John B. Kirk, AOK Basic Skills Workshops
E-mail: kirkjohnb5@gmail.com
Website: www.aokbasicskills.gratis
January 1, 2024
How to Begin an English Club
Table of Contents
Unit 1: English Clubs
A Suggestion on How to Organize and Manage an English Club and Club Meetings
More Ideas for English Clubs
Strategies for Getting Adults to Speak
Several Sites with Basic English Teaching Guidelines to teach
Beginners
Unit 2: Free English Placement Tests
English Placement Tests
Unit 3: Games for Adults – All Levels
Game websites
Unit 4
How to Use “USA Learns” & “VOA Teaching Videos” for Beginning Teachers & Beginning Students
Using “USA Learns”
“VOA Teaching Videos”
Unit 5: Free Restaurant English
Practice with Restaurant English
Unit 6: Free Hotel English
Practice with Hotel English
Unit 7: Free Tour Guide English
Practice with Tour Guide English
Unit 8: Free Business English
Practice with Business English
Unit 1: English Clubs
It’s important to remember that a lot of free information has been put on the Internet in websites for English teachers. Some of this information is easily usable for interested members of an English teaching club. Some of these sites are below.
An Idea for Organizing and Managing English Learning Club Meetings
- The group will need a place to meet and if possibly a native English speaker/s to help run the club. It should have a leader and/or presenter for the meeting who can speak slowly at the advanced beginner level in English. Families and friends can also use this concept but on a reduced level.
- At the beginning of each meeting a visitor or a member can do a presentation or present about a 10-minute English video for the whole group on a laptop or monitor. The laptop should have a slightly larger screen available and extra speakers, if possible.
- The club members will be given a chance to ask questions in their native language if they don’t understand something.
- After, those in attendance can divide into groups of several levels of speaking ability. Each group should have a leader.
- The groups will answer questions written on a piece of paper about the presentation or the video. Each student should receive a copy of the questions. There will be total of 10-12 questions, and they will be ordered in terms of their language difficulty with the easiest first.
- Each group will answer the questions that they are able to in written form. If possible, different members from the higher groups can take turns helping the lower groups, or each group can sometimes just work with their own members. It’s fine to translate when necessary.
- After about 10-15 minutes, the groups will return to the presentation area.
- The questions will now be answered by group volunteers with the answers put on a black or white board for everyone to copy.
- After this, refreshments will be served and all the members can have open English conversation time.
- At this time the members can also decide what activities they would like to do with their partners during the following week. The students can study English independently as they choose with their families, friends and other club members in person or on the internet.
- For example, different group members can choose one or more units from their answers to the questions from the presentation or USA Learns, Duo Linguo, VOA “Let’s Learn English” or other courses or sites. The members in each group will not all do the same assignments unless they choose to.
- In the AOK Basic Skills Guide and other guides there are also other good lessons to be found in reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar, vocabulary and study skills at the A1-2 levels and higher. In the AOK Guide, some very popular sites have been marked in bold, but many of the other sites also have good activities.
- Before the end of the meeting, plans will try to be made for a presentation and refreshments for the following meeting.
More Ideas for English Clubs
https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/creating-fun-club-activities-to-learn-english/3958234.html Voice of America club +ideas.
Clubs with beginners can look for intermediate speakers to help them with their activities.
Strategies for Getting Adults to Speak
https://busyteacher.org/7370-15-tricks-get-adult-learners-talking.html
Independent English Clubs
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/english-clubs Very good site with advice on how to start a club.
https://www.englishclub.com/english-clubs/ Good information on how to start a club.
https://www.englishclub.com/esl-worksheets/conversation
Materials:
TESL Conversation Questions
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-discussion-topics-for-adults/ Discussion topics, good for teens, too.
http://ideas4el.com/Speaking-Topics/
https://www.lingopressbooks.com/english/english-conversation-questions-beginners/
https://eslgold.com/practice-speaking/conversation-topics/
http://www.learnex.in/basic-english-conversation-questions-improve-your-english/
https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/english-club-texts-and-materials There are three 200 page manuals each for a different audience on how to start and manage English Clubs and run the meetings. The manuals are basically for level B1 and above.
Voice of America (VOA) Club Ideas
Warm-up activities – Two Truths and a Lie
Guest speakers
English language songs and readings
Skits
Newsletters
Competition between clubs
Film reviews
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-speaking-activities-for-adults/
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/teach-yourself-english/ A2-B2: 10 Useful Tips to Teach Yourself English
https://busyteacher.org/classroom_activities-speaking-worksheets/ A1-B1 Many free activities that are good for the basic skills. Good for English clubs.
https://eslspeaking.org/category/esl-games-adults/ A1-B2 Some activities good for English clubs.
https://www.english.com/blog/teaching-english-to-beginners/ 7 tips for teaching English to beginners
https://www.english.com/blog/six-top-tips-for-teaching-english-online/ Teachers or English Clubs
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/hotel-esl/ A1–B2 Adult English Clubs with a hotel theme. This is a great site for ideas and information on how to teach hotel English. Club members at the B1 level can lead their clubs in these activities. If they need to, they can use Google translator for some help.
Please remember to look for different types and levels materials in their different categories such as reading, writing…
Several websites with basic guidelines for teaching English
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=es&sl=en&u=https://www.english.com/blog/6-tips-for-teaching-business-english-to-low-level-learners/&prev=search&pto=aue Ideas par enseñar Ingles a adultos de niveles A1-2.
https://www.wikihow.com/Teach-English-As-a-Second-Language-to-Beginners
https://www.wikihow.com/Teach-Adults-a-Foreign-Language
Techniques & Ideas for the Beginner Level
https://www.apsva.us/reep/eslcurriculum/ EFL curriculum for adults and ideas on how to teach it.
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=es&sl=en&u=https://www.apsva.us/reep/eslcurriculum/&prev=search&pto=aue EFL curricula para adultos de REEP – excelente!
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/english-clubs
https://www.reddit.com/ on line forum
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/one-on-one-esl/
Beginner Dialogs
https://www.thoughtco.com/english-dialogues-for-learners-1210119
https://www.goabroad.com/articles/teach-abroad/teaching-english-to-complete-beginners
https://www.english.com/blog/teaching-english-to-beginners/
His teacher training interests include collaborative learning, gamifying his classes
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/english-clubs
https://www.goabroad.com/articles/teach-abroad/teaching-english-to-complete-beginners
https://www.english.com/blog/teaching-english-to-beginners/
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/one-on-one-esl/
Unit 2: Free English Placement Tests
Test A1-A2 written
https://www.englishtag.com/tests_with_answers/level_test_elementary_A1.asp A1-2 test.
Test A2-B1 written
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/online-english-level-test A2-B1
Tests both written and listening: A2-B2
https://www.examenglish.com/leveltest/index.php A2-B2 with a 10 minute listening test
https://www.examenglish.com/leveltest/listening_level_test.htm Listening test British accent
https://www.examenglish.com/leveltest/grammar_level_test.htm Grammar level
Unit 3: Games for Adults Levels A1-B2
https://eslgames.com/ A1-B2 Games for Adults
https://eslspeaking.org/top-10-esl-activities-adult-beginners/
https://eslspeaking.org/category/esl-games-adults/
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-speaking-activities-for-adults/
https://eslactive.com/best-esl-games-for-adults/
https://www.easyeslgames.com/esl-games-adult-classes/
https://teachinginkoreanuniversity.com/esl-speaking-activities-for-adults/
Unit 4 : How to Use “USA Learns” & “VOA” Teaching Videos for Beginning Teachers & Beginning Students
Scope and Sequence First Course
Introduction The U.S.A. Learns Web site consists of three unique programs. First English Course is designed for ESL beginner-level adult learners. The course uses a classroom-based teaching video, Putting English to Work 1, as the basis of the scope and sequence of the content. Twenty sequenced units of instruction are organized in thematic topics. Activities in each unit build upon previously presented content.
Test A1-A2 written
https://www.englishtag.com/tests_with_answers/level_test_elementary_A1.asp A1-2 test. This test is to help determine the student’s level.
https://www.usalearns.org/usa-learns-site-map El mapa de todo el programa.
https://www.usalearns.org/Content/Documents/ScopeSequence.pdf Information about what is taught in each unit in the different levels.
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=es&sl=en&u=https://www.usalearns.org/usa-learns-site-map&prev=search&pto=aue site map in Spanish + keep cursor in place and it changes to English
USA Learns Writing Activity Prompts — Course 1
https://www.usalearns.org/teacher-faq
Course I & II count 3 hours per unit, and the Reading course 2 hours per unit.
https://www.usalearns.org/pdf/USA_Learns_Overview.pdf
Video help before sign in is in Spanish for first timers. Also, site map is there.
https://www.usalearns.org/aprenda-ingles
USA Learns Writing Activity Prompts — Course 1 1st English Course Food / Language Practice 1 / Conversations Read the directions. Type your sentences in the box. Then click Done.
Write sentences about food you like and food you don’t like. What do you like? Is it good for you? Which foods do you NOT like? Example: I like carrots. Carrots are good for you. I don’t like celery. Places to Go / Language Practice / Life Skills:
Phone Messages Click Listen. Then, click in the box. Type the message you hear and then click Done.
Sending writing to the teacher – mostly with Level 2.
https://www.usalearns.org/practice-reading-and-english
https://www.usalearns.org/english-language-life-skills
https://www.usalearns.org/usa-learns-overview – online learning
VOA “Let’s Teach English” – Basic teaching Instructions for Beginners
https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/lets-teach-english-introduction/3966541.html
About Let’s Teach English
The Let’s Teach English video series offers free online training for English language educators worldwide. It is based on the Women Teaching Women English text for adult, beginning level learners. Voice of America and the University of Oregon are partners on this project. The course includes:
- An introductory segment which summarizes the main topics of second language teaching and shows classroom examples of the topics.
- Ten 5-minute video episodes based on the units of Women Teaching Women English. Each of these episodes provides a model of communicative language teaching through simulated language classroom interaction.
- Updated digital downloads of the Women Teaching Women English student book, teacher’s manual, and audio files.
Unit 5: Free Restaurant English
Ordering food in a restaurant
https://www.linguahouse.com/es/esl-lesson-plans/general-english/at-the-restaurant A2. Cartoon videos of ordering food with dialogue.
At the restaurant worksheets
https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-worksheets/vocabulary/going-restaurant A1-2. English ESL Going to a restaurant worksheets. Very popular and downloaded many times.
https://es.liveworksheets.com/worksheets/en/English_as_a_Second_Language_(ESL)/At_the_restaurant A1-2. A number of worksheets.
Restaurant vocabulary
https://www.esolcourses.com/content/topics/food/eating-out/at-the-restaurant.html General English vocabulary for dining out in restaurants.
Restaurant Conversation
http://iteslj.org/questions/restaurants.html A2-B1. Conversation Questions Restaurants & Eating Out.
At the restaurant dialogue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgfdqVmVjfk A1. Cartoon dialogue, well done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgfdqVmVjfk A1. Learn how to order food and drinks in a restaurant and how to make positive or negative comments on food. Enrich your vocabulary with new English words.
https://www.eslfast.com/robot/topics/restaurant/restaurant.htm A1. 16 lessons with dialogue and audio.
https://webenglish.se/restaurant-7-9/ A1-B1. A large variety of videos about eating in a restaurant with some worksheets – some videos are very humorous.
At the restaurant lesson plan & worksheet
https://www.linguahouse.com/es/esl-lesson-plans/general-english/at-a-restaurant A1-2. With cartoon video.
https://www.teach-this.com/functional-activities-worksheets/ordering-food-restaurant A1-B1. Roleplays, worksheets and activities.
https://bogglesworldesl.com/survival_travel_english/restaurants.htm A2. Role play activity.
https://www.esl-lab.com/easy/restaurant-order/ A2. Dialogue and audio for man ordering food + questions.
https://www.thoughtco.com/esl-lesson-plan-for-conversation-1210025 A2. Teaching instructions for dialog at a restaurant with a menu.
https://eslspeaking.org/category/esl-games-adults/ Jobs, ESL Activities, Games, Lesson Plans, Worksheets & More for adults.
https://www.esl-lounge.com/level2/lev2restaurantrcards.php A2-B1. A variety of restauant role cards.
Unit 6: Free Hotel English
Conversation about hotels
https://www.eslconversationquestions.com/hotels/ B1. Some interesting conversation questions about hotels.
https://englishpost.org/hotel-conversation-questions/ A2-B1. A number of questions about hotels.
Hotel vocabulary exercises pdf
https://eslflow.com/tourism-and-hotel-vocabulary-and-language-exercises.html A2-B1. Vocabulary practice for various hotel situations; exercises with answers.
https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/vocabulary/hotel A2-B1. Vocabulary exercises on Accomodation, Exercise on Booking a Room, Text on Booking a Room (with questions on the text), Exercise on Eating Out.
Different hotel support services
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2UNNC1HXh4 A2. Video for different hotel support services.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVtdM-76Mfg A2-B1. Video for different hotel support services.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJrRiVjeOMc B1. Video English for common hotel situations and for working in a hotel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vH5yTXvWpI A2-B1. Video for different hotel situations.
https://www.eslfast.com/robot/topics/hotel/hotel.htm A2-B1. A large number of dialogues on various topics.
https://www.englishformyjob.com/
FOOD & BEVERAGE | HOTEL INDUSTRY | TRAVEL/TOURISM | POLITENESS TRAINING | All exercises are free.
“EnglishForMyJob.com is a great place to practice English for people who work in restaurants, bars, hotels, cafes, airports, etc. and need to improve their language skills.”
All of our exercises are free, so pick a category above and start practicing!
https://www.oxfordonlineenglish.com/hotel-english B1. Video: English for common hotel situations.
Hotel listening exercise
https://www.esl-lab.com/easy/hotel-reservations/ A2. Easy listening exercise.
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/hotel-booking A2-B1 Hotel booking listening practice.
Check in and out at a hotel dialogue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I8-py8Eo3A B1. Video on requesting a room.
https://www.vocabulary.cl/Lists/Hotel-Dialogues.htm A2-B1. Making reservations, checking in, checking out.
https://www.englishclub.com/english-for-work/hotel-check-in-out.htm A1-B2 Checking guests in & out.
https://www.theenglishspace.com/useful-english/hotel/conversation.html#:~:text=Conversation%201,fill%20in%20this%20form%20please.&text=Your%20room%20number%20is%20345,Enjoy%20your%20stay. A2-B1. Arriving and leaving a hotel.
Hotel Vocabulary Worksheet
https://es.liveworksheets.com/worksheets/en/English_as_a_Second_Language_(ESL)/At_the_hotel/At_the_hotel_-_listening_bx6141ai A2. 12 vocab exercises on different hotel topics with worksheets.
https://www.excellentesl4u.com/esl-hotel-vocabulary.html A2-B1.Great vocab list with definitions.
Making Hotel Reservations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5MXfq9rtm4 B1. Video for reservations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY0K5f06adg A2-B1. Video: listen for making reservations with two people, one with an American Accent and one with an English accent.
Unit 7: Free Tour Guide English
Tour Guide Vocabulary
https://www.engvid.com/english-vocabulary-tourism/ B1-2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CrI8WUV1Dg B1-2.
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/english-tourism-vocabulary/ B1-2. Your English Tourism Vocabulary List for Connecting with Absolutely Any Traveler
https://englishstrategies.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/vocabulary-on-tourism-travel-and-attractions-1/ B1-2. A good, organized list.
https://whatsup.es/blog/english-vocabulary-travel-trips-and-tourism Good English vocabulary terms explained in Spanish.
Sample Tour Guide Speech
http://www.nvtc.ee/e-oppe/Varkki/tourguide/1_how_to_welcome_tourists.html B1. How to welcome tourists.
English for Tour Guides
https://nhmu.utah.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/The%20Difference%20Between%20A%20Good%20Tour%20Guide.pdf The difference between a good and a great tour guide.
https://doc.mbalib.com/view/bd02a22d78b387d9205835c3026e6c77.html Good basic rules for a tour guide.
Conversation with a Tour Guide
https://www.englishclub.com/english-for-work/tour-guide-answering-questions.htm Answering tourists questions.
English Courses for Tourist Guides
http://www.ptpest.ee/files/English%20in%20Tourism%20ESP%20Language%20Course.pdf English for Specific Purposes Course: A very useful text with good use of English for tourism in Iceland and Europe.
https://busyteacher.org/16306-how-to-teach-esp-for-tour-guides.html B1-2. Some very good phrases for tour guides speaking English with role plays.
file:///C:/Users/USER/AppData/Local/Temp/2%20Libro%20Basic%20English%20for%20Tourism.pdf Very good basic text for tourism in Costa Rica.
Unit 8: Business English for Self-Study
Business Magazine
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/business-english/business-magazine Do you want to practise your reading and find out about business topics and issues at the same time?
In this section, read magazine articles for intermediate (CEFR level B1) or upper intermediate (CEFR level B2) learners and improve your reading skills in English.
Podcasts for Professionals
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/business-english/podcasts-for-professionals Do you want to practise your listening and find out about business topics and issues at the same time?
In this section, listen to audio recordings for upper intermediate (CEFR level B2) learners and improve your listening skills in English.
You’re Hired
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/business-english/youre-hired Are you looking for a new job or recruiting a new employee?
English for emails
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/business-english/english-for-emails 9 Units of instruction on how to write a good e-mail… Do you need to write emails in English at work? B1. In this section, follow our series of lessons for pre-intermediate (CEFR level A2) or intermediate (CEFR level B1) learners and improve your email writing skills in English.
https://elt.oup.com/student/businessoneone/int/a_emailpractice/b11_int_email02?cc=ec&selLanguage=en B2. 5 lessons for choose the correct word. Quite formal.
http://blog.tesol.org/email-writing-10-classroom-activities/ Good writing assignments for homework to use in class.
https://englishlive.ef.com/blog/career-english/write-perfect-professional-email-english-5-steps/ Very good.
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/business-english/business-english-email-writing/ Very good with steps for writing an e-mail.
https://lingua.com/businessenglish/reading/email-writing/ An article with advice about the content of business e-mails.
https://esl.yourdictionary.com/esl-for-students/writing-business-emails-tips-for-esl-students.html B1-2. Suggestions for writing a business English e-mail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlhIF8TKIoo B1. GOOD FOLLOW UP TO BRIT COUNSEL ABOVE. An 8 minute video with step by step instructions on how to write an e-mail..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ralOdKh2eAw B1. ITS OK. A seven minute video on how to begin and end an e-mail and a business letter plus mistakes that you should avoid.
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-email-writing-lesson-plan/ Good teaching suggestions to read.
https://www.eslwriting.org/10-rules-for-business-emails/ Some examples for correcting.
Business English Phone Calls
https://lingua.com/businessenglish/reading/business-phone-calls/ B1. An article about how to conduct business English phone calls.
Lesson Plans and Worksheets
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/resources/adults/english-business …Written by business English language teaching experts from around the world, our lesson plans are easy to use and aim to give your students the skills and confidence they need to enjoy learning English.
Here there are many easy to understand lesson plans and worksheets that can help you review your business English skills in many areas.
https://eslflow.com/business-english-lessons.html
https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/business-english B1-2. In this lesson, business students use a short video as a stimulus to consider the use of hand signals in online meetings.
https://www.businessenglishpod.com/business-english-podcast-lessons/ A2-B2. Learn Business English with over 600 Business English lessons on everything from English for meetings, presentations, negotiations and interviews to business writing, grammar and vocabulary. (Many of the lessons are free.)
http://www.businessenglishonline.net/resources/in-company-second-edition-resources/worksheets/in-company-pre-intermediate-worksheets/ A2-B2. Free worksheets on various business themes.
Business English Vocabulary
https://www.englishclub.com/business-english/vocabulary.htm#google_vignette A2-B2. Good explanation of vocabulary on various themes. Also, good examples of grammar forms.
https://www.learn-english-today.com/business-english/A-business-english-contents.html#google_vignette A2-B2. Various themes for business vocabulary.
Business English Reading
https://lingua.com/businessenglish/reading/#exercises B1-B2. Interesting business English articles to read with questions.
https://breakingnewsenglish.com/business_english.html A2-B2. A large number of Reading lessons for articles with a business theme. Each lesson can be adjust for difficulty.
https://lingua.com/businessenglish/reading/#exercises B1. Business English reading articles for ESL students.
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