Teaching is a journey, and at our own English school (Islington Academy), we’ve felt every twist and turn of it! Having taught English for about 15 years and run our own academy for the past five, we’ve learned countless lessons about what truly works in an ESL classroom. What started as two sisters navigating the challenges of teaching in a foreign country has grown into a passion for creating resources and sharing strategies with other ESL teachers.
In those early years, we poured everything into our classes, experimenting, adjusting, and adapting until we found what makes a difference. Today, as we reach the five-year milestone with Islington Academy, we want to share five of the most valuable lessons we’ve learned along the way. These are the tips we wish someone had told us at the start, and we hope they can make your own teaching journey a little smoother. Let’s have a closer look at what we’ve discovered!
1. Know Your Students’ Interests
The Why:
Engaging students with material that aligns with their interests increases motivation and helps them connect more deeply with the language.
Examples and Ideas:
- Getting to know you Games: These type of activities are really useful to discover their hobbies, favourite music genres, sports, movies, or trending topics they follow. Use this data to personalise lesson themes.
- Themed Activities: For instance, if many students love music, create listening activities based on popular songs or lyrics comprehension exercises. For sports fans, consider activities involving sports-related vocabulary or discussions around current events in sports. (This year, for instance we have included some Olympic Sports activities due to the 2024 summer olympics in Paris).
- Pop Culture-Based Lessons: Bring in trending shows, movie clips, or even social media trends as part of your lesson topics. These can be used for discussions, role plays, or opinion-sharing activities that make the language feel relevant and immediate.
2. Keep It Simple but Effective
The Why:
Overly complicated activities can overwhelm learners, especially when English is not their first language. Simple, straightforward tasks are often the most effective.
Examples and Ideas:
- One-Step Instructions: Break down instructions into clear, easy-to-follow steps. For example, instead of saying, “Discuss the prompt, make a list, and present,” give each instruction one at a time.
- Minimalist Lesson Structure: Focus on activities that have one main objective per lesson. For instance, a speaking activity where students describe a picture in detail can be more effective than combining it with a reading or writing task.
- Routine-Based Learning: Establish routines that make learning predictable and less intimidating. For example, start each lesson with a five-minute warm-up activity that students are already familiar with, like a “Quick Chat” about their weekend.
*Have you checked out our ready-to-use lesson plans, games and activities that will save you time and make your classes more engaging? Have a look in our TPT STORE
3. Incorporate Real-Life English
The Why:
Learning through real-life language examples prepares students for everyday interactions and helps them feel more confident in the real world.
Examples and Ideas:
- News Articles and Current Events: Bring in simple news articles or clips. After discussing the content, ask students to summarise in their own words, ask questions, or express opinions.
- Role-Playing Real Situations: Create role-plays based on practical scenarios, like ordering food in a restaurant, asking for directions, or making small talk. These are useful for functional language and make students feel they’re learning something they can apply immediately.
- “Survival English” Days: Dedicate a day to practicing English in common real-life contexts. For example, set up a «grocery store» scenario where students have to “shop” in English, or a “travel day” where they have to navigate an airport or ask for directions.
4. Make Grammar Fun and Practical
The Why:
Grammar can often feel intimidating, so presenting it as something useful rather than a set of rules helps students see its real-life applications.
Examples and Ideas:
- Grammar Games: Use games to make grammar practice interactive. For example, create a game where students have to find and correct errors on a “menu” with deliberately incorrect items, or have a grammar relay race where teams have to answer questions to win points.
- Use Conversations to Practice Grammar: Turn grammar drills into dialogues. For instance, when practising past tense, have students interview each other about their weekend plans or favourite childhood memories. This turns grammar into something they can use right away.
- “Grammar Detective” Activities: Have students spot and correct grammar errors in short texts or dialogues. You can turn this into a competition to make it more engaging.
*Did you know we have a FREE resources area here in our blog? You just need to subscribe and you’ll get a password to access it!
5. Create a Supportive Learning Environment
The Why:
Language learning involves vulnerability, so students need to feel comfortable making mistakes and asking questions without fear of judgement.
Examples and Ideas:
- Celebrate Mistakes as Learning Moments: Implement a “Mistake of the Day” where you point out common mistakes in a fun, non-judgmental way, so students know it’s okay to get things wrong. You could even share funny examples from your own experience learning another language.
- Positive Reinforcement: Use specific praise to acknowledge students’ effort. For example, instead of just saying “Good job,” say, “I liked how you used a new word today!”
- Encourage Peer Support: Incorporate group activities where students work together to solve problems, share ideas, or practice dialogues. Group work builds a team mentality, showing students that they’re all on the same journey.
Reflecting on our journey, from those first teaching days to opening the doors of Islington Academy, one thing is clear: teaching is as much about learning as it is about teaching. Every lesson plan, every student, and every classroom moment has taught us something new. These five tips have become the foundation of our approach, helping us create a space where students feel inspired, engaged, and supported in their English learning journey.