How To Teach English To Adults Lesson Plans

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Learning English has become a relevant goal for both adults and children these days. Before starting a career as a teacher one should decide who he or she wants to teach. What is the main difference between adults and children when it comes to studying? Let’s discuss the most important points. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Anastasiia Al. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Children learn English because they have to do it. We need to keep in mind that children usually learn the language when they are forced by their parents. Of course, some children enjoy English, but mostly it was not their choice to study. In any case,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas An ESL teacher will most likely teach a class with young learners and adults at some point in their careers. Teaching young learners and adults has its own set of challenges. Some of these challenges will be the learning experience that each possesses, the different ways of learning and how this affects the lesson, and the motivation of the student and how it affects behavior. Whether it is young learners for adults, the rewards can be satisfying. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Chris V. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The learning experience will play a big role when teaching students. Given the age, young learners will have...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This TEFL course covered a huge variety of topics, and it was all useful information for English teachers broadly. It had a nice balance of actual how-to-tasks (i.e. how to make a lesson), as well as guidance and advice dependent on the situation (i.e. how to deal with a misbehaving student or how to establish rapport with a class). While there was new information throughout each chapter for me, the most useful, applicable information for me as a teacher was the differences between young learners and adults. This is mostly because I have taught ages preschool-late 60s (not necessarily English, I taught preschool in the USA and have taught private piano/harp lessons). I learned how to navigate the challenges when...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas There are a few aspects which should be taken into consideration when teaching either one-to-one, as well as teaching larger groups. As teachers, we might encounter, sooner or later, both situations and we have to make sure that we have the necessary tools to properly achieve the purpose of learning. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Flavia-Ioana S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I will start by looking first at one-to-one teaching, at the advantages and disadvantages that might arise. There are therefore 2 situations that we might encounter when we have only one student: our student could be either a child or an adult....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences ESL teachers must acknowledge that it is not equal teaching English Lessons to children, teenagers, and adults, there are some wide differences between the practices used in each case, classroom, population, levels, and country where English is taught, on this paper we will check how an ESL lesson may be affected by these variables, and how we could overlap them on the practices used in teenagers and adults English lessons. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Javier V. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. To analyze all the practices and methods used in an ESL lesson differing from its population, we must clarify the first two...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Through my experience teaching in both a classroom setting and in a less formal setting, for example, teaching swim lessons, I have noticed that age affects how you are teaching materials. Using the swim lessons example, teaching a five-year-old how to swim will be much different from teaching an adult how to swim. You will use different techniques and be required to have a different approach. This is the same as teaching English as a Second Language. Teaching children a foreign language and teaching adults a foreign language will require different skills and energy. Throughout one's teaching career, teachers will likely have to balance between teaching children and teaching adults. Throughout this essay, I will...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The capacity for learning is present in people of any age and the desire for education and knowledge should be nurtured and celebrated to the best ability of not only the student but the educator as well. Because education is something that people seek out for the duration of their lives, the role and processes of an educator are incredibly diverse and are many times determined by the specific educational situation. One of the biggest determinations of the teaching processes and style arises when one considers the age of her students. Though a teacher may use songs and games when teaching children, her approach to teaching adults would be very different. Young learners acquire information in different ways than...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Both adults and young learners are different age groups. Therefore, when working abroad and teaching adults there are both advantages and disadvantages when compared to young learners. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Emma M. Adults tend to have greater levels of motivation than adolescents which is an advantage over young learners. Teaching and Learning in an adult student classroom ‘behavioral problems are minimal,’ as they are not always completely absent because of their enthusiasm. This is shown through their maturity and concentration. This shows that adults attention spans are higher than children. This enables the classroom to be more relaxed and pleasant. In addition,...  [Read more]

Desrine Francois TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Teaching English as a foreign language to older adults students comes with its own unique set of challenges. These students are, more often than not, retirees whose professional lives are behind them. Unlike their younger counterparts, they do not need to learn English for educational or professional purposes. So what impels these older adults to attend EFL classes? And what are the advantages and disadvantages of having them as students? Personal growth, social interaction, and continued intellectual stimulation are often cited by older adult students as the main reasons they attend EFL classes. They believe that learning, whether it is a...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences How does teaching adults differ from teaching young learners? To most people, it should be rather obvious that teaching children is very different from teaching adults, due to adults being more mature and having more life experience than children. This article discusses the advantages of teaching adult students and what the implications on a teacher’s methodology are. Adult learners refers to anyone who is above the age of eighteen. Although it is not a perfect definition, we will nevertheless use eighteen as our cut-off age since it is the most common age threshold in many language schools when it comes to deciding whether a student should go to a children’s class (6-17 in many occasions) or an adult’s...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching can be extremely satisfying and rewarding, but how we teach and the methodologies that we use should be adapted to teaching each specific learner or groups of learners. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Omar B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Let's begin with defining what is considered to be an adult and what is considered to be a young learner. According to regulatory standards, an adult is an individual over the age of 18. Young learners, on the other hand, can be categorized based on three bases; from the age of seven and under (very young learners), between the ages 8 to 12 and post-puberty, usually from ages 13...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Lesson plans are a guiding document created by teachers for a specific learning objective for a target group of learners. Lesson plans are essential to every teacher, whether you teach young learners just starting or adult students business language. Lesson plans are necessary because they are a guided plan, visual and written documentation to work from, and a historical record. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jennifer C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Lesson plans are guided plans created for your specific students. It starts with a learning...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The lesson plan functions as a roadmap for the teacher, providing an organized framework for the planning, preparation, and execution of the lesson and serving as a record of what has been completed. It should not be a detailed script, but rather a guide that allows for flexibility and adaptation in the classroom. The plan is a living document that may continue to be refined and enhanced after execution, incorporating lessons learned. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Simona H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Through the process of developing a plan, the teacher will be able to organize their thoughts on the lesson objectives...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching is an opportunity that all of us can learn and benefit from. Teaching expands across all nationalities, genders, religious, racial and age groups. Education among different age groups has is similarities and differences that have evolved throughout civilization. Throughout my time teaching, there are several pros versus cons when it comes to teaching children and adults. Both are an absolute joy to teach in my opinion, however, some strategies must be implemented that both can benefit from. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Vivian M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Some of the similarities that teaching children versus...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Alumni Experiences People of all ages around the world wish to learn English, for varying reasons, and many begin this endeavor at different times in their lives. For teachers, it is important to understand that the approach to teaching English is not painted with a broad stroke across all ages of learners. To ensure that you reach your class in the most effective way possible it is vital to know what level your students are at and also what motivated them to learn English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ilse G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Beginners are not all equal. There are varying sub-levels to the beginning level. As a teacher, it is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Generally, anything planned well in advance comes out much better and well organized as compared to something that is just done anyhow in any manner without any planning. As a teacher, it is important to know what you want to teach, why you want to teach and most importantly how you intend to teach. All these questions can only be answered when Lesson planning is done. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Lucia F. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. In trying to answer the questions raised above it is clear that the teacher will know what he/she wants to teach. There is needed to know what you to achieve by teaching the chosen topic...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When it comes to teaching adults with higher levels of English proficiency, it is quite complicated to create lessons as most of the students usually have very specific needs and challenges. In this blog post, I would like to share a sample online lesson that I taught to an adult group of advanced EFL learners to train conversational skills. For presenting my materials online, I used Prezi for visual clues. Our class took place on Zoom. The whole lesson was structured in the form of a speaking club under the general topic of “feeling ashamed and uncomfortable”. Engagement is the most important part of any lesson. Advanced level adults are no exception. To build rapport and a comfortable environment, I started...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In the past, the emphasis on teaching a foreign language was, amongst other older techniques, Grammar-Translation, and is still used in some situation today. This method helped the student to learn ‘about’ the language instead of learning the language (ITTT Unit 3,3). Over time, and continuing today, more and more attention and research have been placed on the question of what makes a good language learner. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Cliff G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There are considerable differences in age, gender, motivation, attitude, and culture. Different students assimilate differently. The environment...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT TEFL Information Teaching Ideas As a newly qualified TEFL teacher the chances are you will be working for a school which supplies its teachers with all the resources needed to teach successful lessons based on a set course. This article shows a selection of the course books that are available for teaching general English course to adults from a number of publishers in the TEFL industry. There are several publishers involved in producing course books for the TEFL classroom. The main publishers are Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Pearson/Longman and Macmillan. These publishers produce course books across a range of EFL sectors including, young learners, adults, business English, and English for...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences Learning is something essential in anyone's life, not only as a human being but as a species. As humans we start learning about everything in our environment the moment we come into this world and this experience of learning proceeds with us throughout our lives till the moment we leave this world. The more we learn the more knowledge we accumulate, which will help us, as individuals or societies, to improve our lives in every way possible as long as we use this knowledge that we have learned and apply it correctly in our daily lives. It is evident that learning happens through communication and interaction between an individual and his/her environment and the main tool for interaction and communication for humans is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In this short essay, I would like to share the differences in teaching YL and Adults. For effective learning, it is important for us, as teachers, to understand how these two groups go about learning. The critical point is the suitable design and delivery of the program. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Eddy P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Malcolm Knowles differentiates between teaching adults (andragogy) and Young Learners/Children (Pedagogy). Malcolm Knowles based his theory on 5 assumptions of the way adults learn: He suggests including adults in both the planning and development of instruction. By giving them a voice...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The demand for teaching business English has been dramatically increased following the globalization of business. Many people think teaching business English requires detailed knowledge in the field where students are working. However, many students take business English classes because they want to learn and improve their communication skills with customers and coworkers, such as presenting a new product or describing the information to consumers, more than learning about their own business. Therefore, having special knowledge of the student's business is not necessary for teaching business English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kayoko S. Please note that this blog post might not...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning a new language as an adult versus learning a new language as a child is different in many aspects, children and adults learn languages differently. Keeping these differences in mind no matter what age group you’re teaching helps to tailor your lesson to your specific students and understanding the different stages of language learning that happen through life will help with lesson planning as well. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Alexandra M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Children are like sponges, they absorb everything and therefore have a natural ability to acquire a new language, pronunciation and vocabulary...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences 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. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Elorm D. Please note that this blog post...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I believe it is very important to plan and write down lessons, for the benefit of the students, myself, relieving teachers, and especially while I am an inexperienced teacher. A lesson plan acts as a device for a singular lesson, helps create a series of lessons, and as a record of what has been taught. Self Evaluation Forms will be vital as a new teacher so that I can continuously self improve. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kylie G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. When I take the time to write down a lesson, it requires thinking about the level of that particular class and what I want to achieve by the end of the lesson....  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas Most TEFL certified teachers abroad will come across adult students sooner or later in their career. While you might have already prepared a folder full of fun TEFL games that work like a charm for young learners, not all of them will be useful for adult students. That does not mean, however, that adults don’t enjoy games in the classroom! Here are our 5 favorite TEFL games for adult students. This activity is a great way to get adult classes going and it’s so easy to play! Have your students think of three statements, two have to be true and one of them has to be a lie. Next, the students share their three statements with the class and the other students, or the teacher, have to guess which statement is the lie....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Many variances exist between teaching English as a Foreign Language to Young Learners vs adults. Despite these dissimilarities, the fundamentals will remain the same. Teachers should motivate their students to communicate in the target language, and utilize students’ previous knowledge while maintaining an engaging atmosphere in the classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Marlon W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The classroom is not the place for superficial work. Any teacher who is gratified with superficial knowledge will not attain a high degree of proficiency. The teacher should carefully study the disposition...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences A learning model is a complex of activities based on the main chosen approach which covers the demand of the group. There are four directions in languages studying: writing, listening, speaking and reading. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Joseph Victoryia D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Each of them is equally relevant and has its difficulties and tricky moments. To provide students with the sustainable development of their skills, a teacher has to take into consideration several important points: the average age of the group, level of English of the group and classroom arrangement. Being aware of a classroom...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Online English teaching has become more and more popular and worldwide, it not only can save a lot of time but also supply many possibilities to study at any time, any place as long as you have wifi. Nowadays, many adults choose online courses because of the convenience. I have taught adults online for almost a year, I chose this job because the working time is more flexible, and also I feel self-satisfied when I see my students making progress. But how to teach English to adults online? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Yingying Z. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There must have some effective ways for us to take as...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching is an exceptional art which allows all human beings to take advantage of the conveyed knowledge. Particularly, the teaching and learning process of English could be successfully accomplished in the case of young learners as well as adults. Both the teacher’s role and several techniques denote essential features to achieve rewarding English learning results. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Carla A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Therefore, communicative activities related to games during the active stage help keep up students’ enthusiasm. Besides, a great deal of diverse warm-ups contributes with engaging...  [Read more]