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Teaching Your Subject in English

Build your confidence to use English effectively to teach subjects such as Maths, Science or History with this online course.

32,988 enrolled on this course

Teaching Your Subject in English | Cambridge Assessment English | Cambridge Assessment International Education
  • Duration

    5 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours

Learn with experts and teachers worldwide

Experts at Cambridge Assessment English and Cambridge Assessment International Education will provide you with a range of functional language and practical tips, suited to secondary school teacher training.

You’ll join a community of teachers from across the world – sharing your expertise, finding out what works for other teachers, and looking for new ideas from a range of different contexts. There will also be opportunities for you to explore digital tools for teaching and learning.

Both Cambridge Assessment English and Cambridge Assessment International Education are part of Cambridge Assessment, a not-for-profit department of the University of Cambridge.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 14 seconds I teach History in English, in Hungary, in a bilingual secondary school. My subject is Physics. I teach History and Geography in English. I teach Science in English for Grade 5 students, and also I teach Social Studies for Grade 6 students. I teach ICT in English, and I also teach P.E. but it’s not in English, now. Maybe later. Are you teaching Maths, History, Science or another subject in English? Do you want to build your confidence and use language effectively in your classes?

Skip to 0 minutes and 50 seconds We invite you to join our free course: ‘Teaching Your Subject in English’. When working on projects you need to communicate a lot, you need to establish roles, you need to look for information, and English is everywhere. I have to do a lot of lateral thinking because I not only have to think of the questions that I would like to ask. but also what the learners are likely to say, so that I can think of further questions. One basic rule, I think. is use as simple a language as possible. Keep it short and simple. So that by, the simpler your instructions. the simpler your definitions are, the more likely you’ll succeed.

Skip to 1 minute and 29 seconds I also like to use prompts: something that will motivate and inspire learners to say something about the topic. During the course you’ll explore language that you can use to help your learners

Skip to 1 minute and 42 seconds engage with your subject in English: language for helping learners get ready to learn, language for understanding core concepts, language for developing their thinking skills, and more. Since I teach Geography and History, I think it’s quite important to get students to make connections with whatever they know about the subject in their lives, because it’s very much about life. For example when I’m trying to describe cyclical events in Geography or in Science then I would take a simple example like the water cycle or the seasons, just to show how in nature these cyclical events go on in many different places in many different ways. Experts and teachers from around the world will share their insights with you.

Skip to 2 minutes and 31 seconds You’ll have plenty of opportunities to practise your English and to think about how you can use language to support learning. Our students are students who, usually, after graduating from school, they usually go to universities abroad. For example, one student graduated this year, here in Cambridge, so I’m very proud of him. As to monitoring your students’ progress. I think you should never underestimate the power of justified praise. I’m Helen from Cambridge English Language Assessment. I produce professional development materials for teachers across the globe. We hope to welcome you on the course soon.

What topics will you cover?

Language for getting learners ready to learn:

  • Sharing learning objectives
  • Reviewing previous learning
  • Eliciting

Language for conveying ideas and information:

  • Giving definitions
  • Describing and explaining
  • Asking for explanations

Language for developing thinking skills:

  • Questioning to develop predicting and hypothesising skills
  • Questioning to develop reasoning skills
  • Questioning to develop creativity

Language for setting up and managing activities:

  • Giving instructions
  • Helping learners get started
  • Organising and managing pair and group work

Language for supporting and checking learning:

  • Monitoring
  • Getting learners to evaluate and reflect on learning
  • Summarising and emphasising

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Identify parts of a lesson where you can improve the English that you use to teach your subject
  • Identify instructional language that you can try out in your lessons
  • Put a range of instructional language into practice in your teaching context
  • Experiment with suggestions from the course, to address some of the potential difficulties in using English in your context
  • Reflect on how your use of English in the classroom can help your learners succeed

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for secondary school teacher training for those who deliver lessons in English. It will be especially relevant for teachers involved in Bilingual Education and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), and also relevant for teachers who expect to teach a subject in English in the future. Examples of language in the course come from a wide range of subjects, for example Maths, Science, History, Geography and Economics.

Who will you learn with?

Education has a fundamental impact on the aspirations we hold and the people we become – this is central to my work in English and bilingual language learning and teacher development.

I'm a teacher trainer and consultant for CLIL and Bilingual Education.
I'm Chair of TKT: CLIL for Cambridge English Language Assessment and author of CLIL materials for Cambridge University Press.

I am a teacher and teacher trainer based in Argentina. I am passionate about learning and teaching and particularly interested in critical thinking and collaborative skills across the curriculum.

Head of Teaching & Learning at Cambridge Assessment International Education, formerly a teacher of English and Modern Languages. I have worked with teachers and schools in 50 countries worldwide.

Who developed the course?

Cambridge University Press & Assessment

We are a department of the University of Cambridge. Together with teachers and our partners, we’re here to engage and inspire millions of people throughout their entire learning journey. We help them confidently prove their skills to the world.

Cambridge Assessment International Education

Cambridge Assessment International Education prepares school students for life, helping them develop an informed curiosity and a lasting passion for learning.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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