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Using AI to Adapt English Speaking Tasks for Mixed-Ability ESL Classrooms

What is a mixed ability class? The simplest definition is “a class with more than one student.” Unless you’re teaching one-to-one, you teach mixed abilities. Having students at different levels in the same class makes it difficult for everyone to take part. Students who find a class too hard will give up and do something else. Higher level… ESL activities, How to..., Teaching skills

Reading Skills and Strategies with AI

Reading is still one of the most important skills, not just in language classrooms, but in life. Reading is how students access information, learn new ideas, and connect with the world. And with AI now part of how we teach, work, and live, reading matters more than ever. Students need to be able to read confidently, think critically, and use… Teaching skills, How to..., ESL activities

Use AI to Improve Your Writing Without Cheating

Writing is difficult. While almost everyone learns to listen and speak in their first language, not everyone learns to write. Until relatively recently, being able to write was the exception rather than the norm. And even now, being able to write is not the same as being able to write well. The challenge of teaching writing has become even more… Teaching skills, How to...

Create Mock English Language Tests with AI

Test prep can be daunting. Students come to us with minimal time and maximum expectations. They might want to focus on the test, even when they really need to focus on improving their English. Teachers are supposed to know everything about question types, strategies, and grading criteria, all while keeping students engaged and motivated. It’s an… Teaching skills, How to..., Five ways to, ESL activities

Creating Worksheets with AI

Creating engaging and effective worksheets is a time-consuming process. Even if you download worksheets from a website, the process of searching for something suitable can be as onerous as making your own. In this blog post, we'll look at a different solution: using AI to generate worksheets. As well as saving you time, AI can add interesting… How to..., Teaching skills, ESL activities, Theme based learning

Avoiding & reducing stress on the Trinity Cert TESOL Course

Nobody will disagree when I say that the Cert TESOL is demanding. There’s no denying that it is intensive, it does have high standards, it does need hard work. As with everything, whether it’s achievement in sport, any other skill or academic pursuit, you won’t be surprised to learn that it is stressful. This is especially so when embarking on… Certificate courses, How to...

Creating flashcards and teaching materials with AI Image generators

I can’t imagine my life without AI. I use Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude every day. AI text generators let me write better and faster than I could before. But AI image generators are even more amazing. They let me create things which I could previously never have made myself. Now, all of us can be artists, cartoonists and graphic designers. But if… ESL activities, Teaching skills, Five ways to, How to...

Using AI for Assignments & Homework: Strategies for Students and Teachers

“How can I stop my students using AI or ChatGPT for homework?” That was the one question I was bombarded with in 2023. It’s understandable that teachers are, or were, worried about AI. Every time a disruptive new technology comes along, there is a fear that some students will use it to gain an unfair advantage. Over time, things change. No one… Teaching skills, Five ways to, ESL activities, How to...

Asking effective questions in your ESL classes

In this blog, we cover best practices for TESOL teachers to choose the right questions to ask in your ESL classes. Different questions have different qualities. These qualities influence student participation and involvement. Questions can be either:  Open or closed. Open questions have many possible answers. Closed answers have a limited… All categories, Teaching skills, How to...

Why you need to stop punishing your students: solutions for 3 common problems

In many of the young learner classes I watch, teachers try to control their students’ behaviour using punishment. In this article, I’m going to tell you   why punishment causes more behaviour problems than it solves  which punishments are the most destructive  alternatives you can use to stop negative student behaviour… All categories, How to..., Teaching skills

Mastering breakout rooms: 7 common mistakes and how to fix them

It’s every online teacher’s worst nightmare: you set up the activity, things are going well in the first break out room, then you go into the fourth break out room and… silence. No one is talking. What went wrong? To solve any problem, you first need to understand the cause. What’s stopping your students from speaking in breakout rooms? In this… All categories, How to...

Debating: how to teach debate effectively

When teachers talk about debate and debating classes, it never ceases to make me smile and think, ‘Oh dear …’. This is both from a teacher training and a teaching perspective; where there’s always one enthusiastic trainee who wants to have ‘debate’ as the focus for their speaking lesson. Then there are those teachers that include ‘debate’ in their… All categories, Teaching skills, How to...