Creative ESL Teaching Notes and Ideas

Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns or pronouns in a sentence. They can indicate the size, shape, color, or other characteristics of the noun or pronoun they modify. Examples of adjectives include “big,” “round,” “red,” and “happy.”

Adverbs

Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They indicate the manner, time, place, or degree in which an action is performed or a state is described. Examples include “quickly,” “carefully,” “yesterday,” and “there.” They usually answer questions like how, when, where, in what manner and to what extent.

Opposites in English

Synonyms and Antonyms

Homonyms

Homonyms are words that have the same pronunciation or spelling as another word, but have a different meaning. Examples include “bass” (a type of fish) and “bass” (a low-frequency sound or a musical instrument), “flower” (a plant) and “flower” (to produce blossoms). Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and may be spelled differently. Examples include “flower” and “flour”, “bass” and “base”, “flower” and “flour”.

Homographs

Confused Words

Confused words in English are words that are often mistaken for one another due to their similar spelling, pronunciation, or meaning. Some examples include:

• affect vs. effect
• accept vs. except
• advice vs. advise
• aloud vs. allowed
• bare vs. bear
• brake vs. break
• complement vs. compliment
• council vs. counsel
• desert vs. dessert
• discreet vs. discrete
• stationary vs. stationery

Learn Commonly Confused Words in English with Picture.

Contractions

Text Structures

Singular and Plural Nouns

Collective Nouns

Possessive Nouns

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns are nouns that refer to a group of individuals or things, such as “flock” for a group of birds or “herd” for a group of animals. Examples of collective nouns in English include: group, team, squad, crew, staff, faculty, class, family, pack, herd, flock, etc. These nouns can take either a singular or plural verb, depending on whether the focus is on the group as a whole or on its individual members.

Singular & Plural Nouns

A singular noun refers to one person, place, thing, or idea, while a plural noun refers to more than one of those. For example, “dog” is a singular noun and “dogs” is the plural form of the noun. The way to form the plural of a noun typically depends on the word’s ending sound. Common plural noun forms include adding -s or -es to the end of the word, but there are many exceptions to this rule.

Interjections

Interjections are words or phrases that are used to express strong emotion or surprise in a sentence. They are often followed by exclamation marks and are not grammatically connected to the rest of the sentence. Examples of interjections include “Wow!”, “Oh no!”, “Hey!”, “Wow”, “Oh”, “Ugh”.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions in English are words that connect other words, phrases, or clauses. They are used to coordinate or subordinate elements in a sentence. Some common conjunctions in English include “and,” “or,” “but,” “because,” “so,” “yet,” “although,” “while,” “if,” “whether,” and “although.” They can be used to connect words, phrases, or clauses within a sentence, or to connect entire sentences. Conjunctions are a crucial part of English grammar and are used to create complex and nuanced sentences.

Idioms

Prefixes and Suffixes

Confused Words: They’re – Their – There

Verb Tenses

Verbs

Symbols & Abbreviations

Symbols are characters or images that are used to represent something else, such as an idea or a physical object. Examples of symbols include mathematical symbols like “+” and “-“, as well as iconic symbols like the dollar sign “$” or the ampersand “&”.

Abbreviations are shortened forms of words or phrases. They can be made by using the first letter of each word in a phrase, such as “Mr.” for “Mister” or “Dr.” for “Doctor”. Abbreviations can also be created by using a combination of letters from within a word, such as “etc.” for “et cetera” or “lb.” for “pound”. Abbreviations are used to save space and time, such as in written or typed text, and also used in shorthand or informal writing.

Suffixes & Prefixes

A suffix is a letter or group of letters that are added to the end of a word to change its meaning or function. For example, the suffix “-ness” can be added to the adjective “happy” to form the noun “happiness.”

A prefix is a letter or group of letters that are added to the beginning of a word to change its meaning or function. For example, the prefix “un-” can be added to the verb “happy” to form the adjective “unhappy.”

Both prefixes and suffixes are used to create new words or change the grammatical function of existing words. They are a common way to derive new words from existing words in English language and also in many other languages.

Prepositions

Prepositions are words that indicate the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. They are used to show the position, location, direction, or time of the noun or pronoun. Some examples of prepositions include “in,” “on,” “at,” “with,” “by,” “to,” and “from.”

Prepositions often precede a noun or pronoun, which is known as the object of the preposition, to form a prepositional phrase. These phrases can function as adjectives or adverbs in a sentence. For example, in the sentence “The book is on the table,” the preposition “on” is used with the noun “table” to indicate its location. “On the table” is the prepositional phrase, which is acting as an adverb modifying the verb “is”.

Pronouns

Pronouns are words that are used in place of a noun or noun phrase. They are used to avoid repeating the same noun or noun phrase over and over again. Pronouns include words like “I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” “it,” “we,” “they,” “me,” “him,” “her,” “us,” “them,” “mine,” “yours,” “hers,” “his,” “ours,” “theirs,” “myself,” “yourself,” “himself,” “herself,” “itself,” “ourselves,” “themselves” etc.

Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs are verbs that do not follow the standard pattern of conjugation (i.e changing form) in the past tense and past participle forms. Regular verbs form the past tense and past participle by adding -ed or -d to the base form of the verb. For example, the verb “walk” becomes “walked” in the past tense and “have” becomes “had” in the past participle.

ESL Teaching Notes and Ideas

ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching is a unique field that requires specialized skills and knowledge. ESL teachers need to take into account the language proficiency and cultural background of their students when planning and delivering lessons. Here are a few notes and ideas for teaching ESL:

• Use a variety of teaching methods: Use a combination of methods such as lectures, discussions, and hands-on activities to engage students and accommodate different learning styles.
• Incorporate visual aids: Use images, videos, and other visual aids to help students understand new vocabulary and concepts.
• Use authentic materials: Utilize real-life examples and authentic materials to help students connect with the language and culture.
• Provide opportunities for students to practice speaking: Encourage students to speak and practice the language in a safe and supportive environment.
• Use technology: Utilize technology such as language learning apps, videos, and interactive activities to supplement classroom instruction.
• Build cultural awareness: Include information about the culture of English-speaking countries to help students understand the context of the language.
• Differentiate instruction: Create different activities and materials to support students with different levels of language proficiency.
• Provide feedback: Give students constructive feedback to help them improve their language skills.

By incorporating these notes and ideas into your ESL teaching, you can create an effective and engaging learning experience for your students.