Teaching Materials

Michael Buckhoff’s web site for students and teachers offers sample essays at various levels and features advice from international students that can be used to prepare writing center tutors. If you click “For Teachers” and then “For University Students,” you will find his summer 2007 ESL writing course for undergraduates. It offers several writing assignments, as well as tips for editing papers and for taking in-class essay exams.

Lesson plans drawn from The Internet TESOL Journal can be found here. You will find brief articles on a wide range of topics from “Tips and Ideas for the First Day of Class,” to lessons on teaching literature, on culture, and on “A Simulation for Business English Students.” Your students can try or critique those assignments.

Billed as “The Cool Way to Learn English,” this site offers some “student pages” and a “teacher side.” Advice is given on teaching grammar, on developing integrated skills, and on using film and the internet to mentor student learning. The film section offers discussion points, lessons, handouts and links. Five films (e.g., Do the Right Thing and Dead Man Walking) are discussed. Students could create lessons for films that they think would work well.

This rather “basic” site helps address some of the needs of adult learners. It is called “English as a Second Language.” While this site offers links to many lesson plans, the emphasis is on practical and workplace communication. Those in search of vocabulary can read “100 Free Short Stories.” There is a large section dedicated to immigration rules and services. Attention is paid to ESP, English for Special Purposes.