Check out the following ESL lesson plans and lesson plan templates to get your teaching on in style! It's English teaching made easy!

These are easy and fun online teaching ideas that will keep your students engaged, build connections and make class more fun. You will love number 10!

Games are a tried and true way to engage students. Whether teaching in-person or remotely via a live session like Zoom or Google Meets, teachers know that games, brain breaks, and icebreakers are an awesome way to get students actively involved in learning. With the ever-changing landscape of education, I thought it might be nice to compile some versatile activities that challenge students in really fun ways. Best part? These activities are very low prep and work in a variety of settings. These activities encourage students to listen, solve problems, be creative, and practice critical skills. They're designed to be easy to do with little to no prep. You can easily add one of these games to any lesson as a warm-up, closure, community building activity, or lesson extender. GAMES & ACTIVITIES ⭐How Many? Give students a category and then challenge students to see how many different things they can fit within that classification. At first students will respond with obvious ideas. However, as they brainstorm, their ideas will stretch and their creativity will grow. Students can jot their ideas down on scrap paper and earn points for each unique response when they share out. Here are some categories to get started: occupations, things that are slimy, things that roll, animal noises, articles of clothing ⭐Listen Carefully: Read a short passage out loud to students. Then, have them answer questions based on what they can remember. Make it especially fun by awarding points for every answer that students get right. You can change up this activity by reading two versions of the same story. Mix up some of the details in the second version for students to listen for. Give this activity a try with the passages in this set of FREE Brain Bursts. Add your information below and then check your inbox! ⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟ ⭐Silly Silent Spelling: Practice spelling words in a super silly way. Explain to students that you are going to be giving them a practice spelling test (definitely NOT the real thing). Just like a typical practice test, they'll listen for the word and write it down. However, here's the catch: you're only going to silently mouth the words. Students will need to read your lips to figure out what word they will need to write down. Of course, figuring out a word from a silent cue is not easy. That's what makes this fun. Students will write down some wild guesses as they spell their way through this game. ⭐One Word: Pose a fun question to the class and have them all think of a one-word answer. Then, give every student a chance to share their responses as you call on each of them. Here are some questions to get started: --- If you were a type of dessert, what would you be? --- Where do you feel happiest? --- How would a soccer ball describe its day? --- Where is somewhere that you would like to visit? --- What would be the perfect gift for you? ⭐Mystery Item: This activity is quick and easy to play. To prepare, write 5 or 6 clues about an object. Make the clues gradually increase in their specificity. Then, read the clues to students as they jot down their guesses for the mystery item until you reveal the answer. ⭐Punchline: Start telling a joke to students, and then have them guess the punchline. Find a ton of jokes for kids here. ⭐Strike a Pose: Explain to students that they are going to pretend that they are in a photograph. They will need to imagine that the photo was taken at the height of the event. All they have to do is strike a pose after you give them a situation. For instance, you might say, "haunted house," and then students would freeze in a pose that shows them frightened or terrified. Here are a few situations to try: Dentist Office, Roller Coaster, Last Day of School, Scary Movie, Food Fight, Race ⭐Timed Writing Activities: Engage students with a creative writing prompt. Then, "amp up" the fun factor by adding a timed element. Challenge students to race the clock as they write as much as they can in a fixed time period. Find my favorite prompts here. ⭐And Then...: This is a listening game for the entire class. Students will need to listen to and add to a growing story. You'll start the story with an opener like, "At the zoo, I decided to open the lion's cage, and then..." Next, you'll call on a student to explain what happened next. That student will add one line and the phrase "and then" before selecting another student to add to the story. ⭐Listen and Draw: Students love this activity! To prepare, create a simple illustration filled with shapes and designs. Then, write out the directions for students. Have students complete the activity on a piece of paper. Read each direction to students and challenge them to replicate the illustration you instructed them to draw. (These are included in the exclusive freebie below.) ⭐Class Pet: Pretend that you have a new class pet. Explain to students that they will need to guess the type of animal. Students will need to ask questions and write their guesses on a piece of paper when they think they have figured out the new class pet. ⭐Add the Ending: Engage students as they practice writing and storytelling skills with this activity. First, students will listen to the beginning of a story that you read to them. Then, they'll take over the writing and complete the story. The story starters are a fun way to motivate students to write. ⭐Alien, Tiger, and Cat: Here's an improvisational theatre game that works in the classroom. Explain to students that they can be one of three things: an alien, a cat, or a tiger. If they choose to be an alien, they need to hold their pointer fingers next to their head (like antennae) and say "bleeb, bleeb." To be a cat, they need to rub their wrist along their face (like a cat cleaning itself) and say "meow." Finally, to be a tiger they need to push their hand forward with a claw stance and roar. On your cue, every student will choose and act like an animal. The goal is to get everyone to choose the same animal (which is nearly impossible, but fun to try). ⭐Rapid Recall: Create a list of random words. Then, read the list of words to students. As you read the words, you might have students put their hands on their heads so that you know for sure that they aren't taking notes. Once you've read the words to students once or twice, wait about a minute before letting students write down every word that they remember. (Find ready-made lists in this complete resource.) ⭐Finish the Fact: Share the beginning of a fact with students. Then, challenge them to complete the fact. Have them share their guesses before revealing the complete fact. Find a collection of random facts here. Want a free set of virtual classroom activities designed to be NO PREP and NO COPIES? Just add your name and email below. ⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟⮟ BONUS: Here's one more idea: ⭐Paper Airplanes: Help students practice following directions by challenging them to fold a paper airplane by following your directions. To get started, choose a paper airplane design to have students fold. Then, have students take out a piece of paper. They'll need to listen carefully to each of your directions to make their paper airplane. Wishing you tons of fun in your (virtual) classroom, Mary Beth P.S. Find a TON of ready-made activities HERE.

Many students are learning online during this unique school year. Here are some tips and tools to get started engaging students virtually!

5 must-haves for a functional virtual teaching workspace: the essentials you need to help you teach remotely. Extra screen, planner, and more.

Teaching Materials and lessons for English teachers. Easy to teach lessons from ESL Teacher 365. Teaching tips and advice.

Ease the transition to online teaching by checking out these 6 tips on how to create an appealing and useful online teaching space!

Find out the best activiites, resources and lesson plan ideas for teaching English online. Level up your ESL online teaching game!

Use these google slides templates for your classroom whether you are teaching online or in your actual classroom! Display your schedules and routines in style!

In this post, I offer 10 teaching tips for new college instructors. Find advice about course design, the 1st week, grading, & campus resources, starting...

Do you need ideas for distance learning? Whether you use Google Meet or Zoom, these distance learning ideas for your online class meetings will keep your kids engaged.

Outschool is an online platform that allows students to take a variety of classes, ranging from academics to hobbies. Teachers earn on average $50/hour!

A range of free printable SEN teaching resources used with Autistic pupils aged 4-18, literacy, numeracy, topic and themed resources.

This piano teaching idea share is full of fresh recital ideas, interesting games to play online, and great ways of injecting energy in lessons!

Check out these private teaching activities and games for your ESL lessons. Keep things fresh and interesting in your 1-1 English classes.

Raise your hand if you feel overwhelmed by virtual teaching. I see you! (Well, mostly I see your posts in my Facebook groups. It would be creepy if I could actually see you right this very moment.) I know that you feel like you are drowning with all of the new technology, strategies, and concerns

Unit 1: Introduction to School of this middle school and high school newcomers curriculum hits the ground running with 36 new words or phrases, 5 important basic sentences or greetings, and an introduction to singular and plural nouns, pronouns, and the simple present tense.

Issuu is a digital publishing platform that makes it simple to publish magazines, catalogs, newspapers, books, and more online. Easily share your publications and get them in front of Issuu’s millions of monthly readers. Title: 100 ideas for teaching english, Author: Monica Lerma, Length: 138 pages, Page: 1, Published: 2017-10-27

Three AI teacher assistants, a curated collection of math activities, a website-building curriculum, a site for helping students change the world, and more.

Engage your piano students from the very beginning of their piano lessons with these creative ways to start a lesson. Read more.

If you need assistance on how to edit and/or utilize Digital Interactive Notebooks in Google Slides for your classroom, you have come to the right place! In these videos, I will be referencing the Editable Digital Interactive Notebook Templates in this post. This digital Google Slides resource provides editable Interactive Notebook Templates that you can

The world’s weirdest school year has arrived and I’m ready to take you on a quick tour through my work-from-home classroom. A few things have changed since the spring, and that’s because the educational landscape has also changed. Here’s a peek into my classroom setup for the 2020-21 school year.

10 ESOL Teacher Must Haves As an ESOL teacher I worked with students in a variety of settings. Here are my 10 ESOL teacher must haves that I have found to be valuable tools for working with students in a wide range of ages and levels. Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means

ALL ABOUT EARTH Get ready for a month filled with so many fun activities to teach your kiddos all about our planet Earth . I teach this unit in April so it coincides with Earth Day. I’ve loaded up this blog post post with read aloud book ideas, free videos you can share with your students,

Try some of these fun, no-prep games to help your teach English to young or beginner level students.

Long list of free Montessori materials found online; perfect resource for classroom teachers and homeschoolers; free materials for a variety of levels, especially preschoolers through early elementary!

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a restful weekend and enjoyed some time with people in “your bubble”. Things seem to be “opening up” slowly, with “in person teachi…

Awesome illustration of the PARA organizing method I teach from @Silly_Strokes, who is part of cohort 14

This is an idea that comes from one of my interns this year, Tracy. She saw it in another classroom. I could not find anything about it online so I just had to make my own poster. When you begin teaching handwriting on the “lines” this is such a helpful visual for the children. Chicken […]

Be a great social studies teacher with these use-tomorrow, science-backed teaching strategies.

Empower ELL newcomers with essential classroom English phrases using this resource pack designed for beginners. Perfect for mastering survival English skills.

A list of job options you have as a special education teacher (outside of the traditional classroom setting), given the skills you possess as an educator.

Here's how I sell educational printables to teachers, homeschool parents, and party planners. How to sell teaching resources online and make money selling teaching resources.

Tired of the usual spring or fall recital? Try a few recital themes to get interest in the recital up with your students and parents.