![\"Using](\"\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Beijing-140a.jpg\")
<\/a>Incorporating animal videos and other media into your lessons is a great way to create discussion.<\/p><\/div>\n
Do not limit yourself to just educational TV programming either. Tom and Jerry is very popular with children here in China<\/a>. Using these cartoons, I can get discussions started in class on a wide range of topics for all ages. You are only limited by your imagination. For example, I have dissected cartoons to explain adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, cause\/effect, comparing\/contrasting, and idioms. For older students from middle school and up, YouTube videos are great resources for me. The various talent shows, such as X-Factor and America\u2019s Got Talent also have wonderful videos that can be used in lessons. In my school, I have a lot of freedom in how I teach my ESL lessons. Therefore, I like to do more than just teach English. I use commercials that tell a life lesson to generate in-class discussions, as well as animal videos, amazing human talents, and other unique videos to teach vocabulary, grammar, and speaking.<\/p>\n Developing your own games and crosswords can help reinforce the skills you teach in your lessons<\/p><\/div>\n ESL games and videos are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how children learn. Think back to all the worksheets we had in school. Those games and puzzles were used for more than just giving our teachers a break. Even simple word searches or crosswords helped us learn. On the internet, there are various free programs that allow you to develop crossword puzzles, word searches, fill-in the blank, and other word puzzles. Resources like these, as well as flashcards and educational workbooks are great activities to expand on and reinforce the concepts in your lessons.\u00a0Games like Scrabble and Boggle can also be very helpful and fun for your students, while card games like Old Maid and Concentration, though not directly related to ESL learning, can help your students further develop cognitive and critical thinking skills.<\/p>\n I have also used lessons from other school subjects to further engage my English students. Incorporating other subjects is not only a way to switch up your routine, but a great way to reinforce the English skills your students are learning. Why not teach English vocabulary with simple science projects? Imagine stimulating young minds with art projects based on topics that you are teaching. A cooking class is great for teaching directions and measurements. Playground games (provided you have ample space) and simple children\u2019s songs can be used to enrich vocabulary and speaking skills. Letting the kids play teacher occasionally gets them excited as they become \u201cthe boss\u201d for a while. Theatrics, singing, and diary writing were all used in my youth, so I use them for the youth I am teaching.<\/p>\n Incorporating these activities into your lessons helps your kids discover that English can be fun and entertaining, and you get to have some fun too. You will be amazed at how those seemingly unrelated or old-school educational tools have a remarkable effect on your students. Kids are kids, no matter where you are in the world. So, take a time warp trip back into your own childhood and bring back those great teaching tools from the past.<\/p>\n Ready to start your adventure teaching English abroad? Visit a free information session<\/a> or download a free course guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n [wp_social_sharing social_options=’facebook,twitter,pinterest’ twitter_username=’oxford_seminars’ facebook_text=’Share on Facebook’ twitter_text=’Share on Twitter’ googleplus_text=’Share on Google+’ pinterest_text=Share on Pinterest” icon_order=’f,t,g,p’ show_icons=’1′ before_button_text=” text_position=” social_image=’ \/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-social-sharing\/static\/socialshare.png’]<\/p>\n Written by Bill Gain<\/p>\n What influences in your childhood development allowed you to learn English? Was it all of the hours sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher? I suspect that the answer would be \u201cno\u201d. Looking back on my English development as a kid, there were multitudes of resources that helped in my English skills development. If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":4044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[345,344],"tags":[86,9,87,204,5,90],"class_list":["post-4037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-making-a-difference","category-teaching-esl","tag-china","tag-education","tag-esl","tag-games","tag-teaching","tag-teaching-english-abroad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4037"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4038,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4037\/revisions\/4038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oxfordseminars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}3. Creating your own word puzzles and ESL games<\/h2>\n
<\/a>4. Incorporating other subjects into your ESL lessons<\/h2>\n
<\/a>
\nBill Gain is an Oxford Seminars TESOL\/TESL\/TEFL Graduate<\/a> who has been an\u00a0ESL teacher and blogger<\/a> \u00a0in China<\/a> for\u00a0four\u00a0years. For most of his life, he has worked with young people in recreation and special events. He has\u00a0a bachelor\u2019s degree in Communication\/Public Relations and a master\u2019s degree in Recreation and Special Events Programming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"