Teaching beginner students early on about ‘House, Room and Furniture’ vocabulary is important, if students are to learn to communicate in English. Not every EFL/ESL teacher thinks about ‘House, Room and Furniture’ vocabulary being important so soon, but it is. After all, think about it. Just to have a basic conversation an EFL/ESL student wants…
When I was an EFL/ESL teacher in Thailand, there were some things I always taught a new EFL/ESL class. How to give directions in English easily. After all, most of my students were pretty bad at it. They either didn’t know the vocabulary and grammar, or were so shy they didn’t want to explain correctly,…
Many EFL/ESL students have problems when it comes to writing a persuasive letter or e-mail in English. Teaching how to write persuasively doesn’t have to be difficult though, in fact it can be fun. If your EFL/ESL students are having problems learning how to write persuasive letters, e-mails or even reports, follow this free easy…
Many adults who learn EFL (English as a Foreign Language) or ESL (English as a Second Language) have problems figuring out how to use propositions correctly. Students who are Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese especially have a lot of problems with prepositions, as the prepositions they use in their own language are completely different than in…
This is a reprint of a story I wrote several years ago, when I used to teach English in Thailand. It is still relevant. As an EFL teacher in Thailand, I’m always looking for interesting ways to get my Thai students speaking more English. Introducing news topics into the EFL/ESL classroom can be a great…
Teaching EFL students subjects other than English, in English, can sometimes be a challenge. Unlike ESL (English as a Second Language) students who hear English all day because they live in an English speaking country, EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students do not. Most of the time, the only English they hear is either…
When you teach English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL), one of the topics most teachers eventually cover is “Meeting People”. I taught a new corporate EFL class in Bangkok, Thailand on the subject of “Meeting People” and I used a lesson plan I created for this purpose. This…
As an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher in Thailand, one thing I always taught early on to all my beginner level students is travel and transportation vocabulary. Talking about getting on a boat, taking a train or going on a plane journey is imperative if beginners are going to be able to hold…
Sponsor a Child Overseas and Watch Your EFL Students Be Fascinated with Geography The secret to teaching World Geography to kids of almost any age is to make it engaging for them and also something in which they can actively participate. For a wonderful Geography lesson plan for children between the ages of 8 and…
Lesson Plan: How to Teach Interview Skills to EFL/ESL Students in Thailand As an eight-year veteran of teaching English (EFL) in Thailand, I’ve noticed how most EFL/ESL students don’t have good interview skills. Having good interview skills is important as they’re used in everything from interviews for school and university places to job interviews, interviewing…
At a TEFL conference several years ago, I read several studies showing teaching EFL (English as a Foreign Language) to students of any age is even more effective if done through games. Since then, I’ve incorporated games into most of my classes and seen a big difference in my students’ attention in class and…
Small talk is something many EFL students have problems with. Often they’re shy when speaking English so their minds go blank when they meet a native English speaker and are expected to speak. Small talk however can be taught and, every time I have a new class of adult EFL students, I always teach…
One of the subjects an EFL/ESL teacher often struggles with is not only how to get students to understand the Five Ws (Who, What, Where, When and Why) and the One H (How), but also how to answer questions headed by one correctly. That is why I created a simple, but fun, free EFL/ESL lesson…
Teaching English (EFL/ESL) in Thailand, one thing I’ve noticed is my students’ inability to understand native English speakers because of the slang and idioms we all use. Even my highest level EFL business students, who are fluent in perfectly precise English, struggle to understand what I say if I use slang or idioms. That’s…
Teaching EFL English in Thailand, I sometimes struggle to try to get my students to write something in English that’s interesting. Most EFL/ESL students don’t like writing in English because it’s difficult for them. They also don’t know what to write about and often try to make it sound more ‘professional’, which in turn,…
One of the classes I always enjoyed teaching to my EFL students in Thailand the most was learning how to use ‘Imperatives’ or commands. Imperatives are usually relatively easy for most beginner or low-intermediate EFL/ESL students to learn but making it fun, for the teacher, can be a bit more difficult. That’s why I devised…
Most Thai students, but particularly children who are beginners, find it difficult to learn adjectives and to understand where to place them in the sentence. English puts the adjective before the noun. Thai, on the other hand, like some other languages, places the noun first and the adjective second (eg: ‘car red’) – confusing for…
In the decade I taught EFL/ESL (English as a Foreign Language/English as a Second Language) in Asia, I noticed how much my students liked talking about shopping. Getting EFL/ESL students to talk is often difficult so, if you can find a subject they’re passionate about, it makes teaching EFL that much easier. I designed…
Teaching EFL/ESL in Thailand, I have noticed most of my EFL/ESL students have problems wtih word stress. Even the high-level students are not sure where the correct stress should be on words and, especially when giving presentations, their delivery is flat and lifeless. So, I decided to show them an example of a good…
Some of the best and most fluent English speakers I’ve met in Thailand have been Thais who taught themselves English listening to English language pop music. Children all over the world love music and particularly pop music, so using it in an EFL/ESL class can be a successful, and fun, way to teach English…
One of the main problems EFL/ESL students in Thailand have is learning new English vocabulary. Often, their grammar skills will be quite good, but without a rapidly increasing vocabulary, communication skills stay low. A fun way to improve your EFL/ESL students’ English vocabulary is by playing hidden object games (HOGs) on a computer. While they may…
Teaching new EFL vocabulary is usually boring, for teachers and students alike. It’s difficult for a teacher to come up with a lesson plan that’s fun, and it’s difficult for students to remember new vocabulary because it’s so boring to learn it. So, I devised a fun, free EFL lesson plan that incorporates a game…
One thing many EFL/ESL teachers in Thailand get frustrated with is getting their corporate students talking. That’s why this free corporate EFL/ESL lesson plan on a debate on globalization is so much fun. It gets your students thinking, it gets your students working as a team and, most importantly, it gets them talking. Follow…