Tools for EFL/ESL Teachers

On the Session Planning page, you will find a general overview and set of guidelines for engaging in the sort of general planning involved in organizing a month (or 'session') of study. This may be particularly handy for those teachers who like to be thoroughly organized and actually look ahead at the 'big picture' involved in a class/students' ongoing progress. The download on this page makes for a useful double-backed reference chart which can be referred to quickly and conveniently.

Lesson Planning and Reflective Teaching deals more with the day-to-day task of planning specific lessons. It contains an overview of Jeremy Harmer's ESA (Engage/Study/Activate) model and shows how to fill out a lesson plan sheet according to the specific needs of particular classes. This section also includes an introduction to Reflective Teaching, and how it can be used as a follow up to daily lesson planning and class teaching to help teachers notice, evaluate and document in-class issus and progress. English Raven members can also access a full pre-made lesson planning template that is professionally formatted and available for instant application.

NEW! Comprehensive Lesson Planning and Reflective Teaching Journal in one download!

The Syllabus Design/Templates section of the site provides tips on what issues need to be considered in terms of putting together a general syllabus for EFL/ESL study. Examples are provided through a comprehensive collection of detailed syllabuses for books in Pearson/Longman's New Parade series, as well as a variety of templates that can be used or adapted to cater to a variety of timeframes.

Positive Reinforcement is often 'easier said than done' when it comes to managing and motivating classes of Young Learners. One of the keys is having quality materials that are easy to apply and easy for kids to relate to. In this section you will find examples of pre-made materials for Elementary and early Middle School age groups, including Star Student Awards, Mystery People Collectors Cards and Class Performance Points Charts.

Knowing how to make Basic Tests for young learner language classes is a valuable skill for teachers, and this section of the English Raven site focuses (for now) on making and implementing English Listening tests. These are based on the well-known Cambridge Young Learner English tests, and feature pre-made tests with accompanying scripts for the entire Let's Go series along with 19 ready-to-use test templates and a guide to finding and applying clipart to your tests.

Start or improve your students' basic reading ability using special Dolch Sight Word Resources, including a full listing of all the basic Dolch words, printable Dolch word cards categorized by grade level, and pre-formatted Reading Practice Cards in three levels designed to get students reading and differentiating between words in written form. Includes plenty of suggestions on how to implement the materials in class!

NEW! Dolch Word Reader: Why Can't I Fly?

Word Hoard 250 represents the first of three instalments designed to create a systematic and easy to apply vocabulary building/development system. There are blank templates for teachers to select words from their own curriculum, or a pre-formatted series covering 250 common English words from the Starters level of the Cambridge Young Learner English tests. Includes spelling test sheets and a progression graph download.

Word Hoard 500 is the second instalment of English Raven's vocabulary building/development system, adding another 250 words to Word Hoard 250 that focus on the Movers level of the Cambridge Young Learner English tests. In addition, this level features vocabulary word sorting grids at the bottom of each workpage to encourage convocation and collocation skills.

Writing for Young Learners is an area fraught with frustration and doubt a lot of the time. How can you get them writing, and once you do, how do you show them that there is a process to writing that eventually leads to some sort of product they can feel proud of? This section includes a full writing workshop kit and a detailed Teacher's Guide with plenty of tips on how to make the writing process work.

NEW! Junior Writing Workshop: Complete Writing Textbook with new additions and formatting!

What can you do in that very first class with YLs (aged 8-12) who may or may not already know some English? Getting Started provides some simple supplements pointed at helping the students get to know each other, as well as facilitating a list of student-generated classroom rules and a 'self-promise' each student makes to him/herself (handy for later if things start to go... wrong!).

Another vocabulary building resource, the ESL Content-Based Vocabulary Builder workbook supplement focuses on helping students find models of usage for key content words and providing them with opportunities to try and use the words in sentences of their own. Oringinally designed to supplement a content based learning program for young learners, you will find this tool handy for any kind of systematic vocabulary building.

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