tesltimes.org

What It Is

Tesl Times is an English teaching resource website for ESL teachers, created and maintained by Douglas E. Adams. The site positions itself as a “resource center” and a “repository of ideas and information.” Its core purpose is not to provide step-by-step lessons for students, but to help teachers find classroom activities, teaching materials, and lesson plans. Its teaching philosophy emphasizes a communicative, context-embedded, integrated-skills approach—that is, teaching language in context while combining multiple skills.

Core Content and Format

Based on the collected content, the site covers areas such as Grammar, Reading, Writing, and Listening/Speaking. The grammar section is especially substantial. Intermediate grammar topics include the tense system, modal verbs, gerunds and infinitives, adjective clauses, adverb clauses, and conditionals. Some materials not only explain language points, but also provide lesson plans, practice ideas, and downloadable handouts. The writing section covers essay skills, verb choice, and end focus; the listening/speaking section includes vowel teaching, final -s endings, note-taking skills, and more. Overall, it is more of a teacher-preparation resource than a student-facing course platform.

Pricing and Certification

The available text does not show any subscription, purchase, membership, or certificate information. The site states that teachers can “feel free to take what you like,” so it can be understood mainly as an open, free resource. It also does not present course accreditation, completion certificates, or official training credentials, and should not be treated as a certificate-granting TESOL/TEFL training program.

Pros and Cons

Its main strength is that the content draws on the author’s more than 20 years of experience teaching English for Academic Purposes. The site began during his time teaching at the University of Florida and continued to be maintained later at Embry-Riddle Language Institute, giving it a clear practical background. Its grammar explanations are relatively systematic and suitable for teachers to adapt directly into classroom explanations and exercises. The downside is that the site has a traditional format and lacks learning paths, interactive quizzes, video classes, student management, and teaching analytics. The pages function more as a collection of resources, so the completeness and update frequency of the content need to be assessed page by page.

Who It’s For and Access from China

It is suitable for ESL/EAP teachers, English training instructors, and university language center teachers who need lesson-preparation materials and teaching inspiration. It is less suitable as a main self-study course for absolute beginners. The collected text does not provide information about access from mainland China, so this is currently unknown. If using it for lesson preparation, it is recommended to test page access and downloadable materials in advance.