People with other mother tongues apply different sound patterns to letters and syllables, which can cause confusion when learning English. In addition, particularly American English has adopted a large vocabulary from immigrants with words that break the rules for common English pronunciations. Specialist sites for teachers in ESL offer worksheets that help teachers to explain and demonstrate the various sounds syllables, vowels and their mixture can make. Some sites also offer MP3 sound files that help understand the sounds in a context.
For English language students, the ability to read, and understand, English texts is correlated to professional and academic success. Employers expect English reading capabilities, as does society in general since everyday tasks require the ability to understand signs, letters and instructions. Teachers can use short stories, children's books, abbreviated classic literature and newspapers to help students learn to read English. Many online and library teaching resources are free.
Expressing yourself in a different language in which you only have a restricted vocabulary can be a daunting task for beginners in English. Putting the words down to paper can be even more challenging as it requires a higher level of precision and is usually meant for others to read. Many countries, including the Arab and Asian nations, also use different written letter types and have to learn writing the alphabet all over again. Resources to teach English writing can include easy crosswords and basic essay writing tasks, dictation of short texts, articulating letters or notes, and copying paragraphs.
English grammar can by a mystery even to native speakers, and the complex structure of syntax and patterns can dishearten ESL students. A good way to introduce the learners to English grammar are games and quizzes that are available online or can be created. In a playful way, the activities encourage the learners to mix verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and pronouns together to build a sentence. Other online resources for teachers include printable worksheets that require students to fill in missing words, and flashcards that illustrate the various categories the words belong to.