FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

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Answers

The Handouts

1. Who made the handouts on this Premium part of the site?
The authors of the materials on esl-lounge.com Premium are:

Neil Coghlan - esl-lounge.com webmaster and owner, ESL teacher with 13 years experience, TESOL Certificate and Diploma.
Clive Hawkins - ESL teacher with 5 years experience, RSA Certificate qualified.

If you would like to be considered as a materials writer for the Premium site (and make a little money out of it), please check out our free membership page.

2. Which handouts have been added since my last visit?
Every handout added to the Premium site includes its date of entry onto the site. And we have a page listing the most recent additions to the site so you can use this new handouts page to check what has been added since your last visit too. And if you know how to use RSS feeds, go and visit our RSS feed page where you can get access to our "New Materials RSS Feed".

3. How do I use the listening materials on the site?
esl-lounge Premium also includes, uniquely among websites for ESL teachers, listening materials. These can either be used as stand-alone listenings or as part of an integrated listening lesson. For more precise information on using the audio files on the site, consult our Listening page.

4. What are the lesson plan codes for?
Each of the lesson plans has a code number, e.g 3R2. The first number refers to the level:

Elementary
Pre-Intermediate
Intermediate
Advanced

...and the letter refers to the language skill which is the main focus of each lesson plan:

G - Grammar
L - Listening
R - Reading
RP - Role Play
W - Writing
S - Speaking
V - Vocabulary
T - Topic (lesson based around one topic but not concentrating on one skill area.)

For each level, lesson plans are already divided into such sections anyway so you won't need to worry so much about these numbers but they are useful for us.

These code numbers are useful for us to cross reference, especially with regards to the listening files. We can say, for example, in the Teacher Notes for a lesson plan, "this lesson plan can be used in conjunction with listening file 4L3" and vice versa. Our users can also use these lesson plan code numbers if they need to contact us about a material. For more information about using the lesson plans in conjunction with the listening bank audio files, check out our Listening page.

Any Lesson Plan code that is preceded by a "B" (for example, B2G1) denotes a lesson in the "Business English" section.

5. What different types of materials are there?
Our intention is to provide teachers with complete lesson plans. There are different types of lesson plans available: reading, speaking, discussion-based, listening, vocabulary skills work and so on. Members will also have access to high quality PDF downloads of materials from the free section of esl-lounge.com

And, of course, we have hundreds of high quality flashcards on the site for teachers to download and use in the classroom.

5. What variation of English will the handouts include?
Uniquely among ESL sites on the internet, we will offer the opportunity for teachers around the world to download handouts employing both American and British English. We won't make that selection for you - it's your choice. We understand that these two varieties of English are preferred in different parts of the world so have selected to offer both variations.

If any teachers would also like to "translate" the handouts into other variations of English such as Australian or South African, we would appreciate this although we don't envisage any major problems for teachers working in those parts of the world working with the handouts in US/UK English already present.

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