One of the main services that Literacy Connexus provides is teacher training through our TEX program. Literacy Connexus’ TEX Trainers go to churches all over the state and provide ESL training to volunteer teachers in ESL ministries. TEX Training graduates are equipped with a TEX Manual, originally designed by our late founder Robin Feistel, which includes information on: lesson planning, activities, pronunciation, reading, writing, cross-cultural witnessing, and how to work with advanced ESL students. TEX Training as well as the manual, offer new teachers a wealth resources to help them get started confidently in their new role. The TEX Manual also includes a fantastic list of Teaching Tips for the ESL Class. I love these tips because I think that they provide a helpful starting point for new teachers, and a great mental check in for experienced teachers. I’m writing all of this because I’d like to share a small excerpt from the TEX Manual on teaching tips. Disclaimer: this may also be shameless promotion of one of many great resources that Literacy Connexus offers.

Without further ado, here is an excerpt on teaching tips from the TEX Manual. Drop your favorite teaching tip in the comments down below. Happy Teaching!

Tips for Teaching an Adult ESL Class

1. Teach students to do something in English that they weren’t able to do before they came to English class. 
2. Make sure every activity is related to the topic and lesson objectives. 
3. Choose language that will be immediately useful so that students will be excited about using it as soon as possible. 
4. Nothing should be taught only once. Repetition is essential, but with lots of variety. It’s better to teach one thing eight ways than to teach eight things one way. 
5. Sequence activities to move from simple to complex and from teacher controlled to student controlled. 
6. Avoid teaching too much in a single lesson. Be like a laser beam rather than a strobe light. Teach a little and practice a lot. 
7. Set-up for each activity is of critical importance. Demonstrate how to do the activity by using your teaching partner or the most advanced student in your class. Then, depending on the complexity of the task, ask two students to demonstrate how to do the activity. 
8. Build in optional activities to accommodate for student feelings of the day, or in case your students are more or less advanced than expected. 
9. Look at every exercise and ask “How can I make this more communicative?” Many times the answer will be to work in pairs or small groups. 
10. Place chairs in a semicircle or “U” to create a sense of community and facilitate movement. 
11. Allow time as a whole class for feedback from small groups.  
12. Remember that you are re-labeling, not teaching concepts for the first time. Your adult students already know how to tell time. They just don’t know the English words to express it. 

_{For the full list of Teaching Tips or for more information about teacher training please email info@literacyconnexus.org}