Question: I am having trouble with discipline and classroom management in my classroom. Any advice? Dr Yanni Zack Says: Classroom discipline is very important in order to have an effective learning ...

Question: What is a good technique to use when teaching Prepositions? Dr. Yanni Zack Says: When teaching prepositions to students, I would use both body language and TPR (Total Physical Response). ...

Dear Dr. Zack, Can you please give me some advice on how to explain to beginning level students the concept of Present, Past and Continuous verb tenses? Thanks for your advice Richard Dear Richard, ...

Dear Dr. Zack, How can I teach my students the difference between an adjective and an adverb? Thanks, Joseph Dear Joseph, Thank you for a very good question. I would explain to the students that an ...

I am trying to find ways to integrate music. I do cloze activities with songs I play but I want to find other ways of doing listening comprehension. Any ideas? Thanks, Carl Thank you for a great ...

Dear Dr. Zack, I teach an advanced ESL Writing Class and I will be introducing the topic of Paragraph Writing to my ESL Students. Could you explain the different types of Written Paragraph structures ...

Robert Perry Asks: I am an ESL lecturer in Korea. I have received very high evaluations from my students in the past but this last semester a few classes gave me some poor evaluations. These poor ...

Dear Dr. Yanni Zack. Greetings! I saw your website and I'm impressed with you particularly about your achivements as an educator that's why I dont hesitate to write you and ask some techniques to ...

Dear Dr.Zack, My name is Miss Ameena, I'm writing you from Egypt .I am teaching adult students an English course, I'm teaching different levels for the time being. My major problem is that I almost ...

Hello Dr. Yanni, I have learned and taken a lot of advantage from your website. It has been really helpfull for my husband and I as we teach English privately. However, after a lot of research I'm ...

Dear Dr. Zack, Many of the students we work with are corporate employees with hectic schedules. It's sometimes difficult, if not impossible for them to find the time for lessons, despite their ...

It didn't take but a few days after beginning work as an TESOL instructor here in Thailand to realize one fact about Thai students: cheating is a viable option in the land of Thai. At my school, not ...

Dr. My teacher say that advise is a verb and advice is a noun. Do you know examples to use each one. Thank you! Michael

10 to 12 years old from Korea. tnx

Hello, I've been teaching English to English Major students in China for 6 months. They have all done at least 6 years of English prior to University and I am aware that this learning did not include ...

Hello again, Dr Zack, Just another question on behalf of myself and the other foreign and chinese-english teachers in my school. The students are 19-21 year olds and about the worst thing they do is ...

When I attended a TESOL teacher training program in Thailand last year, I was appalled by the minor importance attached to this important subject. Here's my own defense of grammar that will hopefully ...

While teaching the present progressive tense to my Thai M6 students (equivalent to seniors in the the US), I decided to try another approach to the boring rote of teaching presenting present ...

I've a slow learner student/12 years old, well behave male. The rest of the group/9 seem to be learning ok. Any feedback welcome. Da

Is the idea of an English Corner to get the students to speak English or the foreign teachers to answer questions about whether they like Chinese food? I'm thinking the former but what happens with ...

I teach at a middle school and a high school in Korea. At the high school students study agriculture as well. I'm no expert - prior to this position I taught English at a hagwon in Korea and adult ...

Any suggestion for beginner teachers. ie lessons... Jeff-Heading to Korea

I'm new to teaching. Teaching in Korea kids could be very demanding and stressful. Keep asking myself: whether this job is the right one for me. Thank you.

I realize there are money concerns for those wanting to start a language lab. I've thought about the issue a lot the last few days, and I've come to a conclusion: the most rudimetary lab is better ...

I'm trying a new approach to one of my classes. It's a form of 'reverse-engineering', a process of taking a completed system apart to learn how it's put together. I've started the term by developing ...

preparation: 1- I get to know each name of the students 2- have a plan b in case they already know the lesson to move to another lesson-topic 3- get my materials ready start: 1- have all the students ...

I have to teach conversational English to some coworkers of mine, but I don't want to steer them wrong. How should I begin or assess their english proficiency? I was advised to treat their English ...

I think my students rather be in disney. Any tricks to make my class less boring. Students are 6, 8 years old. Thanks you, Ted

Hello. I'm trying to put together an English language carnival to be held at an English camp. One idea I'm toying with is a bingo game. I could use numbers like an actual bingo game. This will help ...

A few of my English Major students have been standing in for less well spoken students in other departments pretending to be that student and doing the Oral English exam for them so they will get a ...

Dear Dr. Zack, I´d like to hear your opinion on how feasible it is for a non-native speaker of English to get a job as an ESL Teacher in the USA. I´m a 36 year-old Brazilian man and have been ...

Hello, I could really do with some advice from fellow ESl teachers. I am currently teaching in Seoul, South korea in a school with students aged 7 - 17. I taught for a year in Daejeon with similiar ...

Hello all, Anyone could give me an example of how to teach adults English. Thanks, Nat

SIR, GOOD DAY TO YOU. THIS SUMMER HOLIDAY, MY SCHOOL NEEDS ME TO GIVE SOME LESSONS TO THE CHINESE TEACHERS HERE ON HOW TO HANDLE THE ORAL AND LISTENING ENGLISH. INFACT, IT IS MY FIRST TIME TO DEAL ...

I'm thinking of giving up ESL for the time being. Yes, I think it's time to head back to the states and earn a master's in TESOL. You see, I've realized (finally) that, at least in teaching language, ...

Hello Dr. Zack and partners, I would like to tutor Latin American adults beginners. Groups of one to one. Would you be so kind to give me a few tips. Thank you! Collin

10 Kids 6 to 8 years old from Mexico/Latin A. Thank you! Jeff

I've been hired to teach english.and my student wants me to teach her english grammer, vocabulary and also listening and speaking in five months. she is going to work in a company so she wants me to ...

I spoke to the training manager at a 5 star hotel if I can be train their staff. He asked me to send me a a write up and a brief CV. Can u help me as i dont know how to go about this as its my first ...

how will i tach my students how to love english? what strategies are good for slow learner? thank you very much.

Dear Dr. Yanni Zack, My name is Roy Clements and I am an English man about to teach english in Brazil for the 1st time. I was hoping you could give me some tips on how best to structure a teaching ...

I'm a Filipino tutoring English here in Suwon. For almost 4 months I've been teaching 9yrs old students, now they can read simple English. Presently I'm running out of ideas on what to do next, how ...

Hello! I've spent almost all of my ESL "life" teaching Spanish-speakers (primarily from Mexico) and will now be working with those whose home language is Korean. What are typical "things to watch ...

I thought I'd pass on this great vocabulary site which uses pictures as well as definitions and sentences to learn high level vocabulary words for the SAT/ACT. Check it out. www.picturevocabulary.com ...

Hey there, I am an experienced ESL teacher but tutoring is a little new to me. Does anybody have any tips for teaching idioms? I've tried it once but my inexperience shows. Please help!

I have just started teaching in a chinese middle school with classes between 30 - 45 students. 30 students seems ok to monitor and check feedback, but over 30 and I struggle to make sure they talk ...

i am currently doing a case study on the strategies used by an ESL student in a foreign classroom; let's say a main stream class. i really hope you could give me possible strategies that they/you do. ...

I am a public school teacher in Canada who has a Farsi-speaking student in my class. Do you know of any online resources that might provide English-Farsi language instruction, or something like a ...

Hi Everybody, My name is Wendy, I have a Florida based company that provides computer assisted audio learning solutions for the academic sector! I provide foreign language labs, ESOL labs, reading ...

What is 'motivation', anyway? I hear it mentioned a lot among my brethren where I teach. This is because our students seem to be seriously lacking in this supposedly-important attribute. When we, ...

Fellow teachers of English: Since the last three years in China, I have found some local teachers wrote some of the English letters in a very different ways. For example, they didn't correct the ...

Dear Dr Zack, I'm French and I'm taking class in USA to get a TESL certificate.For my TESL class I have to find an idea for a mini lesson. What would be a good way to teach 3rd grade students how to ...

Hi When you're teaching online, what is a good VOIP? Or is it really dependent on the broad band internet server that one's using? How will the conversation be clear? What about the instant ...

Thanks to my teaching experiences, I've learned a few things about this field that my TESOL program didn't even pretend to be interested in addressing. One thing I learned is a teacher possesses ...

Does anyone know eher I can find a copy of The Crucible in Spanish?

Here is a tip to help you develop your students' writing skills: I found that having students do daily Journal Writing is a good way to have them develop their writing styles. Journals can be used ...

Dear Readers, Several people have asked about good MA TEFL/TESOL Programs which are taught Online. One Program that I can highly recommend is the MA in TESOL program that is offered by Alliant ...

Lots of health and good times for you. Thank you for your lessons. Dan

Dear Readers of ESL Teaching Tips and Strategies: Welcome to a new year, 2006, which will be filled with new ideas and teaching strategies. First off, many have asked if having a MA in TESOL is ...

Many ESL students have difficulty in correctly using adjectives and adverbs. Here is an easy way to teach your ESL students how to correctly use adjectives and adverbs within a sentence: Adjectives ...

I thought that with the start of the New Year, I would begin by providing teachers and students with a host of different web sites which they can use in their studies and with their students. These ...

Students may need help in learning to apply reading skills to study techniques when preparing for class discussions, tests, and report writing. They can improve their comprehension if they learn to ...

A very effective way to teach ESL students is through the use of the Communicative Approach. The Communicative Approach uses everyday, easily understandable language that is presented in a ...

Best way: person to person, books, audio, tv?

The different sounds that the letter"d" takes at the end of a verb in the past tense An extract from the book: Word Power by the author of this article. The English language indicates that the action ...

Hello Dr. Zack, I was wondering how any native English speaker who never learned a second language, could teach beginners English. Do you think Dr. Zack, would it be better if a local teacher teach ...

Sometimes interesting words a phrases are right under our noses. After using it countless times on this site, a reader asked me where the term to coin a phrase came from? The verb to coin originally ...

An idiom is an expression (ie. term or phrase) whose meaning cannot be deduced from a literal definition of its parts, and instead refers to a nonliteral or figurative meaning which is only known ...

Here is a strategy you can teach to students to help them when they are taking a test. This strategy is called the Plus/Minus Test Taking Strategy. First, students should go through all of the ...

Hi Dr. Zack, This is my situation: I have been given the opportunity to teach one Adult second language learner. I would say that her level is low intermediate or simply intermediate. I can have a ...

Hello everybody, I am soon going to read Harold and Maude with a class of college students (17-18 years old). To get them into the mood of the book I would like to make an introductory lesson about ...

Hi - Desperate for some suggestions for teaching Chinese primary students (grade 3-5), beginner level. Main problem is, there are 70-75 students in each class, with fixed desks, no room to move. No ...

Are you a "relaxed homeschooler"? Have you ever wondered if spending one, two, or even more years on grammar is a meaningful use of your precious time? Have you heard that extensive grammar studies ...

This is a typical question that I receive from many new students and website visitors. My answer is clear and simple: “indeed.” Grammar is the backbone of a language and without it any single thing ...

What is an accent? An accent is the carryover of sounds from the speaker’s original language to the second language. When we are infants we literally have the ability to speak any language in the ...

Sins I am a foreigner and English is not my language I would like to tell you about how I write and read articles. When I write article I sometimes have to write them in Norwegian and translate them ...

hello Dr Zack,i'm kissob ,an esl teacher in china.one of my co-workers asked me how to use ,wasn't there? and didn't there? or if both are all correct.i was confuse,for in the sentence he used it ...

A question from Sergio Gil Rejas in Peru: I would like to know what is the difference between 'wait' and 'await'. When should I use 'wait' and 'await'? Thanks a lot and congratulations for the site. ...

Dear everyone, I am an Indonesian language teacher for western foreigners in my country, of course, Indonesia. I found it quite difficult to give reason why should one learn foreign language in ...

Can anyone suggest some good esl textbooks for ages 4-9? Thank you so much

The "creative teacher” is one who is not afraid to take risks, is willing to experiment and try new things, and is one who infuses creativity in their teaching and "thinks outside the box." This ...

Dr. Yanni, I need some help here. I teach a writing course and am covering grammar at the moment. I have some questions about a grammar problem or two, and I hope you can set me straight: 1. How ...

Here is a suggestion to help parents assist their child in learning English: Parents need to read, read, read and read to their child everyday in English. If the child is just learning English, ...

Hi...just wondering when is it the right time to teach students new vocab, and is there a bet way to do so?...thanks Also are tecniques better for certain ages? Thanks again. Gloria

I teach three different levels of adults in classes of between 6-10 students. I teach at our local community center and they have no curriculum or text books. I am basically free to do as I please ...

I'm thinking of getting a TASER to bring to my classes to "help" my students learn this stuff. Do these things have different settings like those phasers do in Star Trek? If it does have variable ...

Has anyone worked with students who are visually impaired and learning English as a second language?

Hi Dr. Yanni Zack. I am at a school here that uses the Cambridge English series of books along with a couple of other series of books. This week I went into a class of 7&8 year olds who all had a ...

Hi! I am Spanish private teacher of English and maybe I will have a new student who is a nurse and wants to learn English. She knows little English and she would like to know how to deal with foreing ...

Dear: Dr. Yanni Zack. Hi. I am a japanese, working in a preschool setting (3~5 students in a class, devided into close age groups) which has just opened few month ago. Students come to our school for ...

Aloha! If you are an American currently teaching English overseas, I would like to interview you! I am looking to get in contact with an American who teaches, or has taught within the past twelve ...

Hello, I am a new first grade teacher from Boston, MA. For the first time I am teaching students who do not speak English as their primary language. At the same time, English is the primary language ...

Hello, I am a new first grade teacher from Boston, MA. For the first time I am teaching students who do not speak English as their primary language. At the same time, English is the primary language ...

Hi!!! Does anyone have any tips or suggestions as to how to get students to remember rules for past tense pronunciation? Does anyone have tips as how to teach the vowel sounds? On a whole does anyone ...

Hello. I am interested in creating a tutoring service that supports people in learning conversational English. It may expand to include other languages in time. Is there anyone else who concentrates ...

I recently came across a paragraph written by my co-worker and I personally hold the opinion that the paragrah does not flow as naturally as it could be and he disagrees. The following is the ...

Hi, I have a question regarding the tutoring of ESL students in a college writing center. I am a student at a local JC and work part-time in the writing center. The writing center helps students (NES ...

I was hired to work as an Oral English Teacher. I have students from Grades 1 - 6, and 8. For the smaller kids I use games and action songs, for the older students I use exercises in describing, and ...

Hi, can anyone tell me where I can find lessons that would incorporate English Language learning levels 0 to 3 for adult learners. I have some ideas for strategies but i have yet to come across ...

Dear Doctor, Do you know of any reliable resources that I could use that would help me to design listening/speaking prediction tasks plus during and post-listening/ speaking tasks for native speakers ...

Was wondering if you had any ideas for a group of children 7-9 year olds. I can only think of putting colors on a board and getting them to repeat. What do you think? Thank you in advance.

Hello from Portland, Oregon! Just curious about the best method to go about teaching adults to read & write in English when they are not literate in their native language. I'm starting a community ...

What will you do if you want to teach "Would you like..?" as in "Would you like a cup of coffee?"

Hello Mam, Can you please help me by telling the tips and methods of teaching stories to my 41/2 year old South Indian Boy .He is currently doing his kinder garden in a famous School . I believe he ...

Hi there, I'm a new ESL teacher currently working in China. I'm currently trying to design exercises for GRE reading comprehension. I don't have any experience on this, and have no clue about where ...

I am an American living in Mexico, and I'm about to begin teaching English to a small group of people ranging from 5 years old to middle aged. It's a very informal class, no pay, just teaching basic ...

Hello I am an English Teacher in a High school. I would like to know which is the best strategy for teaching vocabulary to students.

I am currently teaching English at a Korean kindergarten in Shanghai. I have been here for 2 months and don't know what to do. I teach 3 classes, 2-3 year olds, 4-5 year olds, and 6-7 year olds. I ...

Hi, I've seen so many examples of classification essays that I have become confused. Is it possible to just have 1 item in a category? For example, one essay talked about types of restaurants. I ...

I'm a native English speaking teenager studying abroad in Germany for a year, and I was asked to tutor a man (30 yrs, I think) in English. We had our first lesson last night, and there's another one ...

Sir, I'm A college student and I'm having my thesis and the topic is "Assessment of the English Program Effectiveness". Could you help me with this? I need to know how i am going to assess the ...

Hello I have come across your page and I am a little desperate for some advice. I am a student who is trying to become a teacher of english. I have a practicum on thursday and they are all adults, ...

Hi everybody.. I want to ask if any of U have ever tried to teach english vocabulary through songs? I'd like to know if U know any good artocles or books about it as I need to write my diploma ...

Hello, Im currently studying a part time CELTA course due to finish end March and I just wondered if there were any recent CELTA graduates who would be willing to take me under their wing and give me ...

Hi, I'm a teenager trying to teach a group of adults conversational english. I don't know how to engage them and keep them on track because I am younger than them. They are beginners but I don't want ...

Any ideas how to approach the new class without looking too serious or too silly. Thank you for your feedback.

Does anyone know of a good book or books to uses for private esl tutoring? Most of the standard books are geared to teaching groups or classes.

I was unexperienced head of language centre at siliwangi university Indonesia. Hope in presented an english creative teaching workshop for elementary school. As you know in my country English is a ...

I would like to know some activities that I can conduct for average intermediate students to help them enjoy poetry and interpret the poem (meaning making).

Is there a resource of common 'behavior' vocabulary that can be referenced when communicating with parents over the phone? Looking for Spanish terms dealing with student behavior.

I'm Daxx, i'll be giving a demonstration at a English Learning Academy here, and im so confused on how to go about it. i mean how do you choose what to teach. i like the idea of using colors and ...

Help, I am teaching different level classes and while the older kids are a pleasure to teach, the 6 and 7 year olds are really difficult. I have tried many different games and songs with them. They ...

hi, I'm here in the Philippines. I'm tutoring a fourteen-year old Korean girl... she is smart but I'm running out of strategies in teaching her... I hate dead air and I always want the teaching ...

Hello, I am an American Peace Corps volunteer teaching 2 classes of students in Morocco. The first class is Kindergarden and I have about 30-35 students depending on attendance. This class takes ...

Hi all, I would like to have my ESL (university) students design their own newspaper for a couple of weeks. I'm not sure how to start and can't find much on the Net. Advice please. Casey

Good day! I just want to know if there is a best teaching strategy for all subjects in school. Thanks for the reply!

Hello all, I am an American now living in Jordan. I do not have a background in teaching. My whole background has been in IT. I am currently working for a training center and they would like me to ...

my son is 15 yrs old but he does not study what should i do