8 Great Reads for online English teachers

This is a guide to the task of teaching English and is always recommended to people embarking on teacher certification courses like the CELTA and for all new teachers. People often describe it as an introductory text, but this is a bit misleading as it's a very weighty (300 plus pages) and very comprehensive book, covering such topics as feedback, assessment, how to teach pronunciation and how we describe language.

An excellent book covering all areas of English language teaching with great guides and examples for teaching grammar, speaking and listening, reading and writing, and pronunciation. As with Harmer's book above, it's often recommended reading for all new English language teachers.

In this book, Scott Thornbury (an ELT guru based in Barcelona) addresses some of the big discussion points in English language teaching, often culled from his blogs on the subject. He covers such interesting questions as how many words learners need to know in order to be proficient in a language, whether we need to focus on grammatical form, and what the best method might be in language teaching. He pulls together a vast amount of research on these questions and often comes up with some surprising answers.

This book isn't about teaching. Instead, it's an interesting take on the topic of language learning from the point-of-view of the language learner. Benny Lewis isn't an academic, he's a polyglot who has become fluent in many languages by using a range of techniques, and also by emphasizing the need to speak a language. Years of research have shown that learners have to use a language to become proficient in it; they can't simply read, listen or 'study' the language. They need to speak and write. While the book has been written for the language learner, there's a lot the language teacher can learn from it as well, not least the importance of getting your student speaking, as Lewis suggests, from day one.

Great book, very readable, very comprehensive. The book, as the title suggests, explains how learners learn languages. Written by two American academics, is makes decades-worth of research into second language learning accessible to the general reader, and has now gone through several new editions. A wonderful book.

"Teacher, why is it 'had bought' and not 'bought'?"..."Teacher, can you explain again? I don't understand!"

Although we've all been there, it's best not to bullshit over grammar. A better option is to dip into Michael Swan's indispensable book, Practical English Usage, which explains the intricate workings of English grammar in a clear way with examples. It's laid out in an alphabetical format, with an extensive index at the back, so it's easy to find the grammar point causing both you and your student difficulties.

I'll leave number 8 to you. What book would you recommend to an online English teacher? Post in the comments section below!