Mark and Matt discuss the benefits of using Dolch Sight Words in ESL classrooms, especially for young learners. They explore the historical context of sight words, Matt's personal experiences combining them with phonics, and Mark's approach to adapting the word lists for ESL students. The hosts also share several creative and interactive games, like Flashcard Fishing and Slap, to make learning sight words fun and effective.
Mark welcomes Dave from learnenglish-online.com to discuss his teaching experiences in Canada and Mexico, focusing on Japanese students who excel in grammar but struggle with speaking. They delve into effective techniques such as confidence-building activities, quick-response drills, reading aloud, and leveraging music and drama. Dave also shares insights into creating and promoting his own online English learning website, prompting a discussion on reaching international audiences through language-specific content.
Listen to the show. Even though it’s February, happy New Year! Valentine’s Day is on the way and Mark has a new site with some cool teacher tools. Print With My Pic.com allows you to add your photo to cards, calendars or certificates. Since Valentine’s is just around the corner, why not send your Valentine […]
Listen to the show. Christmas is upon us … ho! ho! ho! Merry Christmas everybody! Tis the season, so Matt has a new Christmas Song for you to download and use in your classes: Merry Christmas! It’s a play-like song with speaking, actions and a matching picture book! There are a few more resources discussed […]
Listen to the show. This show was recorded back in the summer and a few shows got bumped up, so if you feel we’ve gone back in time, I guess we have 🙂 But first, we of course have some new things on the web to talk about …Â Check those out at the end […]
Listen to the show. Happy fall everybody! We’ll get back to fall and Halloween for the games of the week, but Matt has some great news for you. He’s finished and launched Dream English volume 3. There is a download pack on his website and it contains all of the songs from the 3 CDs […]
Listen to the show. Mark starts off the show with a description of a few new things MES English has to offer its users. In the show Mark has gone over his speaking first curriculum and now some of that is listed on the MES English website with links to all of the resources and […]
Listen to the show. Matt has a few new songs on Dream English for younger children (shapes and more.) There’s also a little discussion on the benefits of using children’s songs . Dream English has 40+ free downloadable chants. They are very popular for teaching languages and Matt and Mark go over teaching with chants. […]
Listen to the show. The show starts off with unseasonable weather and a circus but moves quickly into this show’s theme, the present continuous. Matt and Mark go over: presenting the target language orally why teach the present continuous early on in your curriculum teaching and explaining the grammar using only English forming questions and […]
Listen to the show. Matt has added some new simple easy songs for 1-3 year old classes. Mark and Matt cover creating thematic units. This show covers what a thematic unit is, what the goals of a thematic unit should be, and what you need to get your thematic unit off the ground. Mark covers […]
Listen to the show. Mark has added some phonics games for students at Fun Fonix.com. This show discusses MES-English.com‘s curriculum for young learners. This is the second part of teaching without a textbook or teaching oral English only. For the first episode of this check here. The curriculum covers core sections: content – vocabulary target […]
Listen to the show. This show Mark explains some new features to the free word search maker at Tools for Educators. It really makes a word search a worksheet but keeps it fun. Matt has opened a new website Kids English Books.com and there you can find simple stories to download or use online. This […]
Listen to the show. This show Mark and Matt have a few new things on their websites for visitors. Matt has a new Skidamarink Song up on Free ABC Songs and Mark posted a new book to the Fun Fonix website. This week’s show covers the ‘do’ verbs. We discuss: teaching the concept of ‘do’ […]
Listen to the show. This show Mark and Matt have a few new things on their websites for visitors. Matt has put up some new videos to match the Dream English songs. Some of the videos have ‘live performances and some utelize images. Please check them out. Mark has added some worksheet makers to Fun […]
Listen to the show. This show discusses MES-English.com‘s curriculum for young learners. It’s the first steps for teaching without a course book or for teachers who are thrown into a teaching situation where there is no set curriculum or textbook. The curriculum covers core sections: content – vocabulary target language – phrases, questions, speech acts […]
Listen to the show. Welcome back for Season 3 of ESL Teacher Talk! If you’re new to ETT, then … just Welcome! 🙂 In Season 3 we have a new co-host, Matt of Dream English.com. With Matt and the other ETT co-hosts, we hope to cover some smaller areas of teaching English. We will be […]
Listen to the show. This is the end of Season 2 here at ESL Teacher Talk. This week we talk about the communicative approach. We cover: what the communicative approach is the theory behind the communicative approach and what it’s supposed to do the 5 main points of the communicative approach how the communicative approach […]
Listen to the show. Total Physical Response (TPR) is a methodology made famous by James Ashner. It’s teaching style based on kinestetic learning. Teachers speak and students respond in some manner physically. We cover: what TPR is the theory behind TPR and what it’s supposed to do how TPR can be used in your lessons […]
Listen to the show. This week’s show we welcome John Marks from www.eltgames.com and www.langwichscool.com and we discuss exam preparation courses. In this show we discuss some ideas on how to organize and exam prep course, what are some key points to include, how to maintain motivation, some ideas for the interview sections and more. […]
Listen to the show. This week’s show is almost the end of our teaching methodolgies series. Today we offer … Suggestodepia We cover: what suggestopedia is how does a suggestopedia lesson run the principles of the method what are the main benefits, claims, and criticisms of the method We’d definitely like to hear what you […]
Listen to the show. This week’s show is on using board games off the shelf.  Ron and Mark offer some suggestions for how you can use board games in ESL classes and as communicative activities. We cover: games that are ready to go right of the shelf, like Scrabble, Pictionary, … games you need to […]
Listen to the show. This week Chris Cotter from Heads Up English.com is with us again. Heads Up English.com has some new lower intermediate exercises: speaking activities, listening activities, grammar worksheets and vocabulary exercises free for download! Please check out Heads Up English.com! Mark starts the conversation off and offers quite a few ideas about […]
Listen to the show. We have a big show this week, so we get right into it. Mark and Ron cover these points concerning the Silent Way methodology: what is the Silent Way Method key aspects of the Silent Method how does the Silent Method work in class using cuisenaire rods, colored blocks and instilling […]
Listen to the show. Clive of ESL Podcards is with us again this week. He’s been working his site and enrolled in a new course. He’s learning about Content and Language Intergrated Learning (CLIL.) In the beginning Clive gives us a quick run down of what CLIL is. Clive and Mark take a look at […]
Listen to the show. THe show starts off with a brief look at the possible hazards associated with teaching ESL. Mark has a pretty interesting story from work this week. This podcast we’re glad to welcome Patrick Bickford, from Englipedia. Patrick tells us a little about where he’s teaching, what he’s doing and about the […]
Listen to the show. The new school year has started in Taiwan and Ron is back to work. Easter and St. Patrick’s Day are upon us this month and Mark has some new materials for these holidays if you’re interested. Easter – flashcards, coloring, stickers, sticker charts, printable greeting cards, certificates, Easter bingo cards, an […]
Listen to the show. Mark has a lot of news. Things are moving and shaking at MES-English with a new website that will bring a lot of flexibility to MES-English users and provide materials for teachers that may not have been MES-E users in the past. Tools for Educators.com! Mark has been working for a […]
Listen to the show. This week’s show deals with creating a lesson plan. requirements for a lesson plan why you should have a lesson plan what goes into a lesson plan the lesson plan as a record for other teachers tips for adding to your plan while it’s in action sample lesson plans from Mark […]
Listen to the show. Happy New Year! We’re back and we hope everyone has had a great holiday. Ron’s in Tailand and Mark is freezing in Nagano. The idea of enjoying winter and getting out in the snow came up, but … This show deals with putting together an ESL event, show, or presentation for […]
Listen to the show. Merry Christmas! This will be the last podcast of 2007 and we wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Mark has a lot of news this show. Hospital English.com has been updated! I’m sure everyone was waiting for this and it has come. There are […]
