TeachingEnglish: How to teach speaking

How will the course help you?

By the end of How to teach speaking, you'll be able to:

• evaluate and adapt activities to promote meaningful communication
• adapt tasks to maximise learner interaction
• identify and justify appropriate speaking activities that effectively support specific lesson objectives.

How can you enrol on the course?

Register for a free TeachingEnglish account or log in to your account.

Enrol on this free course

What does the course include?

• Self-study modules that you can access at any time before the course closes
• A certificate of achievement on successful completion of the self-study modules
• A free workbook with extra learning content and resources connected to the course contents
• A dedicated Facebook community of course participants with up-to-date insight, resources and innovative teaching ideas for you to try out (Facebook account required)
• Learning content related to our courses on Facebook and YouTube
• Live events and recordings with course tutors and language teaching experts on Facebook and YouTube

What are the self-study modules?

Module 1 – Understanding speaking – key terms and issues

The aim of this module is to explore key terms and issues in the teaching of speaking. You'll look at how to evaluate and modify activities in terms of communicative quality, and consider how to get your learners using 'real speaking', not just completing grammar tasks.

Module 2 – Understanding speaking – maximising interaction

The aim of this module is to introduce you to a range of techniques and activities which promote speaking in your classroom. You'll look at the benefits of pair and group work and adapt tasks to maximise learner interaction.

Module 3 – Understanding language practice activities

The aim of this module is to explore and evaluate a range of practice activities. The module also looks at flexible activities that can be adapted for different ages and levels. You have the opportunity to select appropriate activities which match with lesson aims, and justify your choices.

Course reviews

What have other teachers said about how How to teach speaking helped them?

"Today, I taught a beginner class how to participate in a role-play activity for the first time. Instead of giving them instructions and then moving on straight to the speaking activity, I extended the speaking practice by eliciting what a role-play is, and brainstorming possible situations and roles reducing teacher speaking time. Also, after the role-play I extended the activity by asking them how they felt during the role-play encouraging them to express their personality and inout on the activity."

Course participant, Argentina

"After learning about the importance of fluency-focused activities, I started including short speaking tasks earlier in my lessons instead of leaving them until the end. For example, I now use pair discussions or role-plays in the middle of class to give students more time to practise speaking freely. This has helped boost their confidence and made lessons more interactive."

Course participant, Malaysia

"The British Council, TeachingEnglish course on how to teach speaking was very insightful.  For example, I learned the importance of using communicative activities like role-plays in speaking lessons. I now regularly incorporate role-plays into my daily classes, allowing students to practice real-life conversations in a supportive environment to boost their confidence and helps improve their speaking skills more effectively."

Course participant, Nigeria

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