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You just got your very first teaching job in a foreign country, congratulations! Now the real work begins. You’re probably wondering how to be a good ESL teacher when you don’t have any experience. Don’t worry! Your TEFL course should have prepped you for teaching in a classroom. However, nothing can actually prepare you for when you’re standing in front of 30 students, and you’re supposed to be an English expert.

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Which means you should know your stuff.

I’m not saying you need to be a grammar freak, but you should know there are twelve tenses in English. When the students learn English they are drilled on a lot of grammar rules that as native speakers, we don’t really pay attention to because it’s natural to us.

No matter where you teach, there is always a time frame where the newly hired teachers struggle to find their groove. So to help you find your groove, I’ve made this list of things you should do to help you with your first teaching job and become a good ESL teacher.

#1: Planning

As a teacher, it’s your job to plan for everything. And I mean everything. If you’re teaching kindergarten, you better have a ton of activities. Younger students have very short attention spans and become bored quickly. Older students are quicker to judge you if you make a mistake.

You’ll have to create solid lesson plans. Your lesson plan should outline what your goals and objectives are for that lesson. The lesson plan will also be read by your head of department, so it should be written properly.

When planning activities, I get a lot of ideas from Pinterest. It has been a lifesaver. There are also plenty of online ESL games that can be played in the classroom. You can find these through a simple Google search.

My favorites are BINGO, word hunting, I Spy, Guess the Word, and Fly Swatter.

#2 Learn the Teaching Lingo

There’s probably a good amount of ESL teachers, who did not study education at university. I, am one of those people. So it helps to learn some teaching language and methodologies that are specific to the ESL world. These can include Project-Based Learning (PBL), total physical response (TPR), and Communicative Language Teaching (CLT).

When you can show that you know your stuff to management and other teachers, it boosts your reputation while earning the respect from your peers.

It is also common to have meetings with teaching staff to go over how things are going in the classroom and talk about the students. Becoming a good English teacher is more than just showing up to the classroom and teaching the students. Effective ESL teachers care about their students and want them to succeed.

Another topic that I found helpful to research before teaching, is knowing how to spot children with learning disabilities.

Oftentimes, classes are large and there will be a wide range of students in one class. It’s important that as a new ESL teacher, you can provide assistance to children with learning disabilities.

Schools will often have a child psychologist on hand that can help with these students.

#3 How to Be a Good ESL Teacher? Ask a Lot of Questions

There are going to be a lot of times where, as a new ESL teacher, no one is going to tell you how things work around the school.

People tend to be very vague because they don’t trust you yet. You kind of just figure it out as the days go by.

Remember not to get too frustrated and start venting to everyone. Chances are others won’t want to listen. This is why you should befriend a least one foreign teacher who has worked at the school for at least one year.

They will have all the insider information that you want to know, so ask a lot of questions!

Do you need a TEFL certificate? I recommend this 120 hour TEFL course from Premier TEFL. You can easily complete the course online and it’s very affordable.

#4 You Are Seen as “The Fun Teacher”

Schools really like to show off their foreign teachers.

You may be used for marketing or have to do some impromptu dance that no one told you about. Just remember to not freak out and complain.

The senior teachers may get out of it because they’re “senior teachers,” but you are new, so you are the one who gets shown off.

If you have some sort of special talent like singing, playing an instrument or making different voices, the school will take advantage of that. So be careful with what you share with the school and what you want to keep private.

Also has a foreign teacher, you automatically have a reputation of being new and interesting. This can be both good and bad.

Students will look forward to your class because you are teaching the students in a different way from their teacher with the same nationality. You might include more games or activities in your lesson as opposed to worksheets. They will be excited and engaged in your lesson.

However, students with minimal desire to learn English will be the students that cause behavioral problems in your lessons. These students will treat your lesson as free time because they don’t understand you.

This is especially common in Asian countries where you might be teaching in Primary or Early Years.

So, the question remains, how to be a good ESL teacher when students behave like this?

Well, I’m going to be honest with you. There is no correct answer for this. I know that it can be frustrating when one student is taking up all your class time because they are acting out.

Depending on your school disciplinary procedures, you can send the student to the management office, inform the class teacher about what happened in your lesson, talk to the student one-on-one after the lesson, or set up a parent meeting.

#5 This is a Job, Treat it Like One

There are many different advertisements for teaching English abroad. Many of which show pictures of traveling during your weekends, and partying at night.

Well, I hate to break it to you, but being around kids all day can be exhausting. There will be days where you just want to go home and sleep or stay in all weekend.

And I get it, you’re in a new country, you want to explore as much as you can. I’ve had many amazing experiences in Thailand from feeding elephants, climbing mountains, and lazy afternoons on the beach.

Just remember to take it slow, there’s no rush to see everything all in a weekend.

The last thing you want is to become the tired teacher that calls off work because you’re too hungover. Even though this is a job in a foreign country, it’s still a job and you need to treat it like one.

Being a good ESL teacher means showing up to work and caring about your students.

In Summary

These are my tips on how to be a good ESL teacher. I hope they provided you with some insight into teaching abroad.

Which tip do you find the most interesting?

Let me know in the comments below!