Lessons from Nothing: Activities for Language Teaching with Limited Time and Resources (Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers)

I'm an English teacher in China, doing both classroom and private small-group teaching. Language learning definitely requires more than the "chalk and talk" approach that Mr. Marsland warns against, and his book is a great resource for avoiding such a bland style of teaching. Language learning should be engaging, and this book offers good inspiration for making it so.

I have to cope with very unsatisfactory teaching materials oriented towards memorization and drills -- not good for achieving fluency. Also, I'm frequently asked to teach last-minute classes with little or no time to prepare. Resources are frequently limited to little more than a chalkboard, if that. It's easy to become frantic and stuck in a pattern of "Oh God, how do I fill this 90 minutes of class time? What do I do?!"

Many thanks to Mr. Marsland for giving this concise, well-organized and thoughtful book. It's like a splash of cold water in my face when I make my own job more complicated than it has to be. /Lessons From Nothing/ is a nice reminder that you can easily turn "nothing" into "something" if you make it engaging and interactive.

I don't think that this book is what it claims to be. Too difficult to read and the lessons weren't really that great. I threw it out.

This is a small compact book that has tons of activities that
you can use with absolutely no resources. In many LDN nations
there will be no resources at all. At times, not even a chalk
board. This book can however, be used anywhere, because it
focuses on Communicative methodology and student-centered activities which allows for better development of L2 acquisition. No matter where you are teaching in the world, if your teaching TEFL/TESOL it should be on your shelf.