E V O L V E S C H O O L: TeachingEnglish newsletter 29 April 2020

TeachingEnglish newsletter

29 April 2020

Welcome to the latest edition of the TeachingEnglish newsletter!

The British Council is committed to supporting teachers and teacher educators during the Covid-19 crisis.

This week we bring you news of a webinar on creative activities for young language learners at home, an online lesson for secondary and adult students, a series of free online professional development courses to choose from, a series of guides on remote teaching, and two surveys to take part in.

We hope you find these and other resources on our website useful.

The TeachingEnglish team

Webinar – Creative activities for language learners at home

This is the seventh in our series of webinars aimed at supporting teachers working in an online context. It is also the first in a series of 12 webinars by winners of the British Council's English Language Teaching Research Awards (ELTRAs). In this webinar, we present the Language Suitcase – a toolkit full of activities developed collaboratively by artists, teachers and researchers. Parents do not need to act as teachers, and children just need to activate their curiosity. Join us on 6 May at 12 p.m. UK time.

Guidance for remote teaching

The Remote Teaching Tips series provides practical ideas and guidance for teachers supporting their learners using a variety of platforms and approaches, across different contexts. Topics include online lessons and teaching via SMS, telephone calls, Facebook and messenger apps. See our guidance documents.

Global practices in teaching English to young learners: ten years on

Do you teach English to young learners? In conjunction with the British Council, the University of Stirling and Aston University have recently launched a survey for teachers of English to young learners in primary (elementary) schools. The survey aims to investigate teachers’ classroom practices and the challenges they face. The findings will be compared with findings from a similar study ten years ago in order to understand how teaching English to children has developed. Find out more.

Lesson plan: Foreign words used in English

Use this lesson in online or face-to-face teaching with older teenagers or adults at CEFR level B2 and above to look at how foreign words are used in the English language. The lesson begins with a short quiz about the English language, which makes sure that the students understand what a hybrid language English is and the concept of loan words. They then look at some common loan words and try to decide which language they originally came from, before reading a short text to check their ideas.

Teaching for Success free online courses

We offer a number of different courses free of charge. Our Language for Resilience series consists of a number of four-week modules. The first module – An introduction to trauma and its effects in the classroom – begins on 4 May 2020. Other courses on offer include 'English in early childhood: language learning and development', 'The classroom and the world', 'Learning and learners', 'Assessment in the classroom' and 'Lessons and teaching'. Find a free course to suit your development needs here.

Language teacher well-being project

Take part in an online survey designed by researchers from the University of Graz, the University of Sharjah and Cape Breton University about psychological and social experiences during this period of the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim of this research is to better understand the effects of the move to online and remote teaching on teachers’ health and well-being under the current conditions. It is hoped it will teach lessons we can draw on in the future to appreciate the kinds of support that teachers need when facing periods of upheaval and change.