Starting a new job can be stressful. Starting a job that you may have no formal experience in, can be even more stressful. Here are some resources you may find helpful as you prepare/begin your journey as an English teacher through EPIK, or any other ESL position.
Lessons/Pedagogy (teaching) – Always aim to make your own lesson plans. Only use these resources as a guide, or inspiration.
LinkedIn TESOL International Association group – Whether or not you are a regular user of LinkedIn, join this group to gain insight on various teaching styles and lesson plans from ESL teachers themselves. Over 23,000 members!- Waygook.org – One of the most well-known resources for ESL (English as a second language) teachers in Korea
- ColorinColorado.com – Focuses mainly on ESL instruction in US schools but you can find a wide variety of helpful information on this website.
- ShareMyLesson.com – Browse thousands of ELL (English language learner) focused lessons after free sign up.
- ESLPrintables.com – Library of printables related to grammar, vocab, listening, speaking, reading, writing, cinema and television, and even songs.
- LessonPlanet.com – ESL vocabulary lesson plans and worksheets.
- ESL-Galaxy.com – “Free ESL Printables, Kids Activities, Games and Online Exercises for Grammar, Vocabulary & Pronunciation.”
- TeachChildrenESL.com – Free worksheets, flashcards, games, lesson plans and online activities.
- TeachersPayTeachers – Offers both free and paid lesson plans and worksheets.
Visuals play a major role in language acquisition. Make your teaching materials more engaging with these resources.
Images – Use these websites for images you can use in your materials
- Flaticon.com / Freepik.com – Free vector image library
- Pixlr.com – for photo editing
- Google Images – needs no explanation or link.
Go on virtual field trips! – Instead of simply telling your students about a location, SHOW them and take them on a virtual field trip with street view enabled web maps.
- Worldwide – GoogleMaps / Streetview
- KR – 네이버지도 (Naver Maps) – Also has a street view function (거리뷰)
- KR – Daum 지도 (Daum Maps) – Also has a street view function (로드뷰)
Presentations – Use these to enhance your instruction
- Prezi
- Google Slides – Has an easy to use collaboration feature so that you can work with your co-teacher(s) remotely on creating presentations for classes.
- PowerPoint
- HanShow – Hancom office counterpart of PowerPoint
Classroom Management/School life
- The Secrets to Classroom Management in South Korea – KorVia column highlighting important points related to classroom management in Korea.
- Classroom Management with EFL Students (by Natalie Britton) – First-hand account from an ESL teacher in Korea.
- Classroom Management for Teaching in Korea – Several helpful tips related to implementing and maintaining your classroom management.
- Having a good relationship with your Korean co-teachers – This article explains how to approach the all important relationship that you will have with your co-teacher(s).
- Interview with a Korean: Sunny Park on coteaching – Perspective and insight from a Korean co-teacher
- MyKoreanSchoolLunch.tumblr.com – Take a peek at what school lunches look like in Korea
I hope you find these links useful. If you know any other ESL resources, feel free to share them in the comment box below!
Ad astra per aspera,
-Jeffrey
Disclaimer: The review provided in this post should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the mentioned service(s). No compensation was provided in exchange for the review of these service(s).
