Lesson content to Teach ESL Online (part 2)

In our previous Teach ESL online post we show you how to prepare and launch our lesson content for your private ESL lessons. In this post we  focus on how to teach it.

We have released a set of 75 (and expanding) lesson plans designed for ESL teachers to run their own private lessons and tutorials. If you would like access to our library you can request an account on our Home page. Our lesson content is designed to minimize your prep time. Each plan provides you and your students with a complete (45 minute to 1 hour) lesson. Of course, as a teacher, you will always need adapt the lesson to your students’ needs, interests and current energy levels. All of our lessons are in a professional, presentation style format.
We would like to walk you through some slides from our Ed-Ing-1 lesson plan.  Our Ed-Ing lesson plan is designed to teach students the difference between -ed and -ing adjectives.

 Warm-Up: how much does my student already understand?

Most of our lesson content begins with a warm-up. In the warm-up section we want to discover how much target language the student already knows, to determine the appropriate pace for the lesson. If the student answers confidently and easily, then you should consider jumping past the warm-up and grammar explanation slides. If the student is struggling, you’ll know that you need to take your time building concepts.

Grammar Explanation: guiding principles

In the grammar explanation slide, we want to be sure the student is aware of the grammar principles guiding the lesson.
Often, we find it useful for the student to read the sentences presented. In this slide we want to affirm that:

• A person is bored because something (or somebody else) is boring.
• A person is boring if they make someone else feel bored.

Every ESL teacher will have their own way of reinforcing this principle: “Do you know people who are boring? Do you know movies that are boring? What makes you bored?”

Exercises: controlled to freer practice

We use a variety of exercises that are designed for live conversation classes. These exercises move from controlled activities to others which allow greater freedom to use the target language. You can use the exercises as a barometer to gauge how much of the target language has been absorbed by the student.

If the student conveys adequate proficiency, you can expand on the exercises with follow-on prompts. In this exercise, for example: “What do you find shocking on TV today? What movies have shocked you recently? What was shocking in the movie?”
We often provide wrap-up summaries before the final set of exercises and freer practice. These are a suitable opportunity to review the target language and determine whether the student has enough knowledge to move on to freer practice.
We complete the majority of our lesson content with freer practice. For example, in our Ed-Ing-1 lesson we ask students to make their own sentences using: Daniel, tired/tiring and meeting.

We hope that you enjoy using our lesson content to bring life to your lessons and tutorials. As always, you can get in touch with us with comments, questions and suggestions!