Creating Great TEFL Resources

 Think long-term when you are creating great TEFL resources for your classroom. Reusable materials that last over the years will cut down on your preparation time. If you end up teaching a different TEFL level in the future, having materials and resources that change with the needs and abilities of your students is valuable. Each class is different, and having basic materials and resources available that you can tweak to engage and teach your students each term is important to using your lesson-planning time efficiently.

• Keep at least one or two originals of a resource available for you to copy. Duplicating copies of copies causes the quality of the text being duplicated to diminish after numerous uses. This can lead to words and pictures being difficult to see for your students. It is vital to have clear materials for ESL students so that they can focus on learning English, not on deciphering the letters on a worksheet.
• Laminate magazine pictures, flashcards, game pieces, role-play cards, or other materials that you create whenever possible. This will keep them in good condition, ready to use when you need to pull them out of the file drawer. Some materials can be "laminated" with contact paper if you do not have access to a laminating machine. Although time consuming, contact paper is a cheap and effective way to preserve wall pictures and realia made of paper. Additionally, plastic sheet protectors can save transparencies and copies in an organized way, making it easy to retrieve them when needed.

• Create TEFL resources that can be used with different levels. For example, students of multiple levels and abilities could use one transparency picture of the inside of a factory. Students could write a description of what they see, or state aloud what they think is going on in the picture as a warm-up to studying workplace safety vocabulary.
• Write a list of activities that could be done with a particular piece of realia. Students can use a small ball to play a variety of games or describe the ball's texture, shape, and color, for example.
• Build a small library of songs to use in your TEFL lessons. Students can try to figure out the lyrics, attempt to understand the lyrics' meanings, or study a particular grammar structure used repeatedly in the song. Music is also a good mood setter, making it easier for students to relax in an otherwise potentially tense classroom situation.
• Keep a timer on-hand in your classroom as well to help you keep track of time in activities and games. Timers are good for time-based games and can be used to demonstrate vocabulary related to clocks, time and schedules as well.

•  Use as much realia as possible in your classroom. Keep a small stock of realia such as telephones, examples of coupons, phone books, play money, or other everyday objects in your classroom. Seeing and touching is a large part of learning for many students.
• Create lists of games students can play to help them practice vocabulary and as icebreakers in the classroom. Games help students relax and learn English from something other than a textbook and paper exercises.
• Role-plays, debates, and general conversation about a certain topic can help students practice the vocabulary and structures they are learning. Have a few conversation-starter questions on hand that you can use with different themes and lessons.
• Have games ready to fill up spare time in the classroom if you have a few extra minutes after a lesson. You might play Bingo with pictures on the cards to learn new vocabulary. You could also split the class into teams to see which team can best guess the correct word you say among a pair that are pronounced similarly.

As you create your TEFL resources, keep in mind that students want to learn in an engaging, interesting way. Spice up your textbook lessons with an activity or two that students will enjoy. Vary the activities you use with your class during a term to keep them on their toes and ready to learn. Make your resources last a long time by storing them in a safe place, and laminate paper materials, when possible. Save time and effort on creating lesson plans for different levels and populations of students by having a few adaptable materials that can be changed up to match the needs and goals of various classes of students.

Contents from the author's experience.

Stress Ball by Mdwyer under public domain.