Using English Club for Teaching in the ESL Classroom
In general, EC is divided into the following main sections:
ESL Teachers Lounge
This section is designed exclusively for teachers and consists of:
- TEFL Notice Board, including Teacher Discussion, ESL Projects (to set up inter-school projects with other teachers worldwide), Job Offers and Teacher Resumes.
ESL Lesson Plans: activities, worksheets, tips and ideas to help you in planning your lessons.
TEFL Articles: essays and articles related to the teaching of English.
TEFL Training: advice & resources for prospective or existing ESL teachers, including information on tests and examinations.
ESL Administration: tools, tips and resources for school managers.
This interactive section is for students and teachers. For teachers, it's a place to meet students and other teachers, and somewhere you might like to send your own students who will improve their English by "doing". It contains:
- ESL Forums, where students and teachers can meet and find penpals or discuss a whole variety of topics online. The forum moderators try to make participation as easy and enjoyable as possible. The Talking Point forums have new monthly topics tied in to homework and accompanying lesson plans.
ESL Chat, where teachers and students can meet and chat in English. You'll find people from all over the world chatting here 24-hours a day, either in the main chat room or in person-to-person conversations.
ESL Games, where you can find a variety of English games such as Hangman or crosswords that you can encourage your students to play.
ESL Quizzes, where your students can test their knowledge of English.
ESL Jokes, where you can find a collection of jokes, some organized by level, for possible use in class.
Although designed for students, many of these pages may be useful to you as a source of materials and ideas for explanations:
- Micro skills: grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation
Macro skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing
Special subject areas such as Business English, Young Learners or ESL Exams
ESL Resources
In this section you can find EC-recommended products on sale that are of value to teachers as well as students. All products can be delivered to you anywhere in the world.
ESL World
This section includes many countries of the world, with useful ESL information about each country. For example, you can find the latest news in English about a particular country (useful for reading or discussion lessons). Or you can search for English language schools in any country for English study or jobs.
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In addition, you may like the following free resources:
ESL Progress Newsletter: you receive this newsletter for students and teachers every month by email when you join EC free here.
7 Secrets for ESL Learners: delivered to your email box. Although designed for students, many teachers find these regular notes by email useful in class. You can subscribe free here.
ESL Webguide: a directory of useful ESL links here.
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There are thousands of pages at English Club, and hundreds of things for you to do. Here are just a few examples of special things you may want to do or get your students to do:
Set up your own English Club:
http://www.englishclub.com/english-club.htm
Set up an email project with another school:
http://www.englishclub.com/tefl/viewforum.php?f=1
Listen to the news in English (and read the transcripts, with word explanations):
http://www.englishclub.com/listening/news.htm
Read This Week in History (an event from the past every week, makes for useful and often topical classroom material):
http://www.englishclub.com/thisweek.php
See a new cartoon every day:
http://www.englishclub.com/esl-jokes/daily-cartoon.htm
Test a student's level in English:
http://www.englishclub.com/esl-exams/levels-test-wc.htm
Learn more about TOEFL and how to prepare your students:
http://www.englishclub.com/esl-exams/ets-toefl.htm
Get ideas for your students on how to learn English:
http://www.englishclub.com/learn-english-how.htm
The best way to see what EC has to offer you is to have a good look round. When you find the sections and pages that most interest you, you can bookmark them to make it easier to come back to them each time.
Good luck in your teaching!
Josef Essberger
Founder
English Club ~ because people speak English
PS: also at our sister site for teachers, TEFL Net:
Ask a question about teaching at the TEFL Help Desk:
http://www.tefl.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=2
Make your own worksheets online with the Worksheet Generator:
http://www.tefl.net/esl-lesson-plans/wo ... -generator
