Teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) can be done in a number of different environments. You might teach children or adults, at home or abroad. Consider which population you want to teach and where you would like to teach when you begin the process to be an ESOL teacher. When you become a teacher, keep your lessons realistic and authentic.

Earn your certification to teach English to speakers of other languages. Depending on who and where you want to teach, the education requirements will differ. For example, if you want to teach ESOL to public school children, you will need a teaching certificate from your state. You will also need an ESOL endorsement for your certificate from an institution recognized by your state's board of education. If you want to teach overseas at the primary level, however, you can just earn a certificate in teaching English from a college or private institution that offers certification.

Volunteer as an ESOL teacher at your local college or your community's adult education center to gain more experience working with English language learners. You can also volunteer as a tutor without being certified. The organization you volunteer for will likely offer some training to prepare you for working with English language learners.

Incorporate realia, or objects from everyday life, into your lessons to help students better remember new vocabulary words. Realia offers students a visual to reference when they have to recall a word in English in the future.

Make your lessons as realistic and authentic as possible. Use role plays in the classroom that are authentic-sounding and not as if they came out of an old textbook. The more realistic and applicable to your students' lives your lessons are, the more likely your students will be confident in their ability to speak English in the world outside their homes and their English classroom.

Get to know your students as much as you can. Learn what interests them and what is going on in their lives. This will help you to design more applicable lessons for them. Ask them what they want to learn. Perhaps they would rather learn how to write a check in English than fill out job applications. Young learners may prefer learning about animals in English than sports. Keep students' preferences in mind when you design your lesson plans.

Get your students moving in the class whenever possible. When students move during lessons, whether they write a word on the board, play a game where they move around the classroom or walk around the class with a partner naming classroom objects, they will remember the words and phrases they learn in class more so than if they only see them on a worksheet.