm thinking of getting a TASER to bring to my classes to "help" my students learn this stuff. Do these things have different settings like those phasers do in Star Trek? If it does have variable ...

How to teach adults with no text book or curriculum ? -- Karla Couasnon -- 7 July 2006
I teach three different levels of adults in classes of between 6-10 students. I teach at our local community center and they have no curriculum or text books. I am basically free to do as I please ...
Teaching English -- Bryan Thankappan -- 11 July 2006
Hi Karla, I thought i must share my experience with you. I too teach English to company staff and individuals and have no professional training in teaching English. What I do is make them read out ...
Teaching!! -- Eduardo -- 27 August 2006
Hey Karla and somebody else who might ready this message. Im a Brazilian teacher, not graduated from ESL but I've been teaching English for almost 10 years. You don't need to be stick to a ...
Re: Teaching -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 1 September 2006
Eduardo, Another excellent post and suggestion!! I am a firm believer,like you, that the best teachers are those who can "think outside the box" and bring creativity into their lessons. That teaching ...
Thanks -- Karla Couasnon -- 14 July 2006
Thank you very much for the tips. I think it will be especially helpful with my false beginners. I know that it is hard to get adults to talk so this sounds like it would be a great way to encourage ...
debate -- Annie -- 17 July 2006
I've had good luck with improving speaking and recognition skills with some class games. These do depend on some fluency with the language, not for absolute beginners. I've had good luck ...
Re: Teaching English -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 13 July 2006
Karla, Bryan gave you some great ideas and strategies to use with your ESL Students. I definitely agree that using Reading Materials from both the Internet and the Local English Newspapers is a great ...
Reading to Learn English -- Sue Papin -- 5 September 2006
What if the students can't read?
Re: Reading to Learn English -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 5 November 2006
Sue, Your question of what if students can't read is a good one. My suggestion for students who can't read is to let them have a book with pictures and then you as the teacher should have ...

When do i teach new vocab? -- Gloria -- 6 July 2006
Hi...just wondering when is it the right time to teach students new vocab, and is there a bet way to do so?...thanks Also are tecniques better for certain ages? Thanks again. Gloria
Re: When do i teach new vocab? -- teacherjuli -- 4 January 2007
I like to pre-teach vocabulary at the beginning of a lesson. I often do this with visuals. There are so many images available on the web - you can do a google search for images here: ...
Teaching new vocabulary -- Eduardo -- 27 August 2006
Plan your classes based on real live situation. This way it's gonna be easier for you to teach your students a variety of new vocabulary. Bye
Re: Teaching new vocabulary -- Heads Up English -- 13 February 2007
I'd like to add to this thread and say that the situation/context needs to resonate with your students as individuals. The vocabulary should be tied to the students' personal lives and ...
Teaching Vocabulary -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 1 September 2006
Eduardo, Your response to use real life situations to teach vocabulary is excellent!! I have used this strategy with my students and found it to be a very motivating way to get students interested in ...
Try Using Games -- ForumAngel -- 11 August 2006
Hi Gloria, Knowing vocabulary is the basis to being able to read, speak and understand the language, so you'll want to teach new vocabulary as often as possible. Have you thought about using ...

Helping a Child Learn How to Read English -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 30 June 2006
Here is a suggestion to help parents assist their child in learning English: Parents need to read, read, read and read to their child everyday in English. If the child is just learning English, ...
Re: Helping a Child Learn How to Read English -- ForumAngel -- 15 October 2006
I think that the best way to teach children English is to play games with them. A good variety of games can help them learn to speak, read and understand the language. As it can be hard playing a ...

Help, Dr. Yanni -- Rheno747, B.A., M.A., PhD, Hard Knocks U -- 30 June 2006
Dr. Yanni, I need some help here. I teach a writing course and am covering grammar at the moment. I have some questions about a grammar problem or two, and I hope you can set me straight: 1. How ...
Re: Help -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 30 June 2006
Rheno, Good questions. The first part of your grammar problem would be explained as you presented it. English is the non-count noun, and 101 would be the quantifier Same for the other parts of the ...
Thanks a bunch -- Rheno747 -- 30 June 2006
Thanks a bunch, Dr. Y. I'm sure I'll be returning with another question soon.

Creative Teaching Strategies -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 24 June 2006
The "creative teacher” is one who is not afraid to take risks, is willing to experiment and try new things, and is one who infuses creativity in their teaching and "thinks outside the box." This ...

esl textbook -- esther -- 19 June 2006
Can anyone suggest some good esl textbooks for ages 4-9? Thank you so much
Textbook Alternative -- ForumAngel -- 18 August 2006
If you have Internet access and a printer you can access loads of free flash cards and with these using games you can run entire lessons - particularly with beginners to lower intermediate. I have ...
Re: ESL Textbook -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 9 September 2006
Shelly, Great idea to use pictures, games and flash cards. Using visuals as part of your teaching strategies will help students better understand the vocabulary and will also help them in developing ...
ESL textbooks for kids -- Lamya -- 28 June 2006
how about "fingerprints", by Macmillan? http://www.macmillanenglish.com/DEFAULT.aspx?id=578

Re: How can I improve my Teaching? -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 1 June 2006
The best advice I can give is to always be open to new ideas, strategies, and concepts involving how to teach. Remember that teaching strategies are always changing. It is important to be aware of ...

Why Should One Learn Foreign Language? -- Rosy -- 18 May 2006
Dear everyone, I am an Indonesian language teacher for western foreigners in my country, of course, Indonesia. I found it quite difficult to give reason why should one learn foreign language in ...
i can tell you a few reasons... -- öAhmad -- 6 September 2006
Well, each person have a different reason. I started learning English since I was in 2nd grade, self-teaching. The reason i started was... Cartoons... I used to watch Bugs Bunny, but I always wonder, ...

difference between 'wait' and 'await' -- teacher21 -- 14 May 2006
A question from Sergio Gil Rejas in Peru: I would like to know what is the difference between 'wait' and 'await'. When should I use 'wait' and 'await'? Thanks a lot ...
Re: difference between 'wait' and 'await' -- Shelley Vernon -- 14 January 2007
To await is more poetic and eloquent. One might say, I await death, but if one said, I await the bus, while technically not incorrect people might raise an eyebrow! Other people might secretly wonder ...

how to use wasn't there and didn't there. -- KISSOB JOE -- 9 May 2006
hello Dr Zack,i'm kissob ,an esl teacher in china.one of my co-workers asked me how to use ,wasn't there? and didn't there? or if both are all correct.i was confuse,for in the sentence he ...
Re: Use of Wasn't there and didn't there -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 10 May 2006
Dear Kissob, In the example you gave, the only correct response would be to use wasn't it? as this is an example of a tag question. Basically, a tag question refers to the actual statement being ...

English speaking and foreigners -- Ransy Reynis -- 2 May 2006
Sins I am a foreigner and English is not my language I would like to tell you about how I write and read articles. When I write article I sometimes have to write them in Norwegian and translate them ...
Re: English speaking and foreigners -- daxx -- 27 February 2008
\-|"> I think it is very important that you don't forget the language you grew up with. and with regards to speaking English, it would really be helpful to watch English films. this will not only ...

English Pronunciation For The ESL Learner -- Lynn Bo -- 1 May 2006
What is an accent? An accent is the carryover of sounds from the speaker’s original language to the second language. When we are infants we literally have the ability to speak any language in the ...

Is Grammar REALLY Important for a Second Language Learner? -- Julio Foppoli -- 27 April 2006
This is a typical question that I receive from many new students and website visitors. My answer is clear and simple: “indeed.” Grammar is the backbone of a language and without it any single thing ...
Is air important? Or water? Or food? -- Rheno747 -- 15 July 2006
If I were looking at a school today and the director told me something like "We don't teach grammar here. We feel grammar isn't important", I'd bolt. Grammar is very important, and ...
Is grammar important -- Shelley Vernon -- 14 January 2007
Hello, Yes grammar is fundamental. However when teaching young children I prefer to teach grammar through natural absorption rather than through learning rules and dissecting sentences. To expand on ...

Top Four Reasons to Teach Grammar in Your Homeschool -- Jennifer Thieme -- 27 April 2006
Are you a "relaxed homeschooler"? Have you ever wondered if spending one, two, or even more years on grammar is a meaningful use of your precious time? Have you heard that extensive grammar studies ...

Need help teaching beginner primary! -- Kate -- 4 April 2006
Hi - Desperate for some suggestions for teaching Chinese primary students (grade 3-5), beginner level. Main problem is, there are 70-75 students in each class, with fixed desks, no room to move. No ...
Tips to Keep Them Actively Involved -- ForumAngel -- 18 August 2006
Have you considered setting up stations around the room with different activities? They'll be able to move around even with the fixed desks and be able to look forward to the next activity. Here ...
Need help teaching beginner primary! -- gazzz -- 13 June 2006
hey, we are in the same position. primary school with about 40-50 students in one classroom. well the best thing for you is have control of these students. thats quite difficult coz you know, they ...
Re: Help teaching Primary -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 5 April 2006
Kate I sympathize with your having such a large class!! Here are a couple of suggestions: Continue to use flashcards as you are doing. Also include lots of visuals as well, i.e. pictures. Have ...

Teaching the sixties? -- Barbara Mercier -- 29 March 2006
Hello everybody, I am soon going to read Harold and Maude with a class of college students (17-18 years old). To get them into the mood of the book I would like to make an introductory lesson about ...
Teaching the sixties... -- Joy -- 31 March 2006
Three ideas I would use: a.Gallery Walk - post pictures and realia from the 60's around the room and have the students tour the gallery - make some observations about the times. -use pictures ...
Re: Teaching the Sixties -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 1 April 2006
Joy, These are all good suggestions you gave to use in helping Barbara teach her ESL class about the 60's. Several other ideas I would suggest include: 1. Show the class the original film Harold ...

No curriculum or textbook! Help! -- Amal -- 28 March 2006
Hi Dr. Zack, This is my situation: I have been given the opportunity to teach one Adult second language learner. I would say that her level is low intermediate or simply intermediate. I can have a ...
Re: No textbook -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and St -- 1 April 2006
Amal, Here is a suggestion: Use visuals that would develop vocabulary specific to the type of job this student will have. Also, engage in role-play situations using vocabulary relating to the ...

Test Taking Strategy -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 1 March 2006
Here is a strategy you can teach to students to help them when they are taking a test. This strategy is called the Plus/Minus Test Taking Strategy. First, students should go through all of the ...

idiom -- del -- 1 February 2006
An idiom is an expression (ie. term or phrase) whose meaning cannot be deduced from a literal definition of its parts, and instead refers to a nonliteral or figurative meaning which is only known ...
Re: Idiom -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 1 February 2006
Del, Thanks for posting a good definition of what an idiom is and explaining that it is a figure of speech used in the English Language. To demonstrate this concept, here would be an example: "He was ...

Coin A Phrase -- del -- 1 February 2006
Sometimes interesting words a phrases are right under our noses. After using it countless times on this site, a reader asked me where the term to coin a phrase came from? The verb to coin originally ...
Re: To Coin a Phrase -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 1 February 2006
Del, Another very good explanation of a type of speech commonly used in English.

Thought -- Steve -- 23 January 2006
Hello Dr. Zack, I was wondering how any native English speaker who never learned a second language, could teach beginners English. Do you think Dr. Zack, would it be better if a local teacher teach ...
Thought -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 23 January 2006
Dear Steve, I appreciate your question. In answer to your query, I personally do not feel that a local teacher would be better to teach beginners, or for that matter advanced students. In fact, I do ...

Reading & Writing English: Words Ending In "D" -- Frank Gerace -- 18 January 2006
The different sounds that the letter"d" takes at the end of a verb in the past tense An extract from the book: Word Power by the author of this article. The English language indicates that the action ...
Re: Words Ending with "d" -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 19 January 2006
Dear Dr. Frank Gerace, Thank you for posting some excellent information regarding how words that end in "d" sound when used in the past tense of the verb. This information is not only important but ...

learning a language -- jeff -- 18 January 2006
Best way: person to person, books, audio, tv?
Re: Best Way to Learn a Language -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 19 January 2006
Jeff, I don't think that there is one and only one way to learn a language. I think that all of the ideas you presented are good ones, and need to be used together in learning a language. I know ...
Re: Best Way to Learn a Language -- Mattie -- 2 October 2006
If you want a simple language tutorial to get you started with basic Spanish terms, I found a free training course on the web that has about 20 useful Spanish phrases. The website is ...

Teaching ESL using the Communicative Approach -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 14 January 2006
A very effective way to teach ESL students is through the use of the Communicative Approach. The Communicative Approach uses everyday, easily understandable language that is presented in a ...

NOTE, ORGANIZE, SUMMARIZE -- DR. MA. LOURDES E. M. PALCUTO -- 6 January 2006
Students may need help in learning to apply reading skills to study techniques when preparing for class discussions, tests, and report writing. They can improve their comprehension if they learn to ...
Note, Organize, Summarize -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 7 January 2006
Dear Dr. Palcuto, Thank you for providing a detailed explanation to help ESL Students develop effective Reading and Comprehension Skills. I am very familiar with your ideas. When working with my ...
study skills -- Karen Dickinson -- 3 April 2006
I have taught them the same strategy using the Letters SQ3R. Just an add-on, having used all the same strategies. Many books cannot be written in because they are non-consumable (sometimes even when ...
Note, Organize, Summarize -- Tere Masiarchin -- 11 January 2006
Visit www.TheEnglishConnection.com (click on handouts) for a SQ3R (+4) handout to use with English language learners. For subscribers, the handout is available in Spanish and Hmong.

Web Sites to Use with Your Students -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 6 January 2006
I thought that with the start of the New Year, I would begin by providing teachers and students with a host of different web sites which they can use in their studies and with their students. These ...

Ghost town -- Yingwen Laoshi -- 4 January 2006
Hi Rheno I hear you, regarding the discussion forum. I've had the same problem too. It's so dead over there that all I can hear is the old rusty sign swinging on it's hinges and the soft ...
Hey, Ying -- Rheno747 -- 18 January 2006
Hey, Ying. Sorry about the delay. Since the hijacking/meltdown over at the discussion forum, I've not logged onto this site much. I just today found your post. All is the same here. I'm ...
Free at Last - Hi Rheno! -- Yingwen Laoshi -- 18 January 2006
Hey, it's always exam week/day here. It Tell me about it Rheno! It's been exactly the same for me. Although I've taught in a college before, this has been my first experience teaching ...
Free for two weeks -- Rheno747 -- 24 February 2006
I'm starting a break in one week. I'll be off for two weeks. I'll spend most of that time looking for a new job someplace, Ying.

Correct Use of Adjective and Adverb -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 2 January 2006
Many ESL students have difficulty in correctly using adjectives and adverbs. Here is an easy way to teach your ESL students how to correctly use adjectives and adverbs within a sentence: Adjectives ...

Is a MA in TESOL Necessary to Teach ESL? -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 1 January 2006
Dear Readers of ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies: Welcome to a new year, 2006, which will be filled with new ideas and teaching strategies. First off, many have asked if having a MA in TESOL is ...

Best wishes Dr. Zack -- Dan -- 25 December 2005
Lots of health and good times for you. Thank you for your lessons. Dan
Re: Best Wishes -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 26 December 2005
Dan, Thank you for your kind words. I will continue to have more strategies and information to post within the coming year. Dr. Yanni Zack

MA in TEFL/TESOL -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 17 December 2005
Dear Readers, Several people have asked about good MA TEFL/TESOL Programs which are taught Online. One Program that I can highly recommend is the MA in TESOL program that is offered by Alliant ...
Re: MA in TEFL/TESOL -- svetlana -- 10 June 2007
Hello, I'm looking into a reputable university for an MA in TESOL or Applied Linguistics. I've read that many countries do not recognize distance leraning. As I'm currently in South Korea ...
Re: MA in TEFL/TESOL -- Dr.Yanni Zack -- 12 June 2007
Dear Svetlana, Thanks for your question via email. My personal belief is that having a MA in TESOL rather than Applied Linguistics would be more valuable because the MA in TESOL degree would open up ...

Developing Students' Writing Skills -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 25 November 2005
Here is a tip to help you develop your students' writing skills: I found that having students do daily Journal Writing is a good way to have them develop their writing styles. Journals can be ...
Re: Developing Students' Writing Skills -- ForumAngel -- 1 October 2006
This is a great idea to keep them writing and thinking in English! One of my favourite writing activities is to have the children complete an add-a-sentence story. You can do this in a variety of ...

The Crucible -- Kristen Vaughn -- 10 November 2005
Does anyone know eher I can find a copy of The Crucible in Spanish?
Hunting "The Crucible" -- AMonk -- 10 November 2005
Hi Did you try Amazon.com, Books A Million, Walden Books or one of the other big booksellers? They often have "special request" sections, if they don't have it immediately in stock. Good Luck, ...

The power a teacher can have -- Rheno747 -- 7 November 2005
Thanks to my teaching experiences, I've learned a few things about this field that my TESOL program didn't even pretend to be interested in addressing. One thing I learned is a teacher ...
Labelling Students is by Natural Selection -- Dave -- 12 November 2005
I work in China with Grade 1 Junior Middle School students - ages 11 and 12. The Chinese approach to teaching sounds similar to how you describe the approach in Thailand. School here is only ...
I understand where you're coming from -- Rheno747 -- 30 November 2005
Dave, excellent post. I appreciate it. You teach middle school in China, and I used to teach at a high school in Thailand. What I encountered there was exactly what you are encountering now. In my ...
Re: I Understand Where You Are Coming From -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 2 December 2005
Rheno, I understand your frustration with teaching high and low students within the same class. Here is a suggestion you might consider using: Have the high level students become peer tutors/coaches ...
Thanks, Dr. Y -- Rheno747 -- 3 December 2005
Thanks, Doc. In the future, though, I'll make sure I teach ESL at only colleges or universities. I won't again teach ESL at any high school overseas. That goes for Thailand, Korea, China, ...
Teaching Thai Students -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 9 November 2005
Rheno, Thank you for posting some excellent advice which applies when working with any type of ESL Student. Teachers always have to remember to be positive and to have a "Can Do" attitude when it ...
I wish I could have gotten my students a lot earlier -- Rheno747 -- 12 November 2005
I work at a college at the moment, and my students are more motivated than the students I had at my old high school. My students at the government high school would have been as motivated if I could ...

Online tutorial questions -- Ms. Jean -- 30 October 2005
Hi When you're teaching online, what is a good VOIP? Or is it really dependent on the broad band internet server that one's using? How will the conversation be clear? What about the instant ...

teaching speaking -- Christelle -- 13 October 2005
Dear Dr Zack, I'm French and I'm taking class in USA to get a TESL certificate.For my TESL class I have to find an idea for a mini lesson. What would be a good way to teach 3rd grade students ...
Another Speaking Idea -- ForumAngel -- 26 August 2006
For a fun game to practise speaking you could give some pupils questions and others the answers, or funny multiple choice answers. Tell the group that the multiple choice answers must match up and ...
Teaching Speaking -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 24 October 2005
Christelle, Teaching students how to speak English is very important. I like how you plan to have students describe orally what they see in funny pictures. Another way to have students learn and ...
Describing Game -- Yingwen Laoshi -- 4 January 2006
I'm sorry this is belated, but I've just seen your post about "describing" in the classroom. The following ideas may still be of use to yourself or others when you start teaching in schools. ...
Re: Describing Game -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 5 January 2006
Yingwen, I enjoyed reading your post and the description you provided for using various activities to help students learn how to use descriptive words. These are great activities to use in also ...
Great Site! -- Yingwen Laoshi -- 5 January 2006
Thanks Dr. Yanni. I'm always looking for new ideas to get the students actively interested and participating in their English class. That's why I'm glad that I found this great site of ...
teaching speaking -- Christelle -- 26 October 2005
Thank you so much for your help,Dr Zack. Christelle

Teaching of cursive writing -- Chunping Wu -- 5 October 2005
Fellow teachers of English: Since the last three years in China, I have found some local teachers wrote some of the English letters in a very different ways. For example, they didn't correct the ...
Cursive writing should come a distant, distant second -- Rheno747 -- 7 November 2005
I'd not teach cursive writing until I know my students know how to write period. Thai students are awfully good at creating new ways to fool teachers. I can see myself trying to teach cursive ...
Cursive Writing -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 9 November 2005
Rheno, I really appreciate the advise you gave regarding how to teach and when to teach Cursive Writing. I also agree that Cursive Writing should not be taught until a student knows how to print his ...

Motivational Issues -- RhenoA380 -- 2 October 2005
What is 'motivation', anyway? I hear it mentioned a lot among my brethren where I teach. This is because our students seem to be seriously lacking in this supposedly-important attribute. When ...
Re: Motivational Issues -- Looking at it Differently -- ForumAngel -- 8 October 2006
The points you bring up are very true and very frustrating. The thing is, you can tell students over and over again how important it is for them to make the effort to improve their lives, make an ...
Motivation -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 29 October 2005
Rheno A, You raised some very interesting and important points to consider in helping students to learn how to motivate themselves and develop their self-esteem. We as Instructors/Teachers need to ...

Teaching with Technology -- Wendy -- 30 September 2005
Hi Everybody, My name is Wendy, I have a Florida based company that provides computer assisted audio learning solutions for the academic sector! I provide foreign language labs, ESOL labs, reading ...
Dear Wendy -- Robin Kim -- 5 October 2005
Dear Windy Hi, Great to see you through internet. While finding study materials, I read your message. If possible, let me get your help, solutions. Now i belong to TESOL curriculim in Korea while ...
Re; Teaching with Technology -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 1 October 2005
Wendy, Thank you for giving us information regarding your services. Using technology in teaching is very important and can greatly enhance a teacher's effectiveness with his/her students. Dr. ...

ESL- Farsi speaking student -- Sarah -- 16 September 2005
I am a public school teacher in Canada who has a Farsi-speaking student in my class. Do you know of any online resources that might provide English-Farsi language instruction, or something like a ...
Re: ESL- Farsi speaking student -- ali -- 6 March 2007
dear sarah i'm ali, an english student in iran.i'm a farsi calligraphy teacher and i have some english classes to teach.so i think i can help you.now you have my e-mail.
Farsi and ESL -- Robin Day -- 19 September 2005
I posted a Survival Farsi article here on eslteachersboard.com. Look in the lessons or articles section for Spring 2004.I can also put you in touch with an Iranian who speaks good English.
Farsi and ESL -- Wendy -- 24 September 2005
I've tried to locate your entry 'Survival Farsi' Spring 2004 but lessons prior to April 2004 have been removed from the thread. Anyway to retrieve archived entries? Care to post again? ...
Farsi lesson -- Sa -- 24 September 2005
http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/language/index.pl?noframes;read=31
speaking farsi -- nausheen -- 12 January 2006
yes i want to know how i can learn speaking farsi i can do small talks but i just want to know to speak it like everyone else please help me JAZAKALLAH KHIAR \-|">
Speaking Farsi -- Alisa Ashouri -- 29 May 2006
Here is my idea. Do you have Yahoo Chat? There are Persian Chat rooms. Go there and tell them you want to speak Farsi. You will be speaking Finglish actually. This is Farsi but typed in English ...
Re: Speaking Farsi -- ali -- 6 March 2007
hello may be i can help you.i'm studying english in iran and i am an english teacher too.i have some farsi colligraphy classes as well.
Farsi and ESL -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 21 September 2005
Robin, Great Suggestion given to have a Farsi-Speaking person act as a tutor/peer coach for another Farsi ESL student. Also, please share some of the strategies you used from your article here in ...

strategies on how an ESl student listen to his teacher -- mico dimanlig -- 13 September 2005
i am currently doing a case study on the strategies used by an ESL student in a foreign classroom; let's say a main stream class. i really hope you could give me possible strategies that they/you ...
re: ESL Students Listening to the Teacher -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 14 September 2005
Mico, I found that ESL Students need a lot of both listening and practice in order to learn English. Thus, I would use a variety of activities which promote listening. However, in order to make sure ...
Learning Styles and Games -- ForumAngel -- 8 October 2006
Very True! Listening is just one part of learning a language. If you structure your class to appeal to all sorts of students and add a variety of different types activities to your class, you can ...

How to manage large classes? -- Lindsey -- 7 September 2005
I have just started teaching in a chinese middle school with classes between 30 - 45 students. 30 students seems ok to monitor and check feedback, but over 30 and I struggle to make sure they talk ...
Re: How to manage large classes? -- ForumAngel -- 15 October 2006
Have you considered setting up stations around the room with different activities? They'll be able to move around even with the fixed desks and be able to look forward to the next activity. Here ...
Ideas to keep the whole class involved -- ForumAngel -- 31 August 2006
Have you considered setting up stations around the room with different activities? They'll be able to move around even with the fixed desks and be able to look forward to the next activity. Here ...
large classes -- matt -- 13 October 2005
I am also in china, most of my classes are between 50 and 70. Upon reaching the school I found out that my grade 7 students had no english. All of my lessons and language games ended up being filed ...
How to Manage Large Classes -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 9 September 2005
Dear Lindsey, Managing a large class can be very difficult. I have been in that situation before. One suggestion I can give you is to use a lot of small group activities for practice. Also, while ...
Sources -- RhenoA380 -- 10 September 2005
Lindsey, there are sources of material you can use in activities listed on this site. There are also tons of other sites out there you can access for material. You're just starting, eh? I wonder ...
How do i teach a high school student? -- Lerry -- 11 September 2005
How do i teach a grade 1 high school student who wanna go abroad in a year's time? This student in question has a fairly average knowledge of English but he needs polishing in ...
High Schooler -- AMonk -- 12 September 2005
Hi Lerry Try having your student read (aloud) from English-language newspapers and report (verbally or in written form) to you on TV reports, sports events, music concerts, movies, etc....just ...

How to teach idioms? -- Brock Penner -- 6 September 2005
Hey there, I am an experienced ESL teacher but tutoring is a little new to me. Does anybody have any tips for teaching idioms? I've tried it once but my inexperience shows. Please help!
How to Teach Idioms -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 9 September 2005
Dear Brock, Teaching ESL Students Idioms can be difficult. Here is a suggestion you might want to try: You might consider using pictures or visuals, and making your own picture card for a given ...
idioms -- pete Brad -- 11 September 2005
Blind as a bat, ok. deaf as a post? hee hee...
Re: idioms -- alanna -- 17 September 2006
Dirt cheap, over the hill, once in a blue moon, out of this world, win by a landslide???? Any ideas on how to teach these idioms?

Great Vocabulary site -- Janice -- 5 September 2005
I thought I'd pass on this great vocabulary site which uses pictures as well as definitions and sentences to learn high level vocabulary words for the SAT/ACT. Check it out. ...

ESL for Korean Learners -- Nicole -- 31 August 2005
Hello! I've spent almost all of my ESL "life" teaching Spanish-speakers (primarily from Mexico) and will now be working with those whose home language is Korean. What are typical "things to watch ...
ESL for Korean Learners -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 3 September 2005
Nicole, You have raised some good questions. I have found in my ESL Teaching experience that strategies used for teaching ESL to one group of students can be applied universally to all students. With ...

tips on teaching english -- Violeta Yang -- 22 August 2005
I'm a Filipino tutoring English here in Suwon. For almost 4 months I've been teaching 9yrs old students, now they can read simple English. Presently I'm running out of ideas on what to do ...
tips on teaching English -- Jair Porto -- 6 September 2005
\-|"> I'd like to receave material that can help me in my everyday working as a teacher.
reading is not enough! -- eberhard r cajilog -- 5 September 2005
Hey! I'm a Filipino too! and reading is not the only way to teach English to your tutee. It must be a boring tutorial session. Try some activity that yur tutee can grasp not somthing theoritical, ...
Tips on Teaching English -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 22 August 2005
Violy, Thanks for your question. I would have to say that having students learn English only through Reading stories is not enough. I would suggest that you include writing within your strategies as ...

teaching for the 1st time -- Roy Clements -- 17 August 2005
Dear Dr. Yanni Zack, My name is Roy Clements and I am an English man about to teach english in Brazil for the 1st time. I was hoping you could give me some tips on how best to structure a teaching ...
First Day of Class -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 19 August 2005
Dear Roy, In order to open your class up on the right foot, I suggest that you prepare and plan ahead of time before the first class meeting. Also, remember to include lots of hands-on learning, as ...

tips on teaching english -- bonog -- 12 August 2005
how will i tach my students how to love english? what strategies are good for slow learner? thank you very much.
Re: tips on teaching english -- ForumAngel -- 15 October 2006
If you are not using games as a substantial part of your teaching with children then I truly believe that this is the way forward. The way I have been teaching (and many others like me), is truly ...
Re: tips on teaching english -- ForumAngel -- 21 September 2006
If you are not using games as a substantial part of your teaching with children then I truly believe that this is the way forward. The way I have been teaching (and many others like me), is truly ...
teaching methods -- JENNY IVO DILTON -- 17 August 2005
hi sir, i just got a job as an esl teacher,but i haven't been a teacher before but i graduated from one of the famous university in my country and i think i can be upto the task.i will like you ...
Follow this link! -- Sa -- 14 August 2005
http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/lessons/index.pl
Stories may help -- AMonk -- 13 August 2005
Hello I don't know what age group you are teaching, but every one that I have taught enjoys being read to and having stories told to them (especially if they are about, or include, them). 1. Use ...

work at hotel as tesol teacher -- preethi -- 9 August 2005
I spoke to the training manager at a 5 star hotel if I can be train their staff. He asked me to send me a a write up and a brief CV. Can u help me as i dont know how to go about this as its my first ...
Working at a Hotel as a TESOL Teacher -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 19 August 2005
Dear Reddy 1966, I want to first commend you regarding the initiative you took to go to the Hotel Training Manager to offer your services as a TESOL Teacher for their employees. Here are some ideas ...

Turkey: I'm a student at university. -- burçin -- 30 July 2005
I've been hired to teach english.and my student wants me to teach her english grammer, vocabulary and also listening and speaking in five months. she is going to work in a company so she wants me ...
Helping a Student Learn English -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 19 August 2005
Dear Burcin, Here are some strategies to use when working with this student: Remember to use visuals as a way to reinforce the material you are helping her to learn. Also, since she will be working ...

How do you successfully prepare a student for IELTS? -- Elizabeth -- 17 July 2005
Preparing for the IELTS Exam -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 18 July 2005
Elizabeth, Bill gave you an excellent reference. Here is another one to use: http://www.ielts.orgThis is the official website for the Test. You can obtain sample tests for the reading and writing ...
IELTS Exam prep -- Bill Jacot -- 18 July 2005
Elizabeth, With apologies to Dr.Z., go to the web site www.esl.about.com and then in the left margin, click on TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge and you will be guided to some great information that will be of ...

New to teaching. What to teach ESL students? What should I teach them? -- Jeff/USA -- 17 July 2005
10 Kids 6 to 8 years old from Mexico/Latin A. Thank you! Jeff
New to Teaching -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 18 July 2005
Jeff, Welcome to the world of being an ESL Teacher. For starters, I would do a quick assessment to determine where they are- i.e. are they in the Listening stage, Pre-production stage, Production ...

advise tutoring adults esl -- Collin -- 12 July 2005
Hello Dr. Zack and partners, I would like to tutor Latin American adults beginners. Groups of one to one. Would you be so kind to give me a few tips. Thank you! Collin
Advice Tutoring Adults ESL -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 13 July 2005
Collin, Tutoring Adult ESL Learners is no differentr than teaching a class of Adult ESL Students: Here are some tips and strategies: Remember to use lots of visuals with the students- pictures, ...
Thank you for your advice! -- Collin -- 15 July 2005
Also, I'm trying to create interesting lessons that are pertinent to my students'lives. I'll post again soon! Regards, Collin

My epiphany -- RhenoKorean -- 7 July 2005
I'm thinking of giving up ESL for the time being. Yes, I think it's time to head back to the states and earn a master's in TESOL. You see, I've realized (finally) that, at least in ...
Adieu -- AMonk -- 10 July 2005
Hello, Rheno I shall be sorry when you leave. I've only recently started to look at this website, but yours are amongst the submissions I've come to look forward to seeing the most. Yes, the ...
Thanks a bunch -- RhenoKorean -- 10 July 2005
Thanks a bunch, Monk. Yes, a lot of the kids in my classes have been left at the doorstep of my school by their aggravated parents who are just looking to get rid of them for a few hours or even a ...
Re: My Epiphany -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 8 July 2005
Dear Rheno Korean: I am sorry to hear of your bad experience in teaching high school ESL Students. As someone who has taught High School in the United States, and also worked with Special Needs ...
That's my plan now...... -- RhenoKorean -- 9 July 2005
Dr. Z, thanks for the feedback. Getting my MA and then teaching at the university level is exactly my plan now. I may have to teach another year at a high school while I complete my first year of the ...

Training Teachers in Working with Second Language Learners -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 4 July 2005
SIR, GOOD DAY TO YOU. THIS SUMMER HOLIDAY, MY SCHOOL NEEDS ME TO GIVE SOME LESSONS TO THE CHINESE TEACHERS HERE ON HOW TO HANDLE THE ORAL AND LISTENING ENGLISH. INFACT, IT IS MY FIRST TIME TO DEAL ...

Teaching adults -- Nat -- 24 June 2005
Hello all, Anyone could give me an example of how to teach adults English. Thanks, Nat
Teaching Adults -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 24 June 2005
Nat: Please give us more information regarding which level of adults you are teaching, and some of the strategies you may have already used. This will help me and the other contributors in being able ...
Teaching adults in seoul -- Nat -- 24 June 2005
Thank you for your reply Dr. ZacK! More info: Classes are in the morning 6:30am to 8am (before work). Students are professionals most of them. Age: from 16 to 60 years old. I've tried memory ...

teaching second time round -- LC -- 21 June 2005
Hello, I could really do with some advice from fellow ESl teachers. I am currently teaching in Seoul, South korea in a school with students aged 7 - 17. I taught for a year in Daejeon with similiar ...
Re: Teaching Second Time Around -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 24 June 2005
Dear LC: I am sorry to hear about your difficult time in dealing with your students. Also, I am concerned that your director does not take your concerns and situation seriously. You should not have ...

Teaching ESL in the USA -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 20 June 2005
Dear Dr. Zack, I´d like to hear your opinion on how feasible it is for a non-native speaker of English to get a job as an ESL Teacher in the USA. I´m a 36 year-old Brazilian man and have been ...
Re: Teaching ESL in the USA -- Brais -- 1 September 2008
Dear Publio, I also commend you on your efforts and your devotion to learning another language. I would like to comment that because your post contains several errors it is somewhat ironic. ...
Thanks -- Publio -- 11 August 2005
Dear Dr. Zack, Thank you so much for your reply. Sorry for not thanking you earlier but actually I have just realized you had answered my e-mail. All the best, Publio.

OH NO - NOT MY CLASS! -- Rosalind -- 19 June 2005
A few of my English Major students have been standing in for less well spoken students in other departments pretending to be that student and doing the Oral English exam for them so they will get a ...
Discipline in the classroom -- Julio Luque -- 11 April 2006
Hello, everyone, my name is Julio and I work in a language school in Lima, Peru. Well, I have read several messages about cheating and other disciplinary problems, so I would like to know what ...
Cheating -- Gary -- 3 July 2005
I have taught big (50-80 Ss)oral/ aural English classes in China. I taught each class only once a week - approximately 800 different Ss each week! While I was not required to assess them, this would ...
Creativity in Language Teaching -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 4 July 2005
DEAR DR. ZACK GREETINGS! I WANT SOME POINTS ON- ' CREATIVITY IN THE LANGUAGE TEACHING.' - HOW PARENTS AND TEACHERS CAN BE TRAINED FOR THE SAME? THANKS FOR YOUR TIPS. WARM REGARDS MS. SARBJIT ...
Cheating - morals and consequences in real life. -- Kevin -- 4 July 2005
I just think it's all a case of we are all a soft touch, because we can't speak Chinese very well or not at all and we are always nice and friendly. This is viewed in a young persons mind as ...
Re: Oh No- Cheating -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 20 June 2005
Dear Rosalind, I can understand your frustration with the cheating that happened among your students. I know it is very difficult to deal with. I remember once where I had a similar situation ...
This is great. -- Rosalind -- 20 June 2005
Dr Zack, This is very helpful. Thank you. How to utilize it in our situation is the question. We are oral English teachers and so our exams are given in the form of an oral conversation with each ...
I wish the TEFL mills would have told me about Thailand's cheating problem -- RhenoThai -- 19 June 2005
What you describe is no surprise. Thailand without cheating students would be as plausible as Thailand without mangy, stray dogs. What IS a surprise is that my TEFL mill never tells its students ...
Screaming and shouting and running about ... -- Rosalind -- 20 June 2005
Thanks for responding, Rheno. The time has past for asking what to do. I went ahead and tried-on enrolling the class monitors in the possibility of causing integrity within their classes. I was ...
disruptive students -- The Joker -- 19 July 2005
Hi can anybody give me any advice how to deal with disruptive students in the classroom? No matter how much I tell them to talk in English they continue to babble in their own language.
disruptive students -- Z -- 21 July 2005
My experience: Avoid being defensive and speak to your director asap. Sometimes disruptive students have mental disorders. Z
Confession -- Rosalind -- 20 June 2005
Last night,about 10pm, I received a phone call from one of the class monitors who had attended the meeting (there had been 4 class monitors not present at the meeting and he volunteered to inform ...
Thailand's big do-do bird notion -- RhenoThai -- 20 June 2005
When I had my rude introduction to Thailand's cheating epidemic, I immediately started trying to root it out of my classrooms. My efforts met with mixed success, but I did have some victories and ...
Amazing ... this is what we've just put into the works here -- Rosalind -- 20 June 2005
RT Last week saw the foreign teachers and the school heads in a meeting asking for this very thing (ie. FT's will test freshmen for English levels before they are assigned their classes). What ...

I need ideas for an English 'Carnival' -- Howard Zinn, Historian -- 14 June 2005
Hello. I'm trying to put together an English language carnival to be held at an English camp. One idea I'm toying with is a bingo game. I could use numbers like an actual bingo game. This ...
Some ideas for an English Carnival -- AMonk -- 25 June 2005
Why not go "all out" and have a real Carnival? Think of some games you have seen played at school fairs, and other such events, then adapt them for your students. Set up stations around, like booths ...
Excellent idea -- Howard Zinn, Historian -- 26 June 2005
Yours is a great idea, Monk. I'll see if I can actually have a 'real' carnival sometime--such as my next English camp. You can believe that I'll be using your suggestions. Thanks a ...
Who wants five baht? -- SiamSap -- 21 June 2005
I've tried games in my classroom that reward 'winners' with certain monetary rewards. Mind you, I'm no Regis Philbun. Such games may work in your carnival. You may even invent a ...
Re: English Carnival -- Susan -- 17 June 2005
I've found that doing stations really works well with large groups. Let some of your more experienced students "man" the station and the lesser experienced ones can go by and do different things ...
Thanks to you all -- Howard Zinn, Historian -- 17 June 2005
Susan, I like your idea. That would help my students practice speaking and listening. Acrostics is a great idea that will help them with writing, E. It's something I'd do with them in a ...
Acrostics is fun -- Elephant -- 16 June 2005
Try acrostics. My students really like this game, especially when ice creams await the winners. Acrostics is a game in which the class is divided into groups of three or four. The teacher writes ...
Re: Ideas for an English Carnival -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 16 June 2005
Howard, Bingo is a great activity to use in your English Carnival. Another activity to use would be Charades, and also Twenty Questions. Dr. Yanni Zack
bingo -- Niels -- 15 June 2005
Word bingo works really well for teaching new vocab. on any topic. I usually write 24 new words on the board which the students copy onto a piece of paper as I explain and contextualise each word and ...

Worried about being boring in the classroom -- Ted -- 14 June 2005
I think my students rather be in disney. Any tricks to make my class less boring. Students are 6, 8 years old. Thanks you, Ted
Re: Worried about being Boring in the Classroom -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 16 June 2005
Ted, A great way to engage younger ESL Students is to use hands-on learning activities as well as cooperative group learning activities. Examples for young ESL Learners would be Alphabet or Word ...
Thank you! -- Ted -- 16 June 2005
Fun in the classroom -- Rosebud -- 22 June 2005
Hi there, try and check out Genkienglish.com for a fun way of presenting an english lesson.
Re: Fun in the classroom -- ForumAngel -- 15 October 2006
This can be frustrating! The one thing you can do to help them, though, is get them interested in you as a teacher and hope that it will help them show some interest in the class. Tell them about ...
Re: Fun in the classroom -- Shelley Vernon -- 24 February 2007
Hello, I want to add that since the last post I have created a fun free mini-series for teachers with pupils aged 3 to 5. You get games and activities to preteach vocabulary, flashcards for those ...
The coming onslaught -- SiamSap -- 14 June 2005
They're going to be exposed to three stimuli in your classroom: phonology, grammar, and vocab/lexicon, so they will be overwhelmed at first. Just take it slow and review a lot. You should also ...

Teaching Conversational English -- Jessie-belle -- 13 June 2005
I have to teach conversational English to some coworkers of mine, but I don't want to steer them wrong. How should I begin or assess their english proficiency? I was advised to treat their ...
Teaching Conversational English -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 14 June 2005
Jessie-belle, I would recommend that you begin the assessment process of your students' Oral Language Fluency by using the Interview Technique, and have the students interview each other, and ...
Re: Teaching Conversational English -- Wendy -- 20 February 2007
Hello, I will teach my first conversational English lesson in Japan soon and I am trying to find information about the Interview Technique. Can you point me in the right direction? Is it somewhere in ...

It's a matrix for test/exam planning -- Elephant -- 13 June 2005
Dr. Z, I posted my 4x4 matrix as a test to see how it would appear on this web page. It didn't come out, unforunately, so let me explain what I use it for. This matrix serves as a 'check' ...
Re: It's a matrix for test/exam planning -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 13 June 2005
Elephant, Thanks for the clarification. I like how you are planning to use this matrix for each area of ESL Teaching. This diagnostic tool will help you develop better and more effective assessments ...

my first class -- Eric (Seoul) -- 12 June 2005
preparation: 1- I get to know each name of the students 2- have a plan b in case they already know the lesson to move to another lesson-topic 3- get my materials ready start: 1- have all the students ...
Re: My First Class -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 13 June 2005
Eric, Elephant gave you some great ideas as to how to prepare for your first class. Here is an other suggestion: You might want to consider having the students do an interview of each other. You can ...
Addendum to Dr. Z's post -- Elephant -- 13 June 2005
Eric, I'd follow Dr. Z's advice on getting the students front and center in the classroom. This will give you an idea of each student's speaking ability. I'd add this: create a ...
suggestions?? -- Eric (Seoul) -- 13 June 2005
Thank you for the feedback. Do you have any academic suggestions for a first class of English. Best Eric
Absolutely -- Elephant -- 13 June 2005
Eric, I'd start with nouns then move to pronouns and 'to be' verbs along with some easy action verbs. You'll need dictionaries for this. Next, move to noun-to-pronoun conversions, and ...
One very big hint -- Elephant -- 12 June 2005
Learn some Korean. That's the number one lesson I've learned about teaching in Asia. That will impress your boss as well as your fellow students, plus make your life in the classroom somewhat ...

I'm Reverse-Engineering An English Class -- Elephant -- 6 June 2005
I'm trying a new approach to one of my classes. It's a form of 'reverse-engineering', a process of taking a completed system apart to learn how it's put together. I've started ...
Re: Reverse Engineering an English Class -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 6 June 2005
E: What you are doing is similar to the concept of "Top Down" and "Bottom Up" teaching. In "Top Down", you start out with the final product(your final exam) already established and then teach to the ...
Baby Steps -- Elephant -- 7 June 2005
Thanks for the reply, Dr. Z. Typical of all your replies, I found it helpful. I'm just starting out using this technique. Ensuring my classes have a 'logical' flow is something I'll ...

Fred Flintstone's Language Lab -- Elephant -- 4 June 2005
I realize there are money concerns for those wanting to start a language lab. I've thought about the issue a lot the last few days, and I've come to a conclusion: the most rudimetary lab is ...

Classroom discipline: short fuse -- SLL -- 29 May 2005
I'm new to teaching. Teaching in Korea kids could be very demanding and stressful. Keep asking myself: whether this job is the right one for me. Thank you.
Let's switch jobs -- SiamSap -- 1 June 2005
I tell you what--let's switch jobs. You come to my school in Thailand, and I'll go to your job in South Korea. We'll work that way for six months. Students here are aggravating as hell, ...
It's difficult -- STAR Duck Girl -- 20 June 2005
My first 6 months teaching in a rich primary school left me ready to pack it up and go, too. Then I found an outlet. You definitely need an outlet when you teach ESL. I love to dance, so I just ...
I won't be quitting anytime soon -- SiamSap -- 21 June 2005
I'll be doing this ESL thing for a while, hopefully for the next twenty years or even longer. For me, the hardest part of teaching ESL has been all the 'rude surprises', such as the shock ...
How did you decide to try teaching? -- RhenoThai -- 31 May 2005
Did you decide to try teaching on a whim or think it over thoroughly first? Did you spend a lot on a TESOL course? Did you know exactly what you were getting into? The questions are legion, I know. I ...
Re: How did you decide to try teaching? -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 31 May 2005
Rheno, I read through your response to SLL and found it to be very appropo to his particulat situation. I like how you stated that you were considering going back to obtain an MA in TESOL. I strongly ...
Thanks for you input, Dr. Z. -- RhenoThai -- 31 May 2005
Dr. Z., I apprecitate your feedback. I've come to a dead-end here in Thailand as far as teaching goes. I'm just not cut out to teach here. I can't stand the cheating, slacking, ...
Re: Classroom Discipline- Short Fuse -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 30 May 2005
Dear SLL, Effective Classroom Management/Discipline is difficult no matter what level of ESL student you are teaching. Here is a suggestion: Have the class develop the discipline policy/rules to use ...

First time teaching English -- Jeff T. -- 29 May 2005
Any suggestion for beginner teachers. ie lessons... Jeff-Heading to Korea
teaching a more advanced learner -- Roy Clements -- 10 September 2005
I have just started working with an older lady in Brazil who has a quite good vocabulary. She wants to get her pronounciation perfect. Can you suggest any exercises I can do with her that will be of ...
Some more advice -- SiamSap -- 1 June 2005
Congrats on going to Korea. That's the best place for TEFL teachers, in my humble, aggravated opinion. I don't mean to sound negative, but I teach in a certain country down in SE Asia--a ...
Re: First Time Teaching English -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 29 May 2005
Jeff, Being a brand new ESL Teacher can be very scary. One thing I did at the very first class with my Beginning ESL Students was to teach the following Information: 1) Personal Pronouns -I, You, He, ...

Apathetic high school students - help! -- SANDY NELSEN -- 29 May 2005
I teach at a middle school and a high school in Korea. At the high school students study agriculture as well. I'm no expert - prior to this position I taught English at a hagwon in Korea and ...
You should be thankful for one thing..... -- RhenoThai -- 31 May 2005
Sandy, I'm not trying to be a flamer--we get enough of those types here--but I think you need to be thankful for one thing where you are: money. You see, I have the exact same problems in my own ...
You may be lucky too!!! -- James Melbourne -- 7 June 2005
Thailand is such a beautiful country compared to Korea. I'm working in Korea and I aways vist Thailand even after the Tsunami.
An idea -- Elephant -- 30 May 2005
For context/settings, I'd use agriculture. I once heard of someone having the same problems you are having at a school for mechanics(?) somewhere in Asia. The teacher always chose themes from the ...
Apathetic High School Students -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 29 May 2005
Sandy, Since your students are learning about agriculture in High School, I suggest that you include actual hands-on learning activities using realia- real life objects. You might want to consider ...
Apathetic High School Students - Thank you. -- Sandy -- 30 May 2005
Thank you Dr. Zack for the speedy response. I shall certainly follow up on your suggestions and post a response in due course. Regarding realia - we have all the heavy duty agricultural machinery at ...

Running an English Corner -- Rosalind -- 28 May 2005
Is the idea of an English Corner to get the students to speak English or the foreign teachers to answer questions about whether they like Chinese food? I'm thinking the former but what happens ...
Re: Running an English Corner -- Martin Wolff -- 3 October 2008
CHINA EFL: English Corner Martin Wolff, Guangzhou, China About the Author Martin Wolff, J.D. – holisticenglish@yahoo.com Martin Wolff has taught Holistic English, international business law and ...
Re: Running an English Corner -- Martin Wolff -- 4 October 2008
PART II If I had the authority, power and money, my first transformation project at the training center would be as follows; Purchase 5 flat screen TVs and permanently tune each one to a different ...
Re: Running an English Corner -- andi -- 9 April 2007
about two months ago I had a few students request help in speaking/listening. I told these students to speak the days lessons while walking home. As an example if we did colours today I asked them to ...
yeah. -- ali -- 16 June 2005
I know what you mean. Recently I started teaching at a school in China having never taught before. I always thought I was a creative person but sometimes I've got by riding on the fact that I was ...
What Else? -- Rosalind -- 30 May 2005
I tried Dr Zack's idea last night and it worked well. Does anyone have suggestions for an English Corner which is held in the evening outside a classroom?? Look forward to hearing from you. ...
Set a topic -- May -- 11 June 2005
I think setting a topic each time might help.Topics like "What is an ideal occupation for you , why?" , "Describing a part-time job you did before",anything that is interesting and easy to them. At ...
Re: Set a Topic -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies -- 12 June 2005
May, I read your response to Rosalind regarding how to develop ESL Students Oral Conversation Skills. Your suggestion of setting a topic for each Conversational Meeting is excellent and one which ...
English Corner -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 28 May 2005
Rosalind, Although I have not had any experience in working in an English Corner Activity, I have had experience in working in a weekly ESL Activity that was designed to motivate students to learn ...
Re: English Corner -- Jim Ely -- 18 September 2006
I have taught in Chinese universities for four years. By far the most successful English Corners are those that are planned and conducted by the students. I am the student adviser for English Corner ...
Sounds good ! -- Rosalind -- 28 May 2005
I will use it! Thank you, Dr Zack. We have two English Corner's each week. One is inside so Dr Zack's suggestion is perfect for it. The other one is outside, so the above wouldn't work ...

slow learner student -- Da/in Korea -- 25 May 2005
I've a slow learner student/12 years old, well behave male. The rest of the group/9 seem to be learning ok. Any feedback welcome. Da
Slow Learner Student -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 26 May 2005
Da/in, Here is a suggestion to help you in your ESL Class. I recommend that you find a "buddy" who can work with you during class as your "peer tutor/teacher." That way you can learn the material and ...
Thanks -- Da -- 27 May 2005
I try that. Thanks Dr. Da

How I 'flowchart' my present participle spelling rules -- Elephant -- 24 May 2005
While teaching the present progressive tense to my Thai M6 students (equivalent to seniors in the the US), I decided to try another approach to the boring rote of teaching presenting present ...
Using a Flowchart -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 24 May 2005
Elephant, I commend you on using the flowchart strategy with your students. You created an esay to follow visual which helps the students understand the concept. Great Job! Dr. Yanni Zack

Arguing Grammar -- Elephant -- 23 May 2005
When I attended a TESOL teacher training program in Thailand last year, I was appalled by the minor importance attached to this important subject. Here's my own defense of grammar that will ...
Arguing Grammar -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 23 May 2005
Elephant, Well Said! Grammar is inded an important component of ESL Teaching. However, remember to balance it and include reading and writing, in order to provide a well-balanced instructional ...

DISCIPLINE -- Rosalind -- 22 May 2005
Hello again, Dr Zack, Just another question on behalf of myself and the other foreign and chinese-english teachers in my school. The students are 19-21 year olds and about the worst thing they do is ...
It's a sign of variable ability....probably caused by cheating in the past -- Elephant -- 23 May 2005
I wouldn't worry about your students whispering in class. I think that's just one student asking a colleague what it is you are talking about at the moment. China's public education ...
It's a sign of variable ability....probably caused by cheating in the past -- Rosalind -- 23 May 2005
Thanks for your observations. Well, where I work is a new uni made up of students from all over the China - and they are all freshmen. Everything is new for them .. new city, new friends... the lot. ...
Some other problems at my Thai school -- Elephant -- 24 May 2005
Thanks for the reply, Ro. You sure put your heart into it. Like your school, at my school 'everyone' passes exams. Yes, even my own students, albeit I don't approve--and never will. You ...
Some other problems at my Thai School -- Rosalind -- 24 May 2005
Dear E, I wondered if you'd expressed your concerns to your students - not coming from making them wrong but from your obvious deep commitment for them to get something for themselves and their ...
RE; Some other Problems at my Thai School -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 24 May 2005
Rosalind, I like the response you gave to Elephant regarding the problems he is facing at his school. You are absolutely correct when you stated that we as teachers should never give up on our ...
Some students HAVE responded -- Elephant -- 25 May 2005
I probably make it sound like it's a 'hell on earth' at my school. It's not all bad, understand. Many of my students participate in the learning process, which means they are ...
It's a Plan -- Rosalind -- 25 May 2005
Dear E, I know what you mean. Where I am, we have classes of between 30 - 50 of mixed levels from reasonable speakers to "I don't know what you're speaking about" - even in my classes, which ...
I tried that in one class...with mixed results -- Elephant -- 26 May 2005
Last year I did exactly what you are planning to do next semester with your classes, that is, I divided some of my classes into groups with members of variable ability. The results were mixed, so I ...
Wait ... Wait ... -- Rosalind -- 26 May 2005
What's a rudimentary language lab??!
RLL -- Elephant -- 26 May 2005
Ro, a 'rudimentary language lab' is a euphemism for 'standard school-issue computer(s) being used to help students practice their listening and speaking skills'. In other words, a ...
Language Lab -- Rosalind -- 26 May 2005
hmmmmm ..... I was going to say we don't have computers but I know the uni has IT as a subject. I'll check it out. Thanks E ! \-|"> Rose
Lack of Money--The Language Lab Torpedo -- RhenoThai -- 27 May 2005
Setting up an LL may not be possible at most EFL teachers' schools. This is because of budget constraints. If your school has the money to spend on facilities, you're in. If not, you'll ...
Money, Money, Money -- Rosalind -- 29 May 2005
Thanks Rheno.

Sentence stucture. -- Rosalind -- 22 May 2005
Hello, I've been teaching English to English Major students in China for 6 months. They have all done at least 6 years of English prior to University and I am aware that this learning did not ...
Sentence Structure -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 24 May 2005
Rosalind, I have found that no matter how much ESL Instruction students have had, they will always have some difficulty with both Grammar and Sentence Structure. My suggestion is to teach sentence ...
Sentence Structure -- Rosalind -- 24 May 2005
Thank you. It's sort of a relief to know and I will take you advice on board. Rosalind

How do I get level 1 students interested in English classes? -- ST -- 21 May 2005
10 to 12 years old from Korea. tnx
Another idea -- RhenoThai -- 23 May 2005
Another idea that may help your students motivate themselves is a 'Pen-Pal' project. Your kids could write folks all over the world using standard postal services. They could also send and ...
Yet Another Idea -- ForumAngel -- 21 September 2006
The above ideas are all really great. Here's another thought, though. If you can get your students to be interested in "you" as a teacher, they'll soon be interested in whatever it is you ...
An idea that MAY work -- Elephant -- 21 May 2005
ST, do your students have access to computers at your school? If so, perhaps you can start a language lab there using powerpoint, CDs, and interactive programs. I hope this helps. Elephant
How do I get level 1 students interested in English -- Rosalind -- 22 May 2005
Elephant, Where do you order/buy the sort of material you suggest? Apart from books for the students and myself, my school hasn't supplied any teaching aids. I have a laptop so could use some ...
I would try bookstores first -- Elephant -- 22 May 2005
Ro, I'd try to find those in a local bookstore. In which country do you teach? I teach in Thailand, but I'm heading to South Korea in about a month. Here, there are bookstores with all sorts ...
Re: An Idea that might work -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 22 May 2005
ST, Elephant gave an excellent suggestion to use computer lab work with your level 1 students. Using Computer Labs to let them practice their language skills is great. A good interactive English ...

advise vs advice -- Michael -- 21 May 2005
Dr. My teacher say that advise is a verb and advice is a noun. Do you know examples to use each one. Thank you! Michael
Advise vs. Advice -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 22 May 2005
Michael, Your teacher is correct. Advise is a verb, and Advice is a Noun. Here are examples of how to use them correctly: Advise- verb- "I can advise you on which course you should take next fall in ...
Thank you very much Dr. Zack. -- ST -- 22 May 2005
Michael \-|">

Using cheating to your advantage -- Elephant -- 20 May 2005
It didn't take but a few days after beginning work as an TESOL instructor here in Thailand to realize one fact about Thai students: cheating is a viable option in the land of Thai. At my school, ...
I forgot this critical point -- Elephant -- 21 May 2005
I forgot to mention in my post the fact that when I give multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank type tests, I use an answer-bank at the top of the test. Answers to all the questions are given in the ...
Cheating on ESL Tests -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 21 May 2005
Dear Elephant: Thank you for your post on tips on how to prevent cheating on ESL Tests by students. The experience you described is a very common one faced by all ESL Teachers. You gave some very ...
Essay questions -- Elephant -- 22 May 2005
Dr. Zack, I wish I could use essay-type questions on my quizzes/tests/exams. The sad reality at my gov't high school is that my students just aren't good enough to answer in essay form. Most ...

Continuity of Lessons -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 18 May 2005
Dear Dr. Zack, Many of the students we work with are corporate employees with hectic schedules. It's sometimes difficult, if not impossible for them to find the time for lessons, despite their ...

ESL School Operation -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 10 May 2005
Hello Dr. Yanni, I have learned and taken a lot of advantage from your website. It has been really helpfull for my husband and I as we teach English privately. However, after a lot of research ...

Multi-Level Teaching -- Dr. Yanni Zack- ESL Tips and Strategies -- 1 May 2005
Dear Dr.Zack, My name is Miss Ameena, I'm writing you from Egypt .I am teaching adult students an English course, I'm teaching different levels for the time being. My major problem is that I ...

Classroom Teaching Strategies -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 28 April 2005
Dear Dr. Yanni Zack. Greetings! I saw your website and I'm impressed with you particularly about your achivements as an educator that's why I dont hesitate to write you and ask some ...

Student Evaluations of Teachers -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 28 April 2005
Robert Perry Asks: I am an ESL lecturer in Korea. I have received very high evaluations from my students in the past but this last semester a few classes gave me some poor evaluations. These poor ...

Paragraph Writing -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 25 April 2005
Dear Dr. Zack, I teach an advanced ESL Writing Class and I will be introducing the topic of Paragraph Writing to my ESL Students. Could you explain the different types of Written Paragraph structures ...

Developing Students' Listening Skills and Comprehension -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 20 April 2005
I am trying to find ways to integrate music. I do cloze activities with songs I play but I want to find other ways of doing listening comprehension. Any ideas? Thanks, Carl Thank you for a great ...

Teaching Adjectives and Adverbs -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 18 April 2005
Dear Dr. Zack, How can I teach my students the difference between an adjective and an adverb? Thanks, Joseph Dear Joseph, Thank you for a very good question. I would explain to the students that an ...
help on some classroom games -- JENNY IVO DILTON -- 27 August 2005
hello Dr zack, please i woulld like to get some tips from you about some classroom games on esl. thanks kissob

Teaching Present, Past and Continuous Verb Tenses -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 18 April 2005
Dear Dr. Zack, Can you please give me some advice on how to explain to beginning level students the concept of Present, Past and Continuous verb tenses? Thanks for your advice Richard Dear Richard, ...

Teaching prepositions -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 17 April 2005
Question: What is a good technique to use when teaching Prepositions? Dr. Yanni Zack Says: When teaching prepositions to students, I would use both body language and TPR (Total Physical Response). ...

Problems with discipline -- Dr. Yanni Zack -- 17 April 2005
Question: I am having trouble with discipline and classroom management in my classroom. Any advice? Dr Yanni Zack Says: Classroom discipline is very important in order to have an effective learning ...