E V O L V E S C H O O L: TeachingEnglish newsletter 05 August 2020

TeachingEnglish newsletter

05 August 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.

To this end, we bring you a special guide on returning to school after the Covid-19 closures and an online lesson plan – Multicultural UK. And if you missed our latest webinar – Teaching through the Covid-19 pandemic – you can watch the recording here.

We also have two lesson plans to help you celebrate Left Handers Day and International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.

To support your professional development, we introduce a NEW series – Professional practice pathways; a Teaching for Success guide for teacher associations; and news of open access resources from the IATEFL YLTSIG and Active English for teachers of young learners.

We hope you find these resources useful.

The TeachingEnglish team

International Left Handers Day – 13 August

Designed to fit in with Left Handers Day on 13 August, but usable at any time of the year, this integrated skills lesson for adults and older teens explores what it is like to be left handed – the advantages, the disadvantages and the prejudices they may face.

Professional practice pathways

This series – Professional practice pathways for remote learning – focuses on providing content and resources that are useful for teachers wanting to continue to develop their knowledge and skills while working from home. It covers all 12 of the practices on the British Council’s Continuing Professional Development framework. Each pathway suggests eight resources from the TeachingEnglish website which teachers can work through either alone or with colleagues. Read more.

Returning to school after Covid-19 closures

This guide aims to give some suggestions for English teachers to support learners returning to school after closure. It is important to recognise that learners will return to school having had many different experiences. For more guides in the Remote Teaching Tips series, click here.

Star stories

This lesson for older primary children at level A2 and above can be used to celebrate the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples on 9 August or at any time of the year. August 9 is the day we celebrate the people of the world who live in traditional ways and who speak their own languages. Learners read two stories and then invent stories for other patterns in the night sky.

Teaching for Success self-study booklets: a guide for teacher associations

This guide explains the purpose of the Teaching for Success self-study booklets and looks at ways teacher associations and groups of teachers can use the guides for effective professional development. The guides, which are based on the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) framework for teachers, can easily be used by teachers working on their own or together in pairs and groups, as well as by teacher educators responsible for supporting teachers in their professional development.

Multicultural UK

This lesson looks at multiculturalism. This lesson raises students' awareness of the UK's cultural diversity by watching a short video on LearnEnglish Teens. Students practise listening skills while watching the video, they discuss related topics in small groups and then they read and talk about comments posted on the LearnEnglish Teens site. Access the face-to-face classroom and online teaching version of the materials.

TEYLT Worldwide Issue 1

The IATEFL YLTSIG is very pleased to share its latest publication, TEYLT Worldwide Issue 1, 2020, with you. Due to the global situation, the Young Learners and Teenagers SIG (YLTSIG) committee members agreed to exceptionally publish this issue as open access. There is also a set of inspiring upper secondary teaching resources in the Special Appendix to accompany David Valente's article. Download both here.

FREE playbook: Emergency Remote Teaching

Active English is offering this new freely downloadable playbook for educators who want practical guidance to design and improve their emergency remote teaching. It covers all the essential topics you need to face this new challenge with confidence. This resource focuses on teaching English online to children aged 6–10, during the current pandemic. It provides pedagogical ideas, while also highlighting child protection and safeguarding considerations, specifically for teaching at primary level online.