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Best Books for Teaching English to Beginners: A Comprehensive Guide

Many different books to teach English are available in the market, and we get confused while buying them. Which one to buy among them or which will be the perfect guide for me.

Everyone has a piece of different knowledge and background, so you will need to know the person’s standards before buying any books. A good book can be an asset that can guide you to achieve your goal.

 Here you can get a complete list of books that effectively teach young and old learners English.

The best books to teach English to beginners.

You are presenting a list of books that will help you upgrade your English knowledge. The list is prepared based on age and level of understanding.

1. “ESL activities and mini-books for every classroom.” by Kama Einhorn

This textbook is from academic publications, packed with fun activities to help a teacher cheer the students.

It is jam-packed with helpful content for different levels of learners and cultural differences. This book comes with mini books and flashcards to make your class more active.

The activity covers all levels of understanding, starting from basic to advance. This book contains vocabulary necessary as per the age and also elaborates core concepts of grammar structure.

This book’s unique feature is the collection of mini books, and each booklet is planned to assist the students in the early steps of education. All the chapters are connected with the main text.

This is one of my favourite best books to teach English.

2. “Children’s ESL Curriculum: Learning English with laughter” by Ms Daisy A. Stocker M.Ed. and Dr George A. Stocker D.D.S.

This book consists of a teacher’s guide, a practice workbook and a student book. It is recommended to buy the whole set of books. The level of the book is designed as per the age of seven years.

This book will help those students who have never been introduced to the English language. The student’s books and practice books carry a lot of exercises and activities.

Kids will have fun while performing those activities. Primary activities include colouring, mazes, puzzles, rhymes etc.

This book’s unique feature is the letters with big font sizes so that those small kids can learn quickly. And a few activities to develop the listening skill of the young learner.

3. “Assessment and ESL: An alternative Approach” by Barbara Law

This is the best-selling book for ESL students. In this book, the writer focused on different alternative methods to assess the level of students of progress.

 This book is a resource for teachers to track the learner’s progress in English by documented methods. Assessment and ESL: An alternative Approach is written in a friendly and engaging tone; strategies are realistic and contextual. The book is full of stories of students and their struggles.

The innovative feature of this book is the four themes of learning(natural language, integrated and whole language, comfortable environment and a learning continuum).

This book has explained all the assessments along with the four themes. This makes it one of the best books to teach English.

4. “Intermediate communication games” by Jill Hadfield

This book is the intermediate-level students and helps in building communication skills. Intermediate communication games are published by Pearson publication. This book is designed to upgrade the knowledge of the English language to an advanced level.

This book is loaded with activities and games to grow Interested in students. It acts as a guideline where you will get instructions for the teacher’s notes to help a student better understand.

Worksheets are there to practice English communication. This book may sound pricey, but it is one of the best sellers. The materials are an asset in building the knowledge of the students.

5. “Learning another language through actions” by James J.Asher

James J.Asher founded the Total Physical Response(T.R.P.) method in language learning. This book is an asset in the library.

The total physical response is a powerful method to teach English faster. Learning another language through actions is the best book to teach E.S.L. language to students.

The teaching method is unique and focuses on a better understanding of the language. The book may not look advanced, but the technique is excellent and realistic.

The book will keep the interest and attention of the students with its method.

6. E.S.L. Teacher’s activities kit” by Elizabeth claire

This E.S.L. book is for kids of all groups. It is a simple but highly effective language activity for the students. E.S.L. Teacher’s activities kit follows Total Physical Response Activities to make the students active and engaging.

This book is loaded with activities to start in an E.S.L classroom. Moves like an essential vocabulary for kids like commands and verbs used in a school, logical progression, games, crafts, and social and cultural activities.

This book provides step-by-step instructions for each activity with different age groups and tips for the teacher to run an effective E.S.L classroom. This makes it one of the best books to teach English.

7. “The practice of English language teaching” by Jeremy Harmer

The practice of English language teaching is the best book for beginners. All E.S.L topics and psychology in the classroom are the content of this book.

 Each chapter is synchronized and interconnected with the other. It also describes aspects like language, learner’s and teacher’s world in the first four chapters. You can find different activities to help the lesson plan and syllabus.

The grammar and language structure come in a form of a checklist and tips to remember the grammar. The practice of English language teaching book is available on DVD with different classroom techniques. These techniques help shy students to come out of their comfort zone.

8. “Reading English News on the Internet: A guide to Connectors, Verbs, Expression, and Vocabulary” by David Peterson

Reading English News on the Internet: A guide to connectors, verbs, expression, and vocabulary gives a brief idea of writing online news and articles. Students can build a strong grammar, comprehension and vocabulary sense through this method. Students will be interested in reading English stories of different genres.

Teachers should encourage their students to read online news articles and discuss any topic in the class to engage the student’s interests.

 Moreover, teachers can provide critical thinking questions to raise children’s curiosity. Thought-provoking questions will boost students’ interest. This type of activity gives the confidence to speak in the classroom and is a great ice breaker, as the students can share their interest

9. “E.S.L classroom activities for teens and adults.” by Shelly Ann Vernon

This book contains activities for adults. Kids and adults need activities to enjoy and grow interested in the subject.

E.S.L classroom activities for teens and adults focus on grammar structures and fluency. One hundred seventy-five fun activities include exciting games, quizzes, and worksheets.

The writer is well awarned of the adult classroom situation; fun is an essential element for them. So the activities are organized in such a way that the classroom becomes lively.

Not only fun, but it also helps to infuse the chapters with motivation and engagement. Activities related to cultural backgrounds and personalities can connect themselves.

Creative writing prompts are also there for advanced students, another game called ‘Call my bluff definition.

10. “Keep Talking”. by Friederike Klippel

An English non-speaking student can face problems while speaking fluently. So one needs the motivation to learn to speak English like a native speaker.

Friederike Klippel has developed strategies and smart tips to keep students active in a conversation.

They have two parts, the first consist of a series of speaking exercises like mock interviews and miming. It also includes notes and an explanation of their linguistic goals, time to prepare and targeted level.

The second part provides worksheets followed by activities to help the students enforce their knowledge. The activities are grouped into thirteen sections for different levels of learners.

11. English the American way by Sheila Mackechnie Murtha M.A. and Jane Airey O’ConnorM.Ed.

The writer included a lot of fun chapters like” Taking a drive”.The chapter focus on teaching grammar structure.

This book delivers idioms, slang and pronunciation.

12. Compelling conversations by Eric H. Roth

This book will the students will improve their fluency and conversation skills. The primary focus on the art of spoken language

Each lesson has a different theme to engage the young students. Chapters on critical thinking are also included to grow curiosity in them.

How you can introduce the English language to beginners?

English can be a tough language to teach, especially for the monolingual group or multilingual group. Teaching beginners can be a daunting task. Here are a few pieces of advice on teaching English :

  1. Instruction should be clear and simple.

As they are not familiar with the English language, make the instruction simple in a polite way like “please open your book”.

  1. Drill and repeat the language.

Beginners need repetition and drilling, to grip the sound of the new language. Sometimes it becomes boring but the revision of previous work is necessary.

  1. Apply props while teaching.

It is a great idea to use props to make the students explain the concept properly. Students will also like the method and the classroom will be an interactive session.

  1. Arrange group activities

Group activities help the student to ice the break, and make them confident. It also improves the fluency of the language. Moreover, it creates a bond in the student-teacher relationship.

Final takeaway

A few factors were considered while choosing the best books to teach English to beginners. The three most important questions to consider while selecting the books to teach English.

●     Whether the book is written by a professional or an expert:- An experienced professional knows the curriculum better. They can balance the need of a teacher and a student perfectly.

●     Specialization of the book(Children or adults):- Textbooks designed for children should have characteristics that will make them exciting, whereas further adult students should have worksheets, fun facts ads easy grammar tips.

●     The flexibility of the book:- A book should be flexible for different learning levels. The book chapters should be arranged from essential to advanced levels so the students can absorb them properly.

These books are only a supplement; real education is when they are practically applied.

Recommended Reads:-

HOW TO TEACH ENGLISH TO CHILDREN AT HOME

TOP 20 ENGLISH WRITING TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

TOP 12 ENGLISH SPEAKING COURSE ONLINE

TOP 13 ENGLISH SPEAKING COURSE IN DELHI

TOP 15 ENGLISH SPEAKING COURSES IN INDIA

FAQs

  1. Suggest some best books to teach English to the toddler

Ans: some books to teach a toddler are

●     Flashcard of phonetics

●     Very hungry caterpillar

●     What the ladybird heard

●     Giraffes can’t dance.

   2. What are the best books to teach English read for beginners?

Ans: Some books that children will love to read are:

●     Charlotte’s web

●     James and the giant peach

●     Marry Poppins

●     Winnie the pooh

   3. How can I improve my English language skill?

Ans. Here are some tips to improve your English skill:

●       Watch movies in English or favourite cartoons as per age group.

●     Try to make conversation in English with your friend and elders.

●      Practice different worksheets.

●      Read and follow news in English.

●      Use a dictionary daily and learn the word of the day.

   4. What are the best books to build vocabulary?

Ans: Best vocabulary English books for everyone are:

●     English for everyone; English vocabulary builder.

●     English collocations in use By Michael McCarthy and Felicity O’Dell

●     Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary

5. As a teacher, how can I make my students more confident while speaking?

Ans: There are so many methods to make them more confident, like debating on a topic, role play, performing drama, group discussion and many more.

2 Comments

  • Recently, I’ve read a lot of English-language books, so this article was very helpful. It offers the best book suggestions for learning English.

  • This article was very helpful to me because I’ve recently been reading a lot of English-language books. It is incredibly simple to understand and contains the best book suggestions for English language beginners. Anyone looking to learn English reading skills or to enhance their own reading abilities should give it a try, in my opinion.

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