Teaching English as a foreign language, commonly referred to as TEFL, can be a rewarding way to help people learn while traveling or learning about new cultures. Focusing on helping your students retain vocabulary and improve speaking for practical situations takes precedence over the extensive grammar and literature of an English class for native speakers.

Role Plays
Role plays allow you to put students in real-life English situations and can be used for a wide variety of levels. Have students role play a hotel reservation with specific requirements or a rental car reservation to learn travel vocabulary. For business English students, prepare real-life situations, such as inappropriate or irrelevant questions during a presentation or meeting. Teach students to use traditional business English phrases such as, "Please hold all of you questions until the end of the presentation" and "Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to comment on that but I can find out for you."

Group Discussion
Group and open discussion is possibly one of the most vital activities for the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. The best way to get better in any language is to speak it. Group discussions should still be structured; choose a topic and prepare specific questions to ask your students. If your students get passionate about an unrelated topic, it's okay to let them digress a little as long as they continue speaking English. Be sure to gently correct your students immediately if they make grammar or pronunciation mistakes.

Writing Exercises
Writing exercises are particularly useful for helping students learn and use new vocabulary words. Each time you teach new vocabulary, ask your students to prepare their own example sentences. For lower level and younger students, short biographies are a useful writing exercise to get students talking about themselves. If you are teaching business English, have your students write emails to organize or change a meeting, schedule an appointment or present their company's product.

Grammar Exercises
Grammar exercises may be the least fun approach to learning English, but they have a practical application in learning the fundamentals. Use grammar exercises to solidify proper use of confusing tenses, such as the present perfect, and to clarify confusing language elements, such as the difference between "for" and "since." Choose a grammar book that is designed specifically for EFL students and reflects your students' language level.