Every classroom needs a few basic props and equipment. EFL ESL classroom equipment can be used as teaching aids to make lessons more visually fun, interesting and effective. If you go into lots of different schools as I do, you’ll find that unfortunately not every classroom or teaching area has that equipment readily available. I’ve found that it’s useful to have a basic set of equipment at home. I can then it take along to my lessons as and when it is needed. Obviously I don’t take all of it with me every day as that would mean a crazily heavy bag to carry. I instead pick and choose what equipment I will need depending on what I am going to be teaching. If you are lucky enough to have your own classroom, you can keep it there ready to be used.
Useful Tip – Make sure all your personal props and equipment are labelled in indelible ink with your name. Things do go missing sometimes or get mixed up with school equipment so it’s best to be clear what is yours and what is not.
So here is my survival kit of essential EFL ESL classroom equipment for teaching kids. There is nothing fancy or really expensive on this list. You can probably find most of it second hand or very cheaply. I have saved a lot of my own kids’ toys and books over the years as they grew out of them. You could also make some of the things yourself or use flashcards if you are really stuck. If you do decide to buy them though, everything should be easy to find. They are all things that you will use a lot and will definitely get value from them,
A bag (or 2)
I have two fabric tote bags that I keep folded up in my rucksack. As well as being useful for picking up groceries on the way home from work, I use these for a variety of different things in my classes. The first and most important is a Mystery Bag. You could use a Mystery Box but a bag is easier to transport around with you. This is a great way to introduce new vocabulary by making it into a game. Even the older children enjoy closing their eyes and picking something out of a bag. I use it probably at least once a day and like to have a spare with me just in case one goes astray.
You can also use a bag for role plays if you are talking about shopping and food. It’s much more fun for the kids to be actually able to do some shopping and put it in their bags. I also like to give them a bag to use if we are doing a scavenger hunt or an exercise where they have to collect objects as they go through the stages.
Dice
Again, I normally have at least two of these in my bag. The bigger the better! I like to use them with the whole class and small ones can be difficult to see. Dice can be used to improvise board games if you are practicing vocabulary or phrases. You can use flashcards and lay them out in a path on the table or, even better, on the floor. The children can then roll the dice and jump on the flashcards for the number they threw. When they stop they have to say whatever is on the flashcard they are on or a related phrase or question that you are learning.
My favorite dice are a pair of big foam cubes that I have written the numbers on. The kids absolutely love using these. They can turn a potentially boring vocabulary drill into something much more exciting. You’re not limited to numbers either. If you make your own cardboard dice, you could label them with colors, parts of the body or anything else you want to practice.
Toy food
An essential for lessons about food likes and dislikes, shopping, restaurants or even animals or dinosaurs. Although you could use flashcards for these lessons, toy food (or empty food packets) makes it so much more realistic and relatable for the kids. You don’t need loads, just three or four items which are related to the topic you’re doing. You can put them in your mystery bag or use them for role plays. I normally have some fruit and vegetables plus a few things like chocolate, pizza and other things that the kids like to eat.
If you’ve got a few spare minutes at the beginning or the end of the lesson, they’re a great thing to have to play with and make a pretend shop or restaurant. It’s an idea to give them a good wash every now and again. The kids do love to “eat” them and they are probably full of nasty germs.
Toy animals
As well as being fun to play with in a quiet moment, toy animals are such a useful thing to have in class. You can use them for lessons on different kinds of animals, habitats, family, different countries and food. I like to have a variety of animals, a mixture of wild animals and domestic animals. I also have a family of lions (mummy, daddy and baby) and a few odd animals like snakes. You can pick up plastic animals very cheaply at jumble sales, flea markets or on EBay and they are always useful to have. Again, give them a good wash every now and again to get rid of all the germs and avoid getting sick.
Hats and scarves (and other clothing)
If it’s winter, you’ve probably got at least one of each of these with you but, in any case, they are things that always come in useful. You can use them as a blindfold for games or as a spare mystery bag. They are also useful for lessons about clothes, daily routines, seasons and weather. It’s much more fun to practice putting on clothes for snowy weather or to have a getting dressed race rather than just talking about it. It is also much more likely that the kids will remember what they’ve learned. You don’t need a lot of things and they don’t need to be fancy. I save a few cast offs from my kids to have ready if I’m doing these kinds of topics.
Colored card, paper, scissors, glue and markers
If you want to do a practical activity at the end of your lesson or as part of your lesson plan, make sure you will have everything you need. I like to have a basic art and craft kit with me so that I can improvise an activity if I need to. You don’t need much and again, it doesn’t need to be anything fancy. You can do practically any activity with these basic items. I am also a big fan of using cardboard toilet rolls so I always have a supply of these ready. Kids love doing art so I like to introduce a simple practical activity whenever I can. Get them using their imaginations and you’ll be amazed at what they come up with.
Books
A good collection of books can be used for so many things. I have four or five favorites which I use every year, over and over again. I think every teacher will have their favorite books which they find most useful. You can have an English story time at the end of each lesson, or read a story when the kids need calming down a bit or are very tired. They can also be used to illustrate what you are learning about or show it in a different way than the obvious one. They are also a way of teaching indirectly about different cultures and different situations that the children in your class may not be familiar with. If I had to choose the five most useful books to use in class, I would choose:
- Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill
- Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
- We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
- You Choose by Pippa Goodhart and Nick Sharratt
As well as being good reads, these are all incredibly versatile and useful books to have in your classes. You can use them in so many different types of lessons and I always have them available for the kids to read.
A map of the world
One of my jobs as a teacher, I think, as well as teaching the kids English, is to open their eyes to the world outside their everyday life. Whether that is teaching them about how to use the Tube in London or about different animals in Australia, in our English lessons, we look at many different parts of the world and different cultures. It’s useful to be able to show the children exactly where these different places are in relation to them.
So I usually have a map of the world to show them. It doesn’t need to be enormous although if I had my own classroom I would definitely hang a huge map up. Just a page in an atlas or a small map showing where you are and where you are learning about is perfect. It makes everything much more relatable for the kids and shows them that they are learning a real language that real people use every day.
This is my list of essential EFL ESL classroom equipment. What do you always have with you for your lessons? Have I missed anything important? Let me know in the comments if you can think of anything vital that you think might help other teachers. If you’ve enjoyed this, you can find other practical ideas about teaching life here. To keep up to date with new posts and teaching ideas, you can follow the GoogooEnglish Facebook page. Alternatively, sign up for email updates by filling in the form below.