ESL Courseware Tutorial

Overview

ESL Courseware is a teaching platform for ESL teachers. It offers 500+ interactive lessons (Kids, Teens, Adults, IELTS, Business English), student management with stars and certificates, and a full toolkit: link library, video library, PDF library, games, whiteboard, random question generator, timer, and more—all in one place.

Lessons

Click Lessons to open the lesson browser. Browse by category (Kids, Teens, Adults, Test preparation), then drill down by grade, level, or unit. Select a lesson to load it in the main viewer. Lessons are typically Canva-embedded presentations—scroll through them during class.

Report a mistake: After loading a lesson, a flag button appears. Use it to report errors or suggest changes. Your feedback is sent to the content team.

Students

Use the student selector (top right) to choose which student you’re teaching. You must select a student before awarding stars so they’re attributed correctly.

Click Add student to create a new profile. With a student selected, click the profile icon (next to their name) to open their profile, where you can:

• Profile picture – Upload a photo for the student
• Important information – Allergies, learning goals, parent notes
• What did we do last lesson? – Track where you left off, topics covered, homework
• Important links – Save URLs per student (one per line)
• Certificates – View all certificates the student has earned

Save changes before closing the profile.

Stars & Certificates

Click the star button (gold star icon) to award a star to the selected student. Stars are tracked per student and persist across sessions.

Session stars: Up to 10 stars per lesson. The bar shows how many you’ve given (e.g. 3/10 this session).

Certificates are awarded automatically at these milestones:

A celebration with confetti appears, and a downloadable certificate is shown. Save or print it for your student.

Toolbar Tools

The top toolbar gives quick access to these tools:

• Link library (Browser): Paste a URL to open sites in an embedded browser. Great for Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Canva, Quizlet, and Padlet. Click Save to add the current URL to your library; saved links appear as chips for quick access. Not all sites allow embedding—if one fails, try opening it in a new tab.
• Video library: Add YouTube videos by pasting URLs. Build a personal library and play them in an overlay during lessons.
• Phonics Track: Opens the Phonics Track site in a full lesson-area overlay (expand below the menu or open in a new tab), same style as Games.
• 🎮 Games: Opens Online Teacher Game in a full lesson-area overlay so you can use it in class without leaving courseware.
• Whiteboard: Draw, add shapes (circle, rectangle, triangle), and add text. Use the eraser or grab tool to move content. Choose colors and line thickness. Click Clear to start over. Your whiteboard state is saved per session.
• Question generator: Spark discussion with random questions. Choose a category (Kids, Adults, IELTS, Business), then click New Question for another. Perfect for warm-ups or conversation practice.
• More tools (▼): NewsKid (new tab), PDF library (upload and view PDFs—max 20 MB each, 10 per account), and Annotation tips.

Timer

Click the timer icon to set a lesson duration (e.g. 30 minutes). Enter the number of minutes and click Start. When time is up, a notification appears.

Profile Menu

Click your profile picture or avatar (top right) to open the account menu:

• Upgrade – View OTC Pro subscription options
• Upload profile picture – Add or change your avatar
• Change password – Update your login password
• Tutorial – Open this guide
• Logout – Sign out

The menu also includes links to other OTC apps: Teacher Cal, OTC Courses, Student Stars, Company List, OTC Platform, and Website Generator.

Tips

• Select a student before starting—stars won’t count until one is chosen.
• Upload PDFs and add videos before class so they’re ready when you need them.
• Use the question generator for quick warm-ups or to fill spare minutes.
• Use the whiteboard for quick sketches, vocabulary, or grammar. Your drawing is saved for the session.
• If a website doesn’t load in the link browser, it may block embedding—try opening it in a new tab.
• Update student profiles regularly with “last lesson” notes so you can pick up where you left off.