10 Top TEFL Teaching Tips
Help students get the most out of their time with you.
Most TEFL teachers know the basics—lesson planning, student engagement, and error correction. But to move beyond competence and into mastery, you need to refine your approach, troubleshoot common issues, and anticipate student needs before they arise.
Here’s how you can level up your TEFL teaching with research-backed, classroom-tested strategies.
1. Redefine lesson planning
Most teachers plan to cover material, but high-impact planning ensures learning happens.
Backward design – Start with what students need to achieve and design activities to lead them there.
Cognitive load management – Too much input overwhelms - sequence information logically.
Micro-goals within lessons – Each phase should have a measurable, clear outcome.
📝 Level up: Track what students remember after a week, not just at the end of the lesson. If retention is low, revisit sequencing and scaffolding.
2. Master the Art of Giving Instructions
Poor instructions waste time and frustrate students. A three-step model ensures clarity:
Minimise words – The shorter, the better.
Layered processing – Give verbal instructions, demonstrate, then check understanding with concept-check questions (CCQs).
‘Reverse order’ rule – If a task has three steps, state them in reverse order. The last thing they hear is the first thing they do.
📝 Level up: Record yourself giving instructions—you’ll be surprised at how much students might misinterpret. Tweak accordingly. More info here.
3. The 80:20 Rule for Teacher Talking Time (TTT)
It’s not about reducing TTT, but making it count. Aim for:
80% student output vs 20% strategic teacher input.
Maximising modelling – Instead of explaining a language point, show it in a real, meaningful context.
Guided self-discovery – Lead students to answers instead of giving them.
📝 Level up: Use ‘echo reduction’—when a student answers, resist the urge to repeat or rephrase unless it's necessary. This forces active listening.
4. Use Movement for Deep Learning
Sitting still kills engagement. But movement should be intentional, not chaotic.
Physical TPR (Total Physical Response) – Great for younger learners but also works with adults for abstract vocabulary (e.g., acting out emotions).
Information gaps with movement – Instead of seated pair work, make students get up to find missing information.
Walk-and-talk discussions – Especially effective for fluency practice—movement reduces speaking anxiety.
📝 Level up: Integrate retrieval practice into movement. For example, students must recall something from a previous lesson before moving to a new station.
5. Upgrade Error Correction
Correction should be strategic, not reactive. Differentiate between:
‘Global’ errors – Those that hinder meaning (e.g., incorrect tense changing the timeline). Correct these immediately.
‘Local’ errors – Those that don’t block understanding (e.g., an article mistake). Note them for delayed correction.
‘Interlanguage’ errors – Learners apply L1 logic to English. Instead of just correcting, guide them to notice the difference.
📝 Level up: Use a tiered correction system—give hints before direct correction to train self-monitoring.
6. Personalisation That Goes Beyond ‘What Do You Like?’
Personalisation doesn’t just mean using students’ interests. It means:
Tapping into emotional investment – Make activities relevant to their lives or future goals.
Creating stakes – If a task has no real-world impact, it won’t matter to them. Simulate real needs (job applications, travel problems, negotiations).
‘Authentic yet achievable’ tasks – Real-life English but at a level where they feel success.
📝 Level up: Use ‘meaningful risk’—let students make decisions with consequences (e.g., a business negotiation where they could ‘lose’ a deal). Read more about differentiation here.
7. Developing Autonomous Learners
Students need learning skills, not just language. Teach them how to learn:
Interleaving practice – Mix different skills within lessons instead of blocking them (e.g., blend grammar and listening instead of doing them separately).
Metacognition training – Get students reflecting on how they learn best and adjusting strategies.
Scaffolded independence – Gradually remove supports so students take control of their learning process.
📝 Level up: Teach students retrieval practice techniques—the most effective method for long-term retention. (E.g., spaced repetition apps, summarisation exercises.)
8. Silence as a teaching tool
Most teachers feel uncomfortable with silence, but used correctly, it enhances learning.
Wait time – After asking a question, count to five before saying anything. Students will start thinking instead of rushing an answer.
Silent scaffolding – Instead of jumping in to help struggling students, give written prompts to let them self-correct.
Processing gaps – After explaining a concept, pause for 30 seconds before moving on—this improves retention.
📝 Level up: Challenge yourself to cut 50% of unnecessary talk in one lesson and observe the difference in student engagement.
9. Using storytelling as a cognitive accelerator
Stories aren’t just for young learners—they enhance comprehension and recall for all ages.
The ‘problem-solution’ model – Present grammar or vocabulary through a mini-narrative.
Personal storytelling – Encourage students to share real or fictional stories that incorporate target language.
‘Pause and predict’ technique – Stop mid-story and ask students to guess what happens next.
📝 Level up: Use narrative-based assessments—instead of gap-fills, have students reconstruct a story using the target language.
10. Change feedback from ‘correction’ to ‘coaching’
Instead of just giving feedback, make it a learning opportunity:
Ask before telling – “What do you think could be improved?” before giving your input.
Use a coaching model – Help students set learning goals and track progress over time.
Feedback in stages – Instead of dumping corrections at the end of an activity, integrate mini-feedback rounds during the process.
📝 Level up: Gamify feedback—let students earn improvement points when they apply feedback in the next lesson.
Final thought: TEFL mastery is in the details
Great teaching isn’t about adding more activities—it’s about refining how you deliver, guide, and correct. When you start making small but deliberate changes, you’ll notice major improvements in student engagement and retention.
Which of these strategies will you implement first? Let me know!
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🏰 Storytelling for Language Teachers - Use the power of storytelling to transform your lessons.
🤖 ChatGPT for Language Teachers - A collection of AI prompts and techniques to work better, faster.
💭 Reflective Teaching Practice Journal - Improve your teaching in five minutes daily.
Brilliant article thanks. As a new teacher I need all the tips I can get!