Information Gap Activity

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas Different Types of ESA Lessons If every single lesson that we undertook with our students was a straight arrow ESA lesson then it is quite possible that the students would be able to predict what is going to come up next. Whilst this might be good for the lower level students, it could potentially become a little bit boring for our higher level students. Harmer considered this and his response was to generate two other types of ESA lesson that we can use to try and generate a little bit more interest. Table of Contents Watch the video about this topic Are you ready to teach English as a foreign language? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! Watch the video about this...  [Read more]

Sun, 06 Jan 2019 Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas 7 Awesome Ideas for Business English Classes Liven up your business English classes and encourage high student talk time with these fun and creative activities. Table of Contents 1. Negotiations 2. Telephone call role-plays 3. Yearly comparison information gap 4. Business diaries – arranging a meeting 5. Dragon's Den/Shark Tank 6. Tell me about your company 7. Analyzing charts and graphs Listen to this blog post Do you want to teach business English? Related Articles: 1. Negotiations In pairs students role-play a negotiation. Each side will be given a sheet listing demands and concessions. Each side of the negotiation is awarded points for the type of concessions they get from the other side. For example, if one side manages to...  [Read more]

7 ideas for business English classes The activities provided in this graphic allow students to use English in ways that areinteresting, fun and relevant to their needs as business English learners. In ‘Negotiations’ students get to role-play a negotiation between two sides, earning points for each success they have in negotiating with the other side. Telephone role-plays are a great way to practice speaking to another person without the non-verbal clues that usually assist face-to-face communication. Comparison information gap activities are good for getting students to use English to find out particular information they need from another person, an important communicative skill needed by many business English learners. Arranging meetings is a good...  [Read more]

Fri, 17 Jun 2022 Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas The ESA Methodology of Teaching - Sample ESA Boomerang Lesson In this blog post, we will take a look at a typical example of a boomerang lesson. Table of Contents Watch the video about this topic We start with an engage phase. Are you ready to teach English as a foreign language? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! Watch the video about this topic First we will recap the structure E  A1  S  A2 We start with an engage phase. Here the students are just going to have a discussion about jobs, what happens at interviews and so on and so forth. During that engage phase what we would hope to do is to elicit some useful language...  [Read more]

The ESA Methodology of Teaching - The Study Phase   This video is part of our ESA Methodology series. The ESA methodology consists of three stages. In this series, we look at the individual purposes of each stage and typical activities for each stage. This second video introduces the study phase of ESA. The purpose of this phase is to cover the actual teaching of the lesson and to check the understanding of that material.The second stage or phase of the lesson is known as the study phase and really the purpose of this phase is to cover the actual teaching of the lesson and to check understanding of that material. Typically in an ESA lesson, the study phase will have two parts. The first phase of the study is to cover the actual teaching component in what's known as the board work...  [Read more]

Productive and Receptive Skills in the ESL Classroom - Speaking Skills - Study Phase   Once we're satisfied that all the students have been engaged and that they've been given the opportunity to say something, we can move on to our study phase. Here, it may be necessary or useful to actually pre-teach some gaps in knowledge that have been shown from the engage phase and those gaps in knowledge may include actual grammar structures or indeed useful vocabulary and it's very important that, before we move on to doing any forms of activity, we check their understanding of this material. So, we need to do some study exercises. It's also very useful if you leave this information up on the board through all that study period. Those study activities can just be the normal types of gap fills...  [Read more]

Lesson Plan TEFL Check out tefl tesol about Lesson Plan TEFL and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts C.V. - Australia said: Accuracy and Fluency ActivitiesNowadays, how to communicate successfully in the English language has become more significant than reading and writing. For most people, the importance of producing messages effectively and to negotiate meaning is essential. People communicate for various reasons. They want to listen to something, they are interested in what is being said, they want to say something and/ or they have some communicative purposes. It is the teacher?s...  [Read more]

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How to Implement The ESA Approach in Your Classroom Teaching a real class, first, we need to mention the rapport between teachers and students. What makes a good teacher and a good learner are tend to be "student-centered" class than "teacher-centered", which means teachers' talking time is less than students'. Being a good teacher will always remind and encourage learners about their learning motivations and interests. Table of Contents Lesson Planning ESA Method Patterns Choice of Activities in the ESA Lesson Body Language Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Crystal D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the...  [Read more]

Lesson Planning - Part 7 - Lesson Plan Example - Activate Phase   So, having elicited this particular structure, what I'm now able to do is to move on to the actual study activities. Typically, they will be in the form of worksheets to check that the students actually understand this information. So, I might prepare three activities. They may not do them all but, for example, I could prepare these three study activities. So, the first one is going to be a fairly straightforward matching activity, where perhaps they match the subject to its correct verb "to be" in that part of the sentence. The second one is going to be a gap fill. For example, I might use this verb here and ask them to complete a sentence using that verb, so that I can check that any spelling changes that take...  [Read more]

7 ideas for business English classes   Liven up your business English classes and encourage high student talking time with these fun and creative activities. NEGOTIATIONS In pairs students role-play a negotiation. Each side will be given a sheet listing demands and concessions. Each side of the negotiation is awarded points for the type of concessions they get from the other side. For example, if one side manages to get a 25% discount, they get 10 points and the other side gets 0. TELEPHONE CALL ROLE-PLAYS Telephone role-plays can be used with a variety of different topics such as leaving and taking a message, placing an order, arranging a meeting, making a complaint etc. The main point is to give students the chance to practice communicating in English without the visual clues...  [Read more]

The ESA Methodology of Teaching - Sample ESA Lesson   Now an example of a straight arrow ESA lesson for our engage phase. What we're going to do is to show the students a video of animals and they are going to say what they like about those animals and try to create a list of some more. So, remember what we're trying to do here is to get the students talking and thinking in English. We're using a typical engage activity, which is to create a list and we try to make sure that all the students have been involved in some way in creating those lists. Moving on to the study phase, the first part is going to be the board work and the teacher is going to try to elicit from the students what each of those animals can and can't do. Typically, what the students will say is just single words,...  [Read more]

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The Importance of Utilizing Different Roles in The Classroom Education is one of the most important bricks at the foundation of every society and high-quality education can only be achieved with the help of well-prepared teachers who care about the learning of their students. A teacher should not only master and constantly be up to date with the changes in the field of the subject he/she is teaching but also be able to convey his/her message in such a way that the students understand and enjoy. Table of Contents Choice of Activities Lesson Stages Grouping Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Catalina T. Please note that this blog post...  [Read more]

Fri, 27 Mar 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Top Tips for Designing an Effective Lesson Plan Teachers who want to have good performance in class should have good lesson planning. Teachers should answer these questions before preparing lesson planning: what am I teaching? Whom am I teaching? How will I teach? And how will I know if the students understand? Table of Contents Reasons to plan Lesson Components Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Phuong T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Reasons to plan Writing a lesson plan is very important for all teachers. A lesson plan helps the teacher to keep on target during the...  [Read more]

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Lesson Planning: The Roles of Study and Activate Stages The most helpful teaching strategy that I learned about in this course was ESA lesson planning. An ESA lesson is one that includes three distinct stages: Engage, Study, and Activate. A successful lesson should include all three components, beginning with an engaging stage and concluding with an activated stage. I plan to use this framework for my own lesson planning because it is flexible, yet has enough structure to establish students' expectations for how they will learn during every class period. I especially like the distinction between study and activate because it helps me understand the role of different types of activities in a lesson. Table of Contents Types of...  [Read more]

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How to Foster Motivation in the Classroom A motivated student is a student who is eager to learn, and that means they are much more likely to absorb and retain what they are being taught than if they were disengaged or disinterested. This is why it is so important for teachers to foster motivation in the classroom and engage their students to be open to learning before the start of each lesson. Table of Contents Methods Plan Considering Students' Age ESA Challenge Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Lindsay G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Methods There are many different...  [Read more]

Thu, 16 Jun 2022 Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas The ESA Methodology of Teaching - Sample Straight Arrow ESA Lesson In this blog post, we will look at an actual example of an ESA straight arrow lesson plan. We will include examples of the activities used and their purpose. You can adapt this plan to a variety of other uses and levels. Table of Contents Watch the video about this topic Engage phase Study Phase Activate phase Are you ready to teach English as a foreign language? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! Watch the video about this topic Straight arrow ESA Lesson PlanClass level: ElementaryNumber of students: 8 Lesson aim: After the lesson the students should be able to look at an animal and...  [Read more]

Mon, 17 Jun 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Computer-Aided Language Learning Computers are becoming more and more common in the classroom. While they should not be relied upon as the main or sole source of teaching, they can be very helpful for students and teachers in the classroom. One of the complaints about Computer-aided language learning (CALL) is that computers can be costly and it requires many of them to teach, but that does not have to be the case. In fact, computers can be cost-effective in that almost all other teaching equipment and their features can be used on one or a few computers. Part I of this essay will discuss the advantages CALL has over other forms of technology. Part II will discuss the useful activities and applications of CALL in the classroom. Table...  [Read more]

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas Accuracy vs. Fluency When Speaking In this blog post, we will consider some important educational background theoretical and practical knowledge. The planning of a lesson for speaking skills (one of the two productive skills) requires us to look first at the ideas of accuracy versus fluency. Table of Contents Watch the video about this topic Are you ready to teach English as a foreign language? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! Watch the video about this topic We will start by defining our terms.1) Speaking accuracy relates to the correct usage of grammar and vocabulary.2) Speaking fluency relates to our ability to continue speaking without any interruption, such as...  [Read more]

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Reasons Why Teaching Productive Skills is The Cornerstone of Communication For this Summative Task, I will be discussing the topic of teaching productive skills in the classroom. As opposed to receptive skills learned previously (reading and listening), productive skills focus on speaking and writing. Regarding writing, this function of language education is often the most neglected in the TEFL world, due firstly, to the fact that teachers and students don't want to monopolize class time with quiet individually driven work. Writing skills are mostly practiced in the form of homework which can often be neglected and completed without necessary focus and effort. Concerning speaking, this function requires a higher deal of language...  [Read more]

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 Shirin Sophy TEFL Information Alumni Experiences How to Structure your Study Phase To Target Productive Skills In today's cosmopolitan world, the noticeable necessity of mastery over foreign languages apart from one's native language is motivating manifold people to consider improving this particular ability which results in an increasing demand for language learning courses and services. Among the major purposes of language learning, communication and language production are definitely much more measurable and outstanding, specifically through productive skills, including writing and speaking. In terms of pedagogy, the following is a suggested procedure that can be taken into account while teaching productive skills after the engagement phase is applied and...  [Read more]

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How to Decrease Teacher Speaking Time Traditionally, education in the classroom has largely employed a teacher-centred approach. Focus is on the teacher who talks, rather than on the students, who exclusively listen and are discouraged from collaboration. Table of Contents Student-Centered Approach The ESA Method Peer Feedback Corrections Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Christie T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Student-Centered Approach In recent years, however, more emphasis has been given to student-centred education: instructors share classroom talk time with...  [Read more]

Tue, 03 Dec 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Games as a Teaching Method for Adult ESL Students When we start to learn new things as children, we tend to do that with the help of games. That is why in many classrooms of young learners, we find games to be a highly popular medium amongst educators. It is a way of absorbing and processing a piece of information in a fun and educational way. But when we grow up, we somehow forget the necessity of games in the classroom. Table of Contents Ice Breaker Ways to Include Games into Your Lesson What Games to Choose? Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Anna B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or...  [Read more]

Thu, 30 May 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The Benefits of the ESA Methodology Over the course of this certification program, I learned an abundance of information and methodologies, but none as important as the ESA outline; the ESA methodology is, undoubtedly, the best thing I've learned from my TEFL course. The ESA procedure provides a myriad of benefits, engaging learners in a series of dynamic activities aimed to create a seamless and effective educational environment. Due to the adept and fluid nature of the ESA methodology, it is easily the most important tool taught to me throughout this program and something I foresee utilizing often in the near future. Table of Contents Engage Stage Study Stage Activate Stage Are you ready to learn new teaching methods? Take a TEFL...  [Read more]

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How to Approach Lesson Planning to Develop Independent Problem Solving Abstraction is in essence, the formation of broader, and more difficult and subjective systems from inputs. It is a concept that can be applied to the four language skills: reading, listening, speaking, and writing. As an idea becomes more abstract and subjective, it requires more information and becomes more difficult to answer. Some of the easiest and least abstract pieces of language are simple Yes/No statements and questions. "Do you like ice-cream?" "Yes, I do." "No, I don't." A more difficult question might be, "Who likes ice-cream?" More difficult still would be, "Why do you like ice-cream?" A simple, but by no means an exhaustive list of abstraction moving...  [Read more]

Thu, 25 Jul 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas ESA Lesson Planning As we all know, an ESA class means Engage, Study and Activate phase, which is widely used in most classes.in the class, we teachers pay attention to how to attract students, how to motivate students, how to make the point clear and easy to understand, and how to take the opportunity to use it. All of these are we need to make sure that play well in the classroom. therefore, the ESA class is an effective method to use in the class. Table of Contents Listen to this blog post: Engage Stage Study Stage Variants Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sweet Zh. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily...  [Read more]

Mon, 12 Aug 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Lesson Planning as a Medium of Effective Learning A lesson plan is the instructor's road map of what students need to learn and how it will be done effectively during class time. Then, you can design appropriate learning activities and develop strategies to obtain feedback on student learning. Having a carefully constructed lesson plan for each 3-hour lesson allows you to enter the classroom with more confidence and maximizes your chance of having a meaningful learning experience with your students. A successful lesson plan addresses and integrates three key components: Learning Objectives, Learning Activities, Assessment to check for student understanding. Table of Contents Listen to this blog post: Goals Benefits General...  [Read more]

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Understanding the Purpose of Lesson Planning When entering the realm of teaching, lesson planning is a very beneficial skill to have. Lesson planning is done in many different ways; many educators create their format over the years that cater to their teaching styles. However, the typical lesson planning methodologies include ESA (Engage, Study, Activate) and PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production). For this task, we will be diving into the ESA methodology. Table of Contents Engage your students Lead them through the study process Help students to "switch on" their skills Other Techniques Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Gabrielle R....  [Read more]

Thu, 11 Jul 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Lesson Design: ESA in Practice For this task, I have selected the course structure. As a teacher, a lot goes into the daily operation of the classroom. They need to consider their classroom setup, their management style, and the students they will teach. However, one very important facet of teaching is lesson design and teaching students appropriate standards to help them in their English acquisition. Table of Contents Advantages of the ESA Methodology Engage Phase Activate Stage Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Heejeong K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Advantages of...  [Read more]

Wed, 27 May 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How Kindergarteners Learn English as a Foreign Language Kindergarten students are at the "Beginner" phase of learning English. Therefore, you must treat the students and the learning experience in a fun and appropriate manner. Being kind, friendly, and entertaining is vital for young learners and your rapport as a teacher. Building a good rapport is essential to truly provide the best English course and helping the Kindergarteners progress throughout the semester. Since the students are so young and open to learning, talking only easy, simple words are beneficial to them at the moment. Do not go into further detail in the time being. They are beginners and need to learn the absolute basics before going into further detail about...  [Read more]

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas How I Enhanced My Teaching Skills With a TEFL Course The best thing I learned from the TEFL course cannot be explained in one thought or topic sentence because it was significant. However, for this essay, I will narrow it down to one concept. I am an experienced licensed teacher from the United States, but there is always more to learn. In the United States, I would have one or two students in my class each year that were not native English speakers. So, the idea of teaching a classroom of students where all the learners are not native speakers is new to me. I was unfamiliar with ESA's acronym (Engage, Study, Activate) until I took this course, and I appreciate this concept the most. ESA was the best thing I...  [Read more]