Teaching Resources

Getting Started

Getting started as an independent ESL can be a daunting task, so I have compiled a list of different types of curriculum and platforms you can use, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as what I use to teach my students. 

Choosing a Curriculum

There are a few different ways to tackle the issue of choosing a curriculum for your students: Pre-made powerpoint presentations, create your own materials from scratch, compile a bunch of free materials from the internet, or buy an ESL book from a big publisher.

Pre-made Powerpoint presentations

Pre-made Powerpoint presentations include curriculum like Off2class, Chitchat2fluency, Crystal Clear etc.

Advantages: PPT formats are attractive, easy to use, and promote constant interaction between you and your student and encouraging maximum student output. Additionally, the PPT for kids follow something similar to VIPKID and other similar online platforms.

Disadvantages: Although PPT formats are great for kids, the curriculum is mostly supplementary to what they learn in school, and isn’t comprehensive. Some of the biggest problems with VIPKID students is that most students are weak when it comes to grammar and often lack the necessary knowledge of parts of speech when explicit instructions could be helpful in teaching them the rules of English. One of the biggest disadvantages of this type of curriculum is that they usually don’t have a homework component. I believe the curriculum developers will eventually add a homework component, but for now, it is non-existent.

The exception to this is Off2Class, which has a very highly organized and developed curriculum with homework and tests students can complete online. However, the curriculum is designed for adults, and I would only use it for teens and up.

Create your own materials from scratch

Advantages: These are YOUR materials, you can use, edit, and sell it as you wish.

Disadvantages: It takes a lot of time and work, and you might not have the expertise needed to develop a well rounded curriculum.

Create a Frankenstein curriculum

Create your own customized curriculum by putting together a bunch of free resources that you found on the internet .

Advantages: As the materials already exist, all you have to do is develop a course outline and pick the materials you want to use. You can use this method to create a curriculum that is specifically tailored to your teaching style and your students. 

Disadvantages: It still takes a lot of time, and you have to worry about licensing and copyright issues that, though unlikely, could possibly arise.

Websites with Free Resources

Perfect English grammar: very well organized grammar explanations and worksheets

One Stop English: worksheets and lessons plans 

Busy Teacher: worksheets and lesson plans developed by teachers

ilscollective: a collection of resources provided by teachers from around the world 

Buy a ready made curriculum

You can purchase a ready made curriculum by a pig publishing company like Macmillan, Pearson, Cambridge, and Oxford. They offer books for all levels and ages and there are plenty to choose from (Fly high, family and friends, Super Minds, Kids Box etc…) 

Advantages: Everything is planned and developed by highly qualified professionals who’s only goal in life is to develop ESL curriculum. They come with a student book, work book, teachers book, and extra resources you can choose to use or not. They are much more comprehensive than curriculum by VIPKID and other PPT type curriculum.

Disadvantages: These ESL books are made for a physical classroom, and as such, the digital versions reflect that. Although some ESL books have been adapted to work as an online curriculum, it is clearly an afterthought and not as user friendly as a PPT format. 

There are many to choose from, and you can’t really go wrong with whichever one you buy. It’s best to visit the respective websites and browse the catalogues, view the samples, and choose the one that you think works best for you and your students. Here are a few that I have used and recommend:

Cambridge

1. Super Minds– ages 6-12: decent digital resources for teachers, goes from levels A1-B1. Nice slow progression for students and not grammar heavy. You can download a free sample unit for each level and the course audio here

2. Kids Box-ages 6-12: I haven’t used it myself, but some of my colleagues have good reviews. User friendly and comprehensive

Pearson

  1.  Upbeat-ages 10+: This line is good for big kids and teenagers. It is pretty comprehensive and uses a lot of explicit grammar explanations 
  2. Live-beat 12+: This book is similar to Upbeat, but the progression of levels is much faster. Recommended for strong students and fast learners 
  3.  Big English 6-12: I haven’t actually used this book, but it looks pretty user friendly after a quick browse. Considering using this one myself. 

What do I use?

For me, I hate lesson planning, and creating a curriculum from scratch is a drain on my energy and time. So options 2 and 3 are out. I use a mix of a PPT curriculum and a digital ESL book:

For my younger students, I am using “Super Minds,” a series from Cambridge that comes in both British and American English. Although there are many books to choose from, I chose to go with Super Minds because I am familiar with it, and it is not very grammar heavy, meaning there are a lot of opportunities to expand the topics and focus on speaking. Although it is pretty light on grammar, there are extra resources that provide grammar exercises for each unit. One thing I don’t like about this book is that there aren’t many explicit grammar rules, so it is sometimes necessary to create my own mini presentation on some grammar points. Here is a sample unit, and this is what my lessons look like when I put it into a powerpoint presentation. I do 2 pages for every 25 minute lesson.

For teenagers and adults, I use Off2Class. Off2Class is awesome, but a little bit expensive (About $4 a month per student). You you can use the trial version for free, which allows you 20 students and a limited amount of free lessons available. 

It’s also worth mentioning that whatever type of curriculum you choose to use, you will need to supplement it with an outside source from time to time. You as the teacher know your students best, and you know what your student needs better than what any curriculum can provide. 

Choosing your Platform

There are quite a few options you can choose from when it comes to a platform, I’m just going to talk about the four I am familiar with: Zoom, Voov, Skype, Classin

Zoom

Advantages: Zoom is pretty easy to use, and the screen sharing is great if you are using an ESL book. One of my favorite things about zoom is the ability to use a virtual background with very little demand on the processor. While a virtual background can be accomplished on any video conferencing platform with the help of software such as OBS or ManyCam, they require a lot of power from your processor and my 2017 MacBook Air isn’t powerful enough to handle so much at one time. 

Disadvantages: It seems to be hit and miss with students in China being able to use it. The drawing tools are not intuitive, and whatever you draw isn’t fixed to whatever it is you wanted to draw on.

Voov

Advantages: It’s a very good Chinese copy of Zoom and works the same way, and it is accessible to students in China. 

Disadvantages: Not all the functions have been developed yet, plus the drawing tools aren’t very user friendly.

Skype

Advantages: It works in China, and has a decent screen sharing function

Disadvantages: It’s not as developed as Zoom.

Classin

Advantages: Classin is awesome, and it has tons of bells and whistles to use. You can schedule classes, upload lessons, and move your students and teaching materials around on the platform however you wish.

disadvantages: It takes a little getting use to, and the screen sharing isn’t the best if you are using an ESL book for a lesson. Also, the time is limited to 40 minutes if you are using the free version.

What do I use?

I use both Zoom and Classin (With VooV as a backup)

Zoom works great with Off2Class, so I use that for my teens and adult students who aren’t based in China. 

I use Classin with my Chinese students. Like I said, it’s not great when using ESL books like Super Minds, so here is what I do: I divide each lesson into 2 pages, and then take screen shots of each individual activity in the book, and put them into a power point presentation. So instead of having just 2 normal sized pages, I have 4-6 power point slides making it much more digestible for the student, and easier for me to navigate. I also sometimes add extra pictures or resources to the PPT when needed.