ESL Teachers face unique classroom challenges. The following tips will help you improve the quality of your time in the classroom.

Get involved in a professional organization for ESL teachers. Connect to a network of peers who understand fully the challenges and rewards of being an ESL teacher. When you join professional organizations you also have access to newsletters and other resources at discounted prices. Plus you will be able to attend conferences and other events where you will learn about the latest curriculum, texts, and other resources for use in the ESL classroom.

Start an ESL teacher support group. Meet regularly with other teachers to exchange ideas and get encouragement. Conferences are great, but they can be a little too impersonal. Meet with a small cohort for lunch or dinner and develop long-term relationships with other teachers who can help you brainstorm ideas for the classroom or offer veteran tips. Look outside your own school for group participants to get the most out of this experience.

Go online and make the most of the technology available to you. If you have internet access, then you have access to a wealth of free teachers’ resources. You can participate in online forums, download activities, and get ideas and tips from ESL teachers all over the world.

Get examination copies of texts whenever possible. When it’s time to adopt a new textbook for your ESL program, you can request examination copies of relevant titles by contacting the publisher. You can look up request guidelines in the publisher’s catalog or by checking their website for details.

Befriend the school’s librarian. Librarians can help you do just about everything. If you need information or idea but don’t know where to start a librarian can always help. Chat them up for advice and suggestions and you never be in need of a good idea.

Order business cards. Most schools don’t have the budgets to get all of their teachers business cards, but it will be worth your time and your money to order your own. When you attend conferences you can network efficiently, exchanging emails and phone numbers with other teachers, administrators and even vendors will be so much simpler with pre-printed cards.

Learn a foreign language. Sometimes we all need to remember what it was like to learn a foreign language. As you take the class, consider the parts you find the most challenging and look for ways to improve your own students’ experiences.

Use real examples. Students need to learn real language, not ill-construed dialogues written for a textbook. Have your students regularly bring to you phrases that they hear but don’t quite understand. Your lessons on things like slang and idioms will benefit your students even more.

Talk less. It is a language class after all. In beginners’ classes, you may need to talk more. However, in most classes you should not be talking more than your students. If you need to keep a stopwatch and time yourself to get a sense of how much you talk during class.

Emily Suess, who loves creating lanyards and a graduate of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, writes about recent school trend topics like conference tips and college issues. She has worked for over seven years as a freelance writer/editor and is now focusing on early childhood education. Her works have been published in Children’s Digest magazine and Indiana Insight magazine as well as on the web.