Teaching English as a second language using associations with animals and pets provides visual and mental stimulation to a sometimes repetitive task. In addition, there are a variety of games and activities that can be implemented, making animals a useful tool for teaching ESL regardless of the student's age. Creatively implementing visual and interactive ESL teaching methods dramatically enhances the experience not only of students, but also of teachers.

Flash Cards
As with memorizing all types of vocabulary, flash cards have a direct effect on exercising the short-term memory. Placing pictures of familiar animals on one side of the cards, with the names in English on the other, is a great way of tying picture recall to word association. The animal caricatures in this case can be silly and simple if teaching children, or actual pictures if teaching adults.

Crossword Games
Using the actions of animals as hints and asking the students to cognitively associate the number of boxes in a crossword puzzle with the English name of the correct animal is another effective way to teach word recognition. Premade puzzles can come from a number of free, online ESL resources, or the teacher can get creative and make them up independently. Either way, it is recommended that the complexity of the puzzle be appropriate for the age of the student. Older students should use more intricate puzzles. In this case, spelling acts as a secondary lesson, since the students must spell the names of the animals correctly in order to successfully complete the puzzles. Animal descriptions in their most basic form are useful hints to help students tie their own basic understanding of animal names to the new language being taught.

Songs
Kindergarten songs are designed to rhyme for a reason; they are easy to memorize. For example, teaching "Old McDonald had a farm..." might seem silly to someone over the age of 5, but verbal recognition of animal sounds and the rhyme scheme of this ageless American song can provide just the right setting for memory cues. Songs are not limited to "Old Macdonald," but any song with a very simple rhyming scheme will suffice, such as "Animal Fair," "Baa Baa Black Sheep" or "Five Little Monkeys."

Worksheets
Using worksheets, students must write down English adjectives describing various aspects of individual animals. These aspects can include size, shape, color and daily activities. This will help to reinforce not only vocabulary cognition, but also grammar and reading skills.