Author Archive | Shane Mac Donnchaidh

8 Smart Ways to Rock EAL Assessment in the Classroom

For a teacher, assessment can be exhausting. You may even think of it as the bane of your working life. It can seem endless and, even worse, at times it can seem pointless: reams of paperwork imposed from on high …

ESL Essay Writing: 7 Important Tips to Teach Students Plus Resources for Writing Lessons

“Every good story has a beginning, a middle and an end.” This is true for a good essay, too. An essay needs a coherent structure to successfully articulate its arguments. Strong preparation and planning is crucial to providing that structure.…

11 Brilliant Techniques to Boost Your Students’ ESL Writing Skills

The writer: an almost mythical creature. Alone and aloof, at the mercy of some ethereal muse and her whims. How can we hope to inculcate the skills of the mysterious discipline in our ESL students when it can seem an …

Want to Become a Great EAL Teacher? Here Are 5 Valuable Tips to Keep You on the Right Path

You have a passion for language, don’t you? A desire to share the intricacies of your mother tongue with others who are hungry to learn? Or perhaps, after several years overseas on the ESL trail, you’ve decided the lure …

5 Ingredients for ESL Essay Writing That Would Tempt the Hamburglar

What is the hamburger essay and why is it a great main course when serving up ESL writing lessons? With over 700 million people speaking English as a second language, along with the status of English as the international …

Storytelling 101: 6 Engaging Writing Activities for ESL Students

Once upon a time, I was teaching an ESL class full of teenagers in a quiet, northern Thai town. They were ready to write, I was sure. They, however, were not so convinced. No matter how I implored, cajoled, …

8 Crucial Elements of Superb ESL Classroom Management

As an ESL educator, a large part of your “teaching” time will be spent not developing lesson plans or introducing new material, but doing something else entirely. This time will be spent simply figuring out how to manage your classroom …

The Bilingual Method of Teaching English: 7 Key Advantages, Disadvantages and an Explanation

Is a student’s mother tongue a help or hindrance in learning a new language? Pop your head into English language classes around the world and it would appear it’s more often considered a hindrance, where the full immersion method is …