Finding affordable textbooks is a challenge within many educational contexts, including English as a foreign language (EFL) settings and English as a second language (ESL) settings, such as universities and Intensive English Programs (often referred to as IEPs) in the United States. As educators, we know it is a struggle for many of our students…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the world of education has found a new normal, with new online courses, tools, educational apps, and artificial intelligence gaining in advancement and popularity. Interactive video is a multimedia tool that allows the viewer to actively engage with the content in the video by making choices and inputting data. In this…

The author, Elizabeth Hanks, is the creator and host of her own English-learning podcast, and in this article she shares ideas for using pre-made EFL podcasts, creating your own podcasts, and using general audience podcasts to give students of various levels opportunities to practice all skills and "advance on their English-learning…

There are many language teacher associations (LTAs) around the world, most of which are managed by volunteers and board members who make daily decisions that directly affect their LTA. These decisions are sometimes guided by initiatives proposed by members; in other cases, they emerge from pressing issues in the community. LTAs become visible in…

The purpose of this article is to offer suggestions teacher trainers might implement to improve their understanding of the local teachers they work with as well as ways of knowing the self and how the self interfaces with local contexts. The first part of the article focuses on ways a teacher trainer can better understand the needs of the local…

Many Language teacher associations (LTAs) are nonprofit organizations and thus rely heavily on volunteers to carry out their mission. A volunteer is a person who donates time and labor in service to others. In the case of LTAs, volunteers play key roles in governing the association, planning and realizing national conferences and local workshops,…

The author describes a challenge that is familiar to many language teachers: trying to get students to speak up independently, share thoughts, and participate authentically in the target language. The article includes general and specific tips for creating a comfortable, communicative classroom environment.

Advocates of using songs and music in English as a second language (EL2) teaching and learning contexts emphasize the educational benefits of song lyrics. To make the full potential of using songs more visible and accessible to EL2 teachers, this article presents a methodological framework that can be used when planning a song unit for learners.…

Graciela Chera is hesitant to talk about herself and her classroom. She claims that she is not doing anything special, yet she is clearly making a powerful impact on her students and the English-teaching community in Paraguay. In this article, learn how Graciela Chera balances academic rigor with fun team spirit as she teaches students of all ages…

Storytelling passes down traditions and values while preserving languages and serving as a natural site for linguistic innovation and creativity. This article describes an approach to creating multilingual, multimodal stories that were developed for an after-school club at a rural Tanzanian secondary school. Club members told stories, wrote…

According to I.S. P. Nation (2009, 66), four conditions must be present for an activity to be categorized as fluency development: (1) learners' attention must be focused on the meaning of the text they are reading rather than its grammatical or structural features; (2) here should be no new vocabulary and few irregular language features in the…

The author presents strategies for successful team-bonding games along with descriptions of games and suggestions for building a collaborative atmosphere before, during, and after the games.

Icebreakers are first-day activities that are meant to give students and the teacher an opportunity to get to know one another. They are helpful activities for taking a class full of strangers and turning them into friends (or at least acquaintances). However, icebreaker activities tend to be short and limited in the extent to which students can…

Traditionally, many English language teachers around the world have conformed to an English as a foreign language (EFL) model. In this model, they expose their students to the standard language norms of English-dominant nations, such as the United States and the United Kingdom. However, English learners do not only need language skills to…

Being a lucky child, I played lots of games, as my parents were primary-school teachers, and playing games is a natural part of growing up and learning. More recently, I took the opportunity to create new games while teaching a course called "Teaching English to Young Learners" to preservice teachers of English. Among these games, there…