Best Resources to Teach English as a Second Language

There are several ways to teach your English students that help them succeed. In today’s post, you will learn several different resources to ensure your student is reaching their ESL goals. This post will address listening to music, playing group games and activities, engaging in  one-on-one games and activities, and finding online learning resources. 

Listen to Music

If you want to try a different approach to teaching English, listening to music can be a fun way to teach your students. Listening to music can be an easy way for students to remember and pronounce certain words better. Different songs can also help teach new vocabulary, verb tenses, and idioms. Below are some examples of songs that can be used to teach English in a fun way for beginner, intermediate, and advanced learners. 

Beginner: "My Favorite Things" by Julie Andrews

• The learning component in "My Favorite Things" can help students with their general vocabulary. 

Intermediate: "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic

• The learning component in "Counting Stars" is verb tense. Students can present, future, present progressive, and past progressive verb tenses through this song. 

Advanced: "Someone Like You" by Adele

• The learning component in "Someone Like You" is English idioms. 

Group Games and Activities

Group games and activities are great ways to keep students engaged. Here are some games and activities to use in your classroom to help improve speaking skills, vocabulary, and pronunciation. 

Board race is a game that is best played in a group and can work well across all age groups. To play, first you will need a white board then split your group into two teams and give each team a different colored marker. One team takes one side of the white board and the other team takes the other side of the white board. Then, write a topic at the top of the board and each team gets in a line on their side. Students will then write words related to the topic in the form of a relay race. Teams will get a point for every word that is spelled correctly and related to the topic. This is the perfect game to practice vocabulary and spelling while having some fun!

Mime is another great game for groups or slightly bigger classrooms. To play mime, the instructor writes out actions on pieces of paper and puts them into a bag or bowl. An example could be "taking a shower." Then, one at a time, each student goes to the front of the class and picks from the bag. Whatever action they pick, they will act out. Whichever student guesses the action correctly gets to go up and pick/act out the next action. 

One-on-One Games and Activities

If you are looking for new games or activities to use in your one-on-one sessions, this section is for you. Keep reading to find more ways to enhance your students’ English speaking skills. 

Two Truths and a Lie is a game that can be played one-on-one. To play this game, one person starts by stating two truths about themself and one lie. The other person will then try to guess which statement is the lie. This game is a good way to practice speaking skills and help your students get to know each other better.

Heads Up is a game that can be played in a one-on-one session. This is a great game to practice speaking skills. To play this game, the teacher shows the student a series of words within a category, such as fruits. The student then picks one of the words without telling the teacher and describes the word. The teacher tries to guess which of the words the student is describing.

Online Learning Resources

Online learning can include lessons and activities, podcasts, articles, and videos. There are several online resources when looking for the best ways to enhance your classroom instruction. Here are some you can use in your ESL lessons. 

• Rachels English: Rachel’s English is an online American English pronunciation resource to help non-native speakers improve their English skills. The Rachel’s English YouTube channel provides over 1,000 videos to help you with job interviews, everyday conversation, and many other topics. 
• Breaking News English: Breaking News English a a website that provides an abundance of articles for English learners. The articles are listed as "easier" or "harder" based on your level. 
• BBC Learning English: BBC is a learning website that provides lessons, courses, quizzes, games, and other learning resources that are split up by level to help you learn English at your appropriate level.

Takeaway

When it comes to finding the "best resources" for ESL learning some sources may work better for others. For example some sources may be better for beginners and some sources may be better for advanced learners. Through listening to music, trying new games and activities and online learning resources teachers can continue to provide the best resources for their ESL students. Overall teaching and learning English as a second language does not have to be difficult and you can even have some fun!