New to teaching?
Start with the learner, then plan clear language support and meaningful practice.
THE TESOL TEACHER DEVELOPMENT LIBRARY
Understand the teaching.
Bring it to life.
From your first language analysis to a classroom of your own. Explore practical guides, classroom examples and reflective tasks for every module in your syllabus.
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SMALL DECISIONS. BETTER TEACHING.TESOL
A clear goal.
A meaningful classroom task.
01
Notice
What do your learners need to do?
02
Choose
Which support will help them get there?
03
Try & reflect
What evidence shows the learning?
27syllabus modules
162topic guides
54self-check questions
162teaching scenarios
A LITTLE DIRECTION
Start where you are.
Three routes into the library.
Move between them whenever you need.
Preparing a skills lesson?
Build a purposeful sequence around what learners need to understand and communicate.
Getting ready to teach?
Select resources, adapt to your class and use evidence to improve your practice.
A CLEARER NEXT STEP
Build your teaching knowledge.
Plan your next move.
Use the guides to prepare a lesson, strengthen a teaching decision or build a reflective portfolio. Each topic now includes a closer explanation, a teaching sequence, support and extension ideas, common mistakes and evidence to look for.
For questions about the TESOL course and study pathway, Aisha can help you explore your options.
YOUR TEACHER DEVELOPMENT LIBRARY
Find your next teaching idea.
Follow a module from start to finish,
or find a resource for tomorrow’s lesson.
162 topic guides · 27 modules
01
Learners & teaching
Learning and teaching contexts
Use learner purposes, classroom conditions and a practical needs analysis to make better teaching decisions.
02
Learners & teaching
Learners as individuals
Respond to learner histories, preferences, strategies and confidence without treating learners as fixed types.
03
Learners & teaching
What do teachers do?
Choose teacher roles deliberately: build rapport, set up tasks, clarify language, monitor and give useful feedback.
04
Learners & teaching
Maintaining learner motivation
Build relevance, manageable challenge, autonomy and visible progress into everyday teaching decisions.
05
Language awareness
Introduction to analysing language
Move from sounds and words to sentences and texts, and connect language form with meaning, function and context.
06
Language awareness
Introduction to researching language
Research the language you teach, choose dependable examples and anticipate problems with meaning, form and pronunciation.
07
Language awareness
Teaching vocabulary
Teach usable word knowledge: meaning, form, pronunciation, collocation and retrieval in meaningful contexts.
08
Language awareness
Language functions
Connect what people say to what they want to achieve, including context, appropriacy and formulaic language.
09
Language awareness
Text and discourse
Help learners create connected, meaningful texts through cohesion, coherence, reference and genre awareness.
10
Pronunciation
The sounds of English
Understand sound-spelling relationships, articulation, phonemic symbols and meaningful sound contrasts.
11
Pronunciation
Stress, rhythm and intonation
Show how prominence, weak forms, speech grouping and pitch contribute to meaning and listening comprehension.
12
Pronunciation
Teaching pronunciation
Plan pronunciation work around intelligibility, recognition, production and real communication.
13
The four skills
Focus on listening skills
Design listening lessons that develop comprehension through purpose, appropriate tasks and focused replay.
14
The four skills
Focus on reading skills
Connect reading purpose to skimming, scanning, close reading, inference and well-staged comprehension tasks.
15
The four skills
Focus on speaking skills
Give learners a reason to speak, support preparation and build participation, interaction and useful feedback.
16
The four skills
Focus on writing skills
Teach writing as purposeful communication through models, planning, drafting, revision and selective feedback.
17
The four skills
Integrating skills
Connect receptive and productive work in purposeful sequences while keeping each stage’s learning aim clear.
18
Classroom practice
Practising new language items
Sequence supported accuracy work and meaningful use, with practice choices that respond to learner performance.
19
Classroom practice
Teaching language items reactively
Use learners’ communication as evidence for selective language teaching, feedback and another chance to use it.
20
Classroom practice
Organizing and managing a class
Create conditions for learning through clear instructions, thoughtful interaction patterns, accessible records and purposeful monitoring.
21
Classroom practice
Teaching young learners and teenagers
Adapt routines, tasks and projects for different ages while responding to the actual learners in front of you.
22
Classroom practice
Teaching at different levels
Adjust support, task demands and language scope across proficiency levels while preserving meaningful communication.
23
Planning & resources
Choosing and using teaching resources
Evaluate and adapt materials for the learners, teacher, language aim and teaching context.
24
Planning & resources
Teaching with limited resources
Create purposeful language learning with a board, simple objects and the knowledge learners bring.
25
Planning & resources
Using educational technology
Choose technology for a learning purpose, considering usability, access, privacy and a workable fallback.
26
Professional development
Developing as a teacher
Turn experience, observation and feedback into a practical professional learning plan.
27
Professional development
Preparing for the workplace
Prepare evidence for teaching applications, evaluate roles and plan sustainable working routines.
YOUR PRACTICAL TOOLKIT
From ideas to teaching evidence.
Lesson plan template
Turn an objective into a clear sequence of tasks and checks.
Explore resourceObservation rubric
Focus an observation on evidence you can discuss and use.
Explore resourcePortfolio examples
Select and explain examples of your developing practice.
Explore resourceTeaching practice
Connect planning, delivery, observation and reflection.
Explore resourceKEEP LEARNING. KEEP REFLECTING.
Take the next step in your teaching.
Connect these self-study resources with the live learning and teaching practice described in the Cambridge Veritas TESOL course.