ESL Teaching Tips for Advanced Students

Tip #1: Listening: When focusing on listening skills, allow students to talk about the topic beforehand. A few questions to freely discuss will activate pre-existing knowledge on the topic. More importantly, students won't waste the first twenty or thirty seconds trying to figure out the topic or purpose of the piece. They will be able to fully focus on the content.

Tip #2: Listening: Assign a monologue or dialogue from the class materials after the lesson. Students may listen to the piece on the train, between classes, in the evening after dinner -- really anytime, as long as they listen to the piece at least once per day. Change the focus from day to day, too. For example, on Monday, students listen to understand the general content. On Tuesday, they listen to each paragraph and provide a short summary of each part. On Wednesday, they listen for the key vocabulary words in context from the lesson. This keeps the assignment interesting and challenging.

Tip #3: Vocabulary: Present synonyms of the key vocabulary of an article, rather than the key words. Students should brainstorm additional synonyms in pairs or groups. When the target vocabulary is given as the next step, students have more words to associate with the new language. The connection is thus stronger, and retention is greater.

Tip #4: Vocabulary: Don't forget to choral drill new words with the students, as even advanced students need to repeat difficult vocabulary for pronunciation, intonation, and so on. You can have students repeat short sentences, too, adjusting the context via inflection and stress. Adequate practice translates into improved usage of the new vocabulary later in the lesson.

Tip#5: Speaking: Assign two questions for students to discuss in pairs. Each pair of students may work at their own pace, as long as both questions receive some discussion for five minutes or so. Everyone then switches partners, and discusses the same questions once more. Consider the first conversation as a practice session, as the second conversation will see improved fluency and accuracy with the language. What's more, students will adopt some of the ideas from their previous partner, thus enriching the second conversation.

Tip#6: Speaking: Consider incorporating gestures into dialogues and role play activities. This adds a level of realism to the activity, but also reinforces the language used because there is a link between language and movement. As an extension to the dialogues or role plays, set students to continue the conversation, or imagine the results of the initial activities.

Tip#7: Reading: When you give your students an article, allow two minutes to read through the information (or less if the article is quite short). Students then get into pairs and, without looking at the piece, discuss any information they can recall. It's less important to be correct than to share information for several minutes. Students then individually read the article again for two minutes or so, and confirm and correct the information just discussed. Again, everyone gets into pairs and adds to the pool of knowledge. Repeat once more, and you'll find that the whole class has a firm grasp of the contents of the article, even if a number of words and phrases aren't fully understood.

Tip#8: Reading: Assign questions before students read an article as part of the lesson. Students should understand the questions, and try to predict the answers. Everyone then reads the article and finds the answers. Retention of the key points improves because students need to find the relevant information, but also confirm their initial answers. If wrong, they want to know why they got the answer wrong. If correct, they're excited, and better remember the information.

Tip#9: Correction: Schedule a few minutes at the end of the lesson for correction, review, and feedback. You can briefly mention difficult words and language from the lesson. You can also give less intrusive correction on the final activity, which may not have been possible without interrupting the flow of a role play or discussion, for example. Lastly, give some feedback to the students, so they can gauge their progress. Think of it as a yardstick for students to measure what they didn't know before the class, and what they now know and are capable of at the end of the lesson.

Tip# 10: Homework: If you're struggling for homework ideas, there are so many opportunities available for advanced students. Assign a topic for students to research on Google or Wikipedia, either in English or in the mother tongue of the students. At the next class session, students can give a mini-presentation on the topic, with classmates asking clarification and follow-up questions. If the class is quite large, then students can write a short essay (half a page works best) on the topic.

Tip #11: Mistakes: Encourage students to notice mistakes. For any discussion or debate activity, place students in groups of three. But the third student won't participate in the discussion, and instead will listen to the conversation, notice mistakes, and take notes. After a few minutes, the third student reports any problems with the language. Switch roles, and repeat the activity two times.

Tip#12: Preparation: Allow students the chance to prepare a bit before leaping into a discussion, debate, or role play. Students need only a minute to think of what to say, how to say it, and which key vocabulary they want to use. In addition, students should be encouraged to think what their partner(s) might say, so as to respond quickly and correctly. Preparation works very well with difficult topics, or ones just a little beyond the ability of the class. Smoother, more interesting conversations result, and with better use of the key vocabulary and grammar.