This manual is intended to help give prospective and current Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) some of the most common TESOL techniques and strategies recognized and used in the field.

The manual is intended to be practical, and these techniques, for the most part, follow the general need to communicate, interact, and make language come alive in the classroom. Thus, it would be appropriate to state that this manual is aligned most closely to the communicative approach. This is not intended as a pedagogical handbook nor does it attempt a discussion of research-based activities, rather, it simply highlights common practices in the current TESOL classroom. Practitioners are, however, highly encouraged to seek out studies that demonstrate the utility of each and all of these activities both individually and collectively.

The manual is organized into 3 distinct parts.

The first section introduces teachers to some of the most common activities known in English language teaching, starting with a “top ten” list. What follows are subsections categorized according to the “four skills” of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

The second section provides insight into a particular model of lesson planning. This model is the author’s alone, although similar models are found throughout the ESL/EFL world. The reasoning behind this model is rather simple. A teacher who can prepare a classroom with organized routines each week is more likely to have success. I have also found that my lesson plans are shaped much more readily when I remember certain steps that I might otherwise forget (take, for example, the need to introduce a theme with a warm-up).

The third section includes printable worksheets that demonstrate realizations of the activities described in the manual. Teachers are free to distribute and copy these for classroom use. You can download a .pdf file of all of the templates at:

http://wayzgoosepress.com/Activitie%20Templates.pdf

You are welcome to use these templates as many times as you like in your own language classrooms. If you have colleagues who would also like to use them, please ask them to purchase their own copy of the book (either paperback or ebook). This will keep the materials affordable for everyone.

I hope you enjoy this small contribution to language learning. May you keep searching for activities that resonate with you and your learners! Any inquiries into this manual can be done by emailing the author at sydixon@hotmail.com.

Happy teaching!

Dr. Shane Dixon

Arizona State University, Spring 2016