This primer of basic teaching practices addresses many of the challenges that we encounter with ESL learners. It will serve as a small and concise guide for those who contemplate teaching ESL as well as those newly engaged in such teaching, and its main objective is to help you to become a better ESL teacher. The better teacher you become, the better learner your students will become because good students tend to model themselves after good teachers. As you navigate through this guide, you'll begin to understand how teachers become more effective and your challenge then will be to acquire those characteristics that change you from a "teacher" to an "outstanding teacher". Importantly, you will learn the value of self-evaluation, and learn how to use this knowledge to improve your performance. Additionally, you will need to learn to develop assessment tools and lesson plans, which are relevant and specific to "your" students, not the "average" student. However, most important of all, you will become more aware of and better appreciate other cultures than your own.