Classroom Supplies for Teaching English

Markers, pencil crayons, pastels and other art supplies encourage creativity in your student's work!

I don't even want to think about how much money I've spent on my students, the classroom and the school. Of course, as a teacher, you are not technically obligated to buy classroom supplies, but without them, your job is a lot harder and less fun.

Your school will most likely have the essentials for you such as pens, pencils, paper, white board markers, scissors, tape, stapler, staples, etc. However, you may need to ask someone where these supplies are located.

For the extras like stickers and art supplies, I recommend buying the cheapest products possible as they will run out fast when you're teaching hundreds of students. The dollar store has a great supply of stickers and colouring books. I also found quite a few good quality activity and sticker books at Marden's Surplus and Salvage in Maine. (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g40516-d1491115-Reviews-Marden_s_Surplus_and_Salvage-Biddeford_Maine.html)

Obviously the types of supplies you'll want to bring will vary depending on the age group(s) you teach. In Japan, I taught babies all the way to parents. Here in Thailand, I'm teaching senior high. But that doesn't mean no stickers!

Thai students are very innocent compared to teenagers in Canada or the U.S. Many of my students still use Doraemon pencil cases or Minions notebooks and the like. They definitely all loved the Star Wars stickers I gave them and the Canada stickers were also a big hit! I suggest bringing stickers and colouring/activity books if you are teaching young children because you won't easily find them here.

Other supplies you should bring from home (if you think you'll use them) are sticky tac, English posters (alphabet, dinosaurs, planets, countries; think about decorating your classroom), vocabulary cards, and games that use English creatively like Scrabble, Boggle, Guess Who, Clue, etc. You won't be able to use board games in most of your large classes, but you can definitely play them during English club or after school with your students and coworkers.

BRING FROM HOME:

• Stickers and stamps
• Posters
• Sticky tac
• Children's and adult colouring books
• Activity books
• Magazines
• Vocabulary cards
• Toys/props (finger puppets, paper and cloth cutouts)
• Games (Scrabble, Boggle, Guess Who, Clue)
• English books

BUY IN THAILAND:

• Pencils
• Pens
• Erasers
• Pencil crayons
• Crayons
• Markers
• Highlighters
• Tape
• Scissors
• Coloured paper
• Construction paper
• Origami paper
• Poster board
• Date stamp
• Ink pad
• Printer ink
• Printer paper
• Notebooks
• Whiteboard markers
• Board eraser
• Whiteout
• Dictionary
• Paint
• Pastels

As for office and art supplies, you can buy them here. You can also find alphabet tracing books and dictionaries in Thailand. However, you won't find English books outside of the larger cities, so if you're moving to a rural area, bring English books for yourself.

One thing is for certain: most teachers, myself included, spend A LOT OF MONEY on classroom supplies!

Here are some of the classroom supplies you'll need/want:

Don't expect high-school students to always come prepared! Keep a few extra pencils and pens handy.

Blue pen is preferred in Thailand.

Blue or black markers are best, as red tends to stain the whiteboard. To get your board really clean, apply a solution of water mixed with equal parts rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle with a soft cloth.

Don't buy too many erasers; one ought to be enough. Most of my high school students use pen anyway, so liquid corrector (whiteout) is more in demand. 

You can buy scissors and other standard office supplies here in Thailand, so don't feel you need to bring them from home. It's best to have at least half a dozen pairs of scissors for a class of 30-45 students if you plan on doing any poster, pamphlet, or craft projects.

You may need packing tape if you want to decorate your classroom with student-made posters, etc.

Scotch tape is useful for displaying student artwork as well as grades lists, exam dates, or other information you'd like your students to be aware of.

This semester I gave my students a homework packet with all the unit tests during the first class. I had each student stamp the deadline onto her worksheets so that everyone was aware of the due date.

I prefer these white out roller strips to the liquid corrector in a bottle. It's faster and less messy. Just make sure you buy a good brand because the cheap ones don't work.

A stapler and staples should be provided by your school.

However, sometimes you may have to buy your own staples if you don't want to wait for the school to re-stock. Be patient when inquiring about office supplies because the Thai staff are also dealing with the supply chain and are sometimes forced to buy their own materials as well.

Printer ink is liquid gold.

I love using highlighters on my schedules, grades and attendance. It's a fun way to keep organized and brighten up your dreary paperwork. 

Providing your students with some high-quality markers like Sharpies is ideal if you plan on having them draw, make posters, create a brochure, design their own superhero, or craft their own ESL board-game, etc. The students will only put in an amount of effort equal to the supplies they have to work with.

A greater assortment of colours in fine-tip is also very useful. I suggest buying the expensive markers in the primary colours and getting a second set of cheap markers in a wider variety of shades. As everybody knows, the warmer tones are the first to run out: yellow, orange and red may need to be replaced before purple or brown. 

I like a good clip board for my attendance. It allows you to walk around the room and look at your student's faces so that you can remember their names more easily. Plus, it looks authoritative!

Some companies/schools will require you to print your own vocabulary cards. My recruiter at MediaKids told me they had all the cards "prepared" for us, but she meant that they have a template prepared (not a very good template, also). I had to print all the cards myself at my school, which took a long time and was very tedious.

If you have your class copy dialogues from the board, don't be surprised to find that none for the students had paper. Or, that they have a notebook for a different class and don't want to use it to write English notes in. I've told my students time and again to bring paper to class, but whether it's too expensive or they just don't remember, I don't know. Usually I just give them scrap paper from botched printings or old documents. Notebooks also make a great prize for Bingo!

Everyone learns differently, and art is an important part of engaging with students. Little extras like coloured and patterned paper can turn a boring assignment into a design challenge.

Although it's definitely not a necessity, I like to buy patterned paper like this origami paper or even discount wrapping paper to give the students something interesting to work with when creating posters, artwork, etc.

You can use brightly coloured construction paper to create notices for your class about upcoming tests, exams, or projects.

Bristol board is great for posters, whether made by you or your students. Sometimes I like to make a poster with the dialogue to be practiced instead of writing it on the board. If you have time, for example during the Thai exam week, you can make posters and hang them up so that you free up your whiteboard for games. Having a pre-made poster can save you a lot of time if you're teaching several different subjects and/or grades because you don't have to keep writing and erasing different dialogues for different classes on the whiteboard.

Even some of my high school students still need this reminder. Don't judge your students if they're still struggling to write their name or print properly. The Thai alphabet is very complex and extremely different from the Roman characters we use. Try writing something in Thai and you'll understand why you need to be patient with your students. Also, if you're monolingual, or speak closely related languages that share the same alphabet (e.g. English and French; English and Spanish) take several seats before criticising anyone learning a second language.

Amazingly, not every classroom comes equipped with a physical dictionary, so you may need to buy one if you don't speak the language!

Pencil crayons are a staple of any creative classroom.

Even high schoolers can still use crayons. If they see you use them, they'll be less timid.

An alternative to boring pencils and pens, pastels offer a dash of colour and sophistication to any artwork.

I would recommend only using paints as a special treat for your small and advanced classes, with older students. This is a once-in-a-while reward very dedicated students. Don't try using paints with younger or immature students, as it will obviously be a mess.

Messy.

Classic star stickers every kid remembers.

Bulk packages of stickers are a great classroom supply.

Animal stickers are nice because they're sort of age-less and genderless. 

My Thai students love minions.

Stickers with English words on them are probably the best investment. Not only do they look cool and encourage students to do their homework, they also provide a novel word or phrase to your students!

Bring stickers from home that showcase your country and culture. The students love these foreign images and concepts; they are very interested in English-speaking countries and customs.

I bought two of these on sale at Marden's and used both the stickers and the book for my ESL students aged 3+ when I taught in Japan. Just make sure you take the stretchy dinosaur out because it is a choking hazard. The stickers are great though and although the book is a bit high-level for ESL students, there are fold-out pages where they can stick the stickers, which is really fun for the little kids.

Contemporary youth pop culture images are always popular.

Re-imagined classics are great too!

This Star Wars sticker book was a great buy!  Both the little kids and the older students loved the Star Wars stickers. I wish I had more! 1000 wasn't enough! Although it did last for about two years. ***However, I took out all the stickers with guns because kids + guns DO NOT MIX!!!***

I bought three of these books for the lobby of my old teaching company and the kids really liked the pictures. The older students were even able to read the books. (Don't worry, they are adapted for children, so the violent stuff is totally glossed over/excluded.) They were a big hit with both the students and parents!

Despite the down sides of Disney princesses, many kids love them. Even if you're a cynic like me, you can still find ways to make princesses more palatable. For example, buy stickers packets which feature diverse princesses, not just the standard blondes. Buy stickers sets which focus on the princesses of colour, such as a Jasmine-centric set or a Tiana-only packet. Don't let your students choose the princess sticker they get; give them all out randomly. Above all, do your best to be culturally sensitive and don't exacerbate the favourtism of white, European features exhibited in portrayals of heroines. Make sure your students know that Pocahontas is just as cool with you as Aurora.

Mickey and Minnie are still favourites with young kids.

Many of these cheap colouring and activity books you can find at the dollar store come with word searches, connect the dots, matching, mazes, decoders and games that are perfect for EFL students. Since they are designed for children, the level is easy and the topics are appropriate and interesting to kids.

Buying sticker sets with a mix of different things is ideal for teaching a large number of students. This set has farm animals, dinosaurs and ocean creatures! With variety sticker packs, you are more likely to find stickers that match the topic you're teaching.

You can get books like this at the dollar store and simply photocopy the pages to provide beautiful designs for your students to colour when it comes time to do a poster presentation. You can find various themes such as animals, flowers, geometric patterns, even cityscapes, etc.!

I hope this post has been a helpful guide to some of the supplies you can use in your EFL/ESL classroom to help your students make the best of their time studying English. A fun, creative atmosphere with plenty of materials for arts and crafts is essential to engaging your students in various styles of learning. Don't feel bad if you can't or don't want to spend a lot of money on school supplies. It's a personal decision that every teacher makes for themselves whether or not to spend her own money on products for the classroom. Not buying your students water colours doesn't make you any less capable a teacher. Buying expensive supplies also doesn't mean you're a better teacher. Different people have different styles. Personally, I like having a lot of art supplies around as it motivates me to get creative too. How much money you invest in classroom supplies is also dictated by your salary and the cost of living where you work. not every teacher can afford the extras and not every classroom needs them. So, whether you choose to give your students stickers or not, whether you buy pencil crayons for the classroom or not, don't worry about it!