Teaching English as a Second Language may appear to have little in common with philosophy, but in fact the ESL teaching methods are steeped in philosophy, often leading to spirited debate at teachers' meetings. Help ESL teachers create an electronic bank of lessons for their students as they approach the topic of philosophy through instructional technology.

Assign the ESL teachers an online research project for search terms Socrates, Plato and rationalism. Add the bonus of theory of forms. Ask students to answer and discuss the questions: Where do Socrates and Plato believe that human knowledge originates? What are the implications for teaching ESL? Tell the ESL teachers to design a one-page online assignment about Socrates and Plato for their ESL students. Ask the teachers to include a few links on the assignment, so that their present and future students can access common links for discussion.

Assign an online research project for the search terms Aristotle and empiricism. Give the additional search terms of language acquisition in feral children. Ask the ESL teachers to answer and discuss the questions: Where does Aristotle believe that human knowledge originates? What happens to the language of children raised by wild animals such as wolves? What are the implications for teaching ESL? Tell the ESL teachers to design a one-page online assignment about Aristotle for their ESL students with links to additional skills materials.

If you have time, include the debate by David Hume and Emmanuel Kant. Tell the ESL teachers to research Hume and Kant. Which philosopher is considered to be rationalist and which empiricist? Ask why we categorize them this way according to their views of the world and humanity. Enliven the discussion with the question: How did David Hume stop scientific inquiry in its tracks? How did Kant open the door for scientific inquiry to resume? Ask teachers to develop a one-page online assignment for their ESL students about how we know things are true. Include Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment for clarification about the scientific method.

Bring the ancient philosophical debate to the ESL teachers with the online research topics of Leonard Bloomfield, B.F. Skinner and Noam Chomsky. Ask the ESL teachers to summarize the general theories of language acquisition of each linguist. Invite discussions on Bloom's structuralism, Skinner's behavior modification and habit formation approach along with Chomsky's generative grammar. Ensure that the ESL teachers understand that Skinner believed language to be a habit, and Chomsky believes that language resulted from creative construction within grammatical rules. As extra credit, invite the ESL teachers to design a one-page online assignment tailored to intermediate and advanced ESL students.