Monsters!

Some cute monsters to teach colours! (Or 'colors!)

These are fun and quirky, to engage students. They also have a lot of detail, so you can expand on them (such as stripes and spots, sad, crazy and happy monsters etc). Ask questions about them or play a game of 'Guess who?'


I have made a set of posters and matching flashcards, all available at tpt in both British/ Australian/ New Zealand and North American English (to account for small spelling differences):

FLASHCARDS (US)
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Monster-Color-Flashcard-Set-2660993

FLASHCARDS (UK)
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Monster-Colour-Flashcard-Set-2661034

POSTERS (US):
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/English-Colors-Posters-With-Fun-Monsters--2660776

POSTERS (UK):
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/English-Colours-Posters-With-Fun-Monsters--2660759

Hope you enjoy them!

Clothes Vocabulary Cards

When I was overseas teaching English, one of the resources that I needed most often but was hard to find, was flashcards for clothes. Students not only needed to learn the vocabulary, but the adjectives to describe them (stripey, spotty or polka-dotted, floral, plain etc) and the order to use those adjectives (e.g. 'She was wearing a blue, floral dress.')


I never did find a good set, so I have made my own. This one is in Australian English, (as the possibility of finding one of those was even rarer!), though I will soon add a British English and American English version to localise the language (so we don't argue what a thong is (; )

There are some pictures available online as posters, but they always seem to be made out of 1980's (non-matching) clipart or hand drawn black and white drawings from when men wore their pants around their bustline. So I cut mine out of cute paper to give them a fun, bright, quirky look and feel, and so they'd have a bit more heart.



They are available at: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Clothes-Flashcards-Australian-English-2616420

I'm also translating these into world languages - so far I have French: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Vetements-French-Clothes-Vocabulary-Flashcards-2616453

Fun Ways to Teach Vocabulary - Rooms and Furniture

One thing I found learning other languages was just how many words you need just to function - just to live with people, navigate around a room, do the shopping. And just how hard it is to learn a long, disjointed list of words, especially for kids.

As a teacher of English, I know just how necessary and yet potentially boring vocabulary lessons can be, so I have made a set of room cards in a cartoon style to make learning this sort of vocabulary fun, relevant and engaging.

I have one set of all rooms and common furniture with labels, and one without to test them.

I made the set resizable so they can be made into posters, worksheets or flashcards. Cool, huh? Great for ESL or early literacy/ reading recovery. More information and to buy them can be found here:
 
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Cartoon-Rooms-Vocab-Cards-and-Posters-2463383

Pretty darn good for $5 I think! (:

Fun Ways to Teach Everyday Vocabulary

One thing I found teaching English overseas was that it can be hard to find interesting ways to teach vocabulary, especially for kids. When included in textbooks, pictures were usually black and white and quite dark. Sometimes students would just sit and try and learn vocabulary from dictionaries, which obviously doesn't have a lot of relevance as well as being super boring!

So, I have made two resources that are intended to go hand-in-hand. The first is a set of flashcards which shows everyday objects, which has been featured in this blog before.

 Each target word is drawn as a bright cartoon, shown on one card with the word and another by itself. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Everyday-Objects-Noun-Vocabulary-Flashcards-ESL-LOTE-Literacy-2370229.



To go alongside this, I have also made resizeable images of cartoon-style rooms. Each room, (and the outside of a house), comes in a pair - one image by itself and one labelled with the words for that piece of furniture, furnishing or object in English. more languages will follow and I'll certainly take requests on that!

They also make awesome posters to decorate the classroom with or in your kit as an English language tutor (always looks impressive!). They are also a great stimulus for assessing students. They are bright and have a professional finish, as well as being bright and engaging (who doesn't love cartoons! (; )

These rooms can be found at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Cartoon-Rooms-Vocab-Cards-and-Posters-2463383.

As these two resources complement each other so well, I'm going to bundle them as well, so check out my store for this and future ESL/ English/ reading recovery resources (:

Everyday Object Flashcards for TESOL/ ESL, Early learners and Language Classes

There are really boring ways to learn vocabulary in your own or other languages, but hopefully this isn't one.

These are flashcards showing everyday objects and the word for them, BUT (and this is the cool part), they come in sets of three: one card shows the picture with the object, another shows just the picture and another shows just the word. So, after teaching the vocabulary with the handy picture, you can then test people using either the pictures or words (I recommend a game of pictionary), or let them pair them up in memory, snap or fish ('Have you got something to use in the bathroom?'). If you have to learn a lot of new words, why be boring?

I can't recommend these sorts of flashcards enough for ESL/ TESOL teachers teaching beginner or early intermediate students. They can be used in other ways too, to prompt conversations without  talking too much yourself (Teacher Talking Time), to create scenarios or roleplays such as grocery shopping, homestays or staying at a hotel, (Excuse me please, could I please get a clean towel?'), as a stimulus for describing things or expressing likes and dislikes. They make a bright and interesting addition to lots of lessons.

The set is available online at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Everyday-Objects-Flashcards-ESL-Beginners-LOTE-and-Literacy-2370229 for only $2.00.

Letter Combination (Phonics) Flashcards (ph, sh, th, ch, wh, gh)

Copyright 2015 Meg. English

This is a set of 36 flashcards with bright, fun, hand-drawn images.

They show the consonant combinations that many students have problems with - sh, th, ph, wh, gh and ch (letter combinations using 'h'). This is because adding an 'h' can suddenly change the whole sound, for example from 's' to 'sh'.

Each letter combination has 1 or 2 words. Each word has a card showing just the images, a card with the word for that image and a card showing the target letters.

The cards create a visual aid for the target letter combinations. The word is given to assist with sight learning and the target is drawn out to help students understand which letter combination is associated with that sound.


These can be used as prompts, in memory games, snap or in matching activities, for example:
* letter combination (e.g. 'ch') and image (e.g. 'cheese');
* letter combination (e.g. 'ch') and word (e.g. 'cheese');
* image and word;
* image to prompt word;
* image to prompt letter combination 'ch'.

These will teach the students to scan for these combinations, read the word by sight and associate the image with the sound (phonic association).

These are designed for young learners or ESL learners and can be found at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Letter-Combination-Phonics-Flashcards-ph-sh-th-ch-wh-gh-2111239

Copyright 2015 Meg English.

Relexive Pronouns (-self and -selves)

The type of construction 'I saw myself' or 'They washed themselves' is quite a strange one to many speakers of other languages and can even be confusing to young native speaker 'He washed heself'. For teachers it can be a difficult lesson to make interesting to to give examples for.

Copyright 2015 and 2016 Meg. English

This is a set with a complete lesson on reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, himself, herself etc) including two sets of flashcards - fun cartoon hands to use as prompts as well as paired cards with the reflexive and the corresponding pronoun (e.g he - himself, she - herself). The paired cards can also be used in pairing games (e.g. memory or snap), in pairing exercises or as prompts.
 
The lesson includes explanations of the grammar, examples, spoken exercise and instructions on how to use the flashcards. It is a very direct, to-the-point lesson which suits shorter lesson times (less than an hour).
 
The lesson can be found at my tpt store for only $2.00:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reflexive-Pronouns-self-and-selves-No-Prep-Lesson-Flashcards-2109451


This makes a good lesson in itself, but can also be used as a display lesson or to advertise ESL classes. Through the lesson, you will be able to assess the skill level of new students.

This is based on a lesson I taught quite frequently and is a great lesson for building confidence as the target structure can be picked up quite easily for intermediate students. This means that students can focus on extending speaking skills.

Copyright 2015, Meg. English.

The Hamburger Hut - Tactile Lesson to Target Spoken Skills

The Make-Your-Own Hamburger Hut, gives your students have the opportunity to make their own hamburgers out of the ingredients given. You get all the pieces separately and can put together your own hamburgers, as you like them (or ask someone else to, in order to get confidence in ordering, expressing opinions and asking questions).

It's great for both ESL / TESOL learners and early learners. You can cut out and laminate the pieces so that they can be reused again and again. It really engages students in a physical task. They can also be put onto a smartboard and moved around.

Copyright 2015 Meg. English

This can used to teach all sorts of lessons:

* Expressing likes and dislikes (’I like cheese’, ‘I don’t like beetroot on my hamburger’);
* Expressing opinion  (‘I don’t think it is right to eat meat’ ‘I think egg on hamburgers is weird’);
* Food vocabulary (lettuce, tomatoes, cheese etc);
* Asking questions  (‘Do you like cheese?’ ‘Would you like mustard on your hamburger?’);
* Colours;
* Discussion of cultural differences and food preferences;
* Countable and uncountable nouns (much vs many) (‘I don’t like much mustard’ ‘I only want a few pickles’);
* Prepositions of place (under, over, on top of, on etc) ;
* Superlatives and comparatives (bigger than, the biggest etc); and
* Ordering food target language (‘I would like..’ ‘Can I please have…’ etc).

Students can do the activities all together or can break into groups. Consider having one student taking orders, one making the hamburgers and other people ordering (then swap)! (:

They have been hand-drawn in a fun cartoon style to make them more appealing. And yes, I am Australian, so I have included pineapple and beetroot, but that's something else you can discuss with your students! (;

I had a lot of fun with its prototype with ESL students in Japan. There were lots of giggles and more importantly, something to bring out those confident speaking skills.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Hamburger-Hut-Tactile-Fun-to-Target-Speaking-Skills-2011587

Preposition of Place Flashcards

These are fun cards to teach where things are. The set has 9 flashcards showing prepositions of place (on, under, behind, next to, in front of, in, out and around).

Each card has a cute illustration showing the target preposition, the word by itself and a sentence describing the scene.

These can be used for younger students or as an ESL (TESOL) resource. It is an especially good resource for reading recovery.

Flashcards are a fun and engaging way to teach. The pictures involve the students in looking at and describing the scene and the language targets are broken down into an easy to understand format. They also brighten up your classroom, and are useful in language assessments or display lessons.

I made myself a handrawn version of these when I was teaching TESOL many years ago. I found that they were a good way to really see where a younger student was at, as I could test vocabulary and sentence structure using the images only (written and all verbal), without using a written test (much more fun, age appropriate and far less scary). As few children knew all of the prepositions, you could uncover the writing and go through the sentences with them. This way they picked up something quickly so had a sense of achievement. The students were engaged and the parents felt like it was worthwhile (: In this way, you can engage speaking skills along with written skills, rather than secondary to them.

Copyright 2015, Meg. English

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Cats-on-the-Furniture-Prepositions-of-Place-Flashcards-1780428

These cards are also available in Spanish and French, and hopefully more languages soon:

 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Les-Chat-Sur-Les-Meubles-French-Preposition-of-Place-Flashcards-2356617

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Los-Gatos-en-Los-Muebles-Spanish-Preposition-of-Place-Flashcards-1791768

Hi and Welcome!

Hi and thanks for visiting! I've started this blog page to keep people up to date with the new resources I make, give suggestions, show the resources in action and generally have a fun landing site for new ideas.

I hope you enjoy it!

At the moment, my resources are available for free or for purchase on tpt (Teachers Pay Teachers). This is the link to my store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Meg-English.

If you like what I'm doing, please follow me on tpt.

Thanks for stopping by (: Happy teaching (: