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teach english to adults

Teach English to Adults

There are endless opportunities around the world to empower adults – of all ages – with all manner of English lessons.

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Learning to teach English as a foreign language is something of a two-way street, especially when it comes to teaching English to adults. When you take a TEFL certification course, you learn a range of new skills, including teaching methodologies, classroom management, lesson planning and more. Going on to actually teach, you can empower adults to learn English and expand their own academic or occupational opportunities.

Yes, there’s a lot to enjoy about teaching kids, and setting off for schools across the world to inspire bright-eyed, energetic classes of youngsters. However, teaching isn’t about one skill set. As an English teacher, you might be adaptable to different age groups. Alternatively, your skills might be best suited for teaching younger pupils, or teenagers. Perhaps you prefer to teach to adults, or one-to-one classes are your preference. There’s no wrong answer. Your skills, your preferences and your life experiences will likely influence the kind of teaching work you end up doing.

When it comes to teaching adults, there’s so much to explore. We’ll get into the specific motivations of adults learning English later on, but there are really exciting learning outcomes, economic factors and methodological reasons why teaching adults is both a real test and a massive treat for qualified teachers working across the planet. Whether it’s from home, teaching online, or in person, teaching English to adults is a massive industry.

Teaching English to adults: An overview

Whether you’re teaching English to adults online or in person, TEFL teachers can find motivated, switched-on students across the world. While teaching children and teenagers can be extremely rewarding, the motivations and outcomes of teaching adults are truly inspiring.

We will cover the key differences between teaching adults and teaching children later on. However, it’s worth pointing out the key distinction here, and it’s this: children and teenagers typically learn English because they have to at school. Adults typically learn English because they want to. This lends itself to two very different classroom dynamics, and depending on the type of teacher you are, you may well thrive in a situation where students have their own motivations for learning.

These motivations come with expectations. Adults might need to learn English to pass exams like the IELTS or TOEFL, and measure their progress that way. They also might need you to give them important presentation skills for a business meeting next month. They might need you to help them with the vocabulary and grammar necessary for an important job opportunity or university application. There are myriad reasons, big and small, why adults want to learn English, and typically, they’re spending their own money to do it.

What are the differences between teaching ESL to adults and teaching ESL to kids?

So, here’s the big question: what are the key differences between teaching ESL to adults and teaching ESL classes to children? What are the main areas where the two diverge, and why are they important for English teachers to think about?

We’re going to break this down into sections, to give you a clear picture of what matters, and why.

Relation
Reason/outcomes
Relationships

Relation

For children, especially in the early years, learning is about recognition and patterns. A lot of the cognitive development is still being nurtured, so practices like games, music, stories and age-appropriate books can help to establish word recognition, as well as build vocabulary and confidence.

For adults, education is more about relating to experience and motivations. They need to know how they can benefit from the learning experience, and use what they’re learning in a practical way. People who want to learn English as an adult typically have a specific goal in mind, and they’re learning for a particular reason. The why relates to the how.

Reason/outcomes

To extend that point a little, reason is a fundamental difference between young learners and adult TEFL learners. Adult learners are typically self-directed, while children learning English as a second language are, 9 times out of 10, doing it because a school says they have to. The outcomes of English lessons are related to specific curriculum goals, relating to proficiency and standardised testing.

This means that adult learners are likely to be more driven, and motivated to retain important information. Generally, learning English will be all about getting into an English-speaking university, getting jobs in English-speaking countries, passing an exam for visa requirements, or expanding their horizons in some other way. If it’s solely for academic reasons, there’s still motivation there. Aside from anything else, there’s normally money involved - English lessons for adults cost money.

Relationships

Inevitably, the way you interact with young students and adult students is going to be completely different. While you want to foster a positive learning environment in both cases, and usually teachers won’t want to fit the archetype of a stern Dickensian teacher, you will have to play more of an authoritative role with children. Again, children aren’t typically learning English in school by choice, and though they may enjoy most of your lessons, there will be days when they’re in a more difficult mood.

Adults are opting to be there, and it’s not in their interests to mess about. More than likely, as an ESL teacher for adults, you’ll be interacting with people closer to your age. Depending on where in the world you’re teaching, it can be common for teachers to go out for a post-class meal or drink with their students. The dynamic is different, it’s more conversational and friendly, overall.

How to engage and encourage adult ESL learners

So what are the key things behind engaging and encouraging adult ESL students?

Career/educational goals

Find out what your adult ESL students want to do after they’ve learned English to a specific level of proficiency. Since you’re teaching English, you’ve likely already completed 120 hours of TEFL course training, but it might be worth having Advanced TEFL certification in your back pocket as well, especially in Business English or English for Academic Purposes. Why? Well, in a lot of cases, the adults you teach are going to want to study in English-speaking educational institutions or advance their careers. Or both.

If you want motivated students, and you want to craft lesson plans with purpose, finding out what makes your students tick is extremely important.

Vocabulary

Once you know what your students want to achieve, what kind of English do they need to get there?

Let’s say, for a random example, your student works for an international bank and wants to get a promotion. They’re going to need vocabulary for financial transactions, world currencies, business greetings, meetings and banking vocabulary more generally. If you put the groundwork in and draft lessons based on your students’ goals, you can have them on their way to achieving specific career targets. That makes for extremely motivated students and invigorating lessons.

Conversation

It can be as simple as this: someone might want to learn English as an adult so they can travel abroad and meet people. They want to hold conversations. People learn new languages for love all the time.

Without being overly romantic, you could turn from an ESL teacher to a prized guest at more than a few weddings as a consequence of teaching adults. It’s very common for people to learn English because they’ve met someone special in an English-speaking country. They want to learn conversational English and sound natural. Words are important, and knowing the right thing to say can be crucial.

Moving away from romantic relationships, there are reasons for many adult learners to learn conversational English. They’ve perhaps learned enough English for the job they do, but not quite enough to fit in with their colleagues. Maybe they want to be part of a club or society somewhere new. They want to write lyrics in English or they want to understand what’s happening on the TV. Whatever it is, conversational English lessons can mean so much and improve language skills exponentially.

Download our teaching English around the world guide

Tips to teach English to adults

Adults love immediate feedback: positive body language, encouragement to keep talking, it all helps!
Get creative: Debate, film and music, art, reading aloud - there are loads of ways to keep things interesting without being infantilising.
Real-life scenarios: use real-life conversational prompts to generate discussion. For example, booking a table at a restaurant, or speaking to someone at a supermarket.
Writing activities: writing job applications, university applications, newspaper articles, journals, and emails - all great practice
Self-directed translation: adult learners thrive in situations where they’re given independence. Allow them to find articles, which you can approve, and they can then translate and analyse.
Keep it authentic: Use real stuff. Real articles, real videos (TED talks, for example), and real-life examples of the English language being used with a variety of accents and inflexions.

Resources to teach English to adults

Here are some excellent resources to get you started:

The TEFL Org Lesson Plans and Resources: A smörgasbörd of amazing resources for teachers both new and experienced!
700 Classroom Activities, David Seymour and Maria Popova: As the title suggests, this is a bible for TEFL teachers and a fantastic resource for beginners through to intermediate learners
Practical English Usage, Michael Swan: This isn’t just a great book, with 250+ word problems and a complete guide to grammar. You also get a year’s access to an online learning portal where you can find more practical teaching resources for adults. A must!
Oxford University Press: Oxford University Press has loads of free PDFs you can print off and use in a classroom setting, and you can sign in and use an array of tried-and-trusted texts!
British Council: Lesson plans for multiple proficiency levels.

What do you need to start teaching English to adults

So what do you need to teach English to adults as a foreign language, or second language? Ultimately, it depends on where you teach, in terms of both location and institution. We’ll break it down into the requirements you’ll need to meet.

Degree/No Degree

Generally speaking, you will have more opportunities to teach English with a degree than you will if you don’t. If you have plans to teach English abroad, many countries will insist on having a degree for visa reasons. A lot of teaching jobs will require a degree. However, there are circumstances where it’s possible to teach English abroad without a degree, and that includes teaching English to adults. For example, you might not need a degree to teach English to adults in private language schools, corporate training bookings or through private tutoring.

TEFL qualification

No question, you’ll need a TEFL qualification. Employers are looking for candidates with a 120-hour TEFL qualification, which is the industry standard, and they’re also looking for candidates to have their qualifications from an accredited TEFL course provider.

Advanced TEFL qualifications, such as English for Academic Purposes and Business English, can be extremely useful, given the motivations that many adults have for learning English. Additionally, some employers or countries may need a Level 5 TEFL Diploma, as opposed to a 120-hour qualification.

Experience

Can you teach English without experience? Of course you can. Everyone has to start somewhere. Though a lot of jobs might prefer - or outright demand - previous teaching experience, there will be a litany of opportunities for first-time teachers.

Jobs in private language schools are often more lenient in terms of entry requirements. If you have a solid suite of qualifications, you can straight into private tutoring, provided you can advertise yourself well. There are options - don’t let lack of experience put you off!

More Detailed Requirements for Teaching English:

Teach English Abroad Requirements

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is the best way to teach ESL to adults?

Every adult will have their own motivations and learning styles, so there’s no one “best way” to teach ESL to adults!

Q. What is ESL for adults?

ESL for adults is teaching English as a second language to older learners.

Q. How to plan an ESL lesson for adults?

Planning an ESL lesson for adults - at least, an effective one - depends on the adult’s interests, motivations for learning English, and their desired outcomes. If, for example, they want to learn about Business English, tailor a lesson around a work phone call or job interview.

Q. How do you handle adult students in ESL?

Adult students in ESL usually have very clear objectives. As a teacher, your job is to create lessons to reach those objectives, and you’ll find adult learners usually don’t require much encouragement!