How to Plan and Teach Great English Lessons

Take responsibility for your own continuing professional development (CPD) with this ExpertTrack from the British Council.

The British Council’s CPD Framework identifies twelve professional practices that describe what a teacher does and help you plan your own professional development. These three courses look at all twelve practices from Knowing the Subject to 21st Century skills and provide you with a wealth of great suggestions and ideas to take into your own practice.

Each of the three courses looks at four CPD areas:

Lessons and Teaching

The first course in the ExpertTrack covers:

• Planning lessons and courses – what to consider and how to approach planning your lessons.
• Managing resources – assessing available resources and designing and making your own resources.
• Managing the lesson- what should the teacher do in the classroom to ensure that learning takes place?
• Taking responsibility for professional development - ideas for taking control of your own progress.

Learning and Learners

Course two covers:

• Understanding Learners - How to establish rapport with your students.
• Knowing the subject - What does a teacher need to know about language to teach it successfully?
• Using inclusive practices - How can you ensure that every learner gets what they need from your lessons.
• Assessing learning - You’ll look at different ways of measuring learners’ progress

The Classroom and the World

The final course in the ExpertTrack looks at four more professional practices:

• Promoting 21st Century Skills - Critical thinking and working collaboratively.
• Integrating ICT - How can you get the most out of technology to help your students?
• Understanding educational policies and practice - Looking at how national policy affects local decisions and how to implement policies to protect your students.
• Using Multilingual Approaches - how recognising your learners’ language backgrounds can help you to make lessons best-suited to their needs.