As English Teachers, we have to teach a wide range of different levels in one day. This variety enriches our teaching practices but also makes our planning & grading a lot more extensive than other teachers, and I won’t start talking about material creation!
It is in our job DNA to try to help our kids get maximum exposure to the language & we all know that not even the best textbooks can do the whole trick for our students. For that reason, we always bring to school/academy material & resources to help them practice the topic we’re teaching them: from good spelling when writing, knowing all the vocabulary when speaking to using the correct grammar structure when producing it.
There’s no better place online to find excellent, already-done classroom resources than through teachers’ marketplaces & the most famous one is Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT), which can provide several benefits to English Language teachers.
But What is T.P.T?
Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) is an online marketplace where educators can buy, sell, and share educational resources. It serves as a platform for teachers to access a vast collection of pre-made, all-done-for-you, and no Prep teaching materials, including lesson plans, worksheets, activities, assessments, and more, created by fellow teachers. TPT saves educators time by finding high-quality resources aligned with their curriculum and teaching objectives. It also provides opportunities for collaboration, inspiration, and supplemental income by selling their own educational materials.
As an English Language Teacher, I like T.P.T that:
- It is time-saving: when teachers have limited time for lesson planning and resource creation, TPT offers a vast marketplace of pre-made resources created by other teachers. By purchasing resources from TPT, teachers can save time and effort that would otherwise be spent designing materials from scratch. They can quickly find resources aligned with their curriculum and teaching objectives, even ELL ESL & ESL, freeing up time to focus on other aspects of teaching.
- TPT provides access to a wide range of specialized resources that may not be readily available elsewhere. Teachers can find resources tailored to specific topics, themes, or skills, including niche areas within their subject & different student needs and learning styles.
- Educators can browse through a multitude of resources created by their peers, gaining new ideas, teaching strategies, and creative activities. Exposure to various teaching materials can help spark creativity and innovation in the classroom, allowing teachers to engage their students in new and exciting ways.
- The resources are typically available as digital downloads, making them easily accessible and convenient for teachers to use in their classrooms to print them or use them all digitally.
- The cherry on top is that if you like a resource brand and buy from them, you’ll always have access to yearly updates for FREE, and if something happens with the resource you purchased, you can always get in touch with the brand that created them, and they’ll support you along the way. For me, that’s something I value as a buyer and seller!
Having many classes at different levels, an English Language Teacher tends to take all the workload of planning, grading, and material creation at home, deriving from lack of time during the weekend; this is something we all (no matter where on the planet we are) have that in common, for that reason, investing a little in already-made resources will free our life a significant % of our time allowing us to relax and take the time we deserve to live our lives. I found everything I needed there since I discovered it.
I have personally tried other platforms, but they all had something I found missing good graphics or resource purpose; some of them were super basic, or their functionality/engagement only lasted two classes, but on T.p.T I found everything in one place, and for that reason, many, many years later I decided to open my own brand of ELL resources. I picked them as my only marketplace. Plus, while other platforms are available for teachers, Teachers Pay Teachers has established itself as the most famous platform due to its extensive resource collection, emphasis on community, quality, convenience, customization, monetization opportunities, and effective marketing strategies.
