Free Online ESL Courses

1. Guide to Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL)

In one of our most popular ESL courses, you will master everything from doing lesson plans and different teaching methodologies to seeing how best to use drills and games in the classroom.

2. The Crucial TEFL Guide

Another helpful option from a real-life ESL teacher is to delve deeper into the strategies and skills that separate successful trainers from unsuccessful ones.

3. Teaching ESL Using Games and Activities

No matter the ages of your students, many people learn best by making the experience as fun as possible. This enlightening course shows you how to incorporate games and other activities into your classroom.

ESL stands for English as a second language and refers to those who don’t speak English as a native language but learn it a little later in life.

TESOL means ‘teaching English to speakers of other languages’, while TEFL means ‘teaching English as a foreign language’. In both cases, English need not be a second language as in ESL but could be a third or more language.

Much depends on where you wish to work and the level of your students (for example, are they young children starting with basic conversational English, or are they older professionals learning business English for their careers?). Countries throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South America have different rules regarding qualifications or certifications for prospective ESL teachers, so be sure to check those of the country you wish to work in.

It is very advantageous to be a native English speaker or to be fluent in reading, writing and speaking if English is not your first language. Having as many Alison ESL courses as possible is even more beneficial - they will show potential employers that you are passionate about teaching and help you in the classroom if you aren’t a trained teacher.