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TeachingEnglish: How to teach speaking

Develop your understanding of speaking skills and explore teaching techniques and activities that promote oral communication in the classroom for a range of ages and levels. This course is open now – enrol until 23 September.

A Black teacher and a learner in a wheelchair smiling at each other. There are other learners of different genders and ethnic backgrounds sitting at the same table.
TeachingEnglish
Understanding
9–12 hours
Start: 03/04/25
End: 30/09/25
Certificate
Workbook
Online community

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

Do you have more questions?

Please see our FAQs or access further support through our Help button.

Downloads
File attachments
How to teach speaking workbook 20251.09 MB
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Comments

Submitted by mmansy on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 15:38

Dear Sir or Madam, Please send me the link of how to teach speaking course on Jan. 11, 2022 and the time in Saudi Arabia. Regards, Mohsen Mansy

Submitted by garysim727 on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 14:02

I am registered but unable to sign up for this free course

 Please help me. Thank you. 

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 09:25

Hello,

If you have created your account, go to the courses homepage, then click on the Home tab in the top left hand corner. You can then see two tabs "Your week ahead", "Your learning" and, to the right, a green tab "Explore all courses". If you click there, you should see all the available courses- Then you can click on "Enrol in activity". 

If you are still have problems, please can you report them using the orange "Help" button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen?

Hope that helps!

Cath

TE Team

Submitted by CJOSEPH on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 13:15

Hello, I have created an account and am logged in, however I can't seem to find where to actually enrol for the course. Thanks for your help. Regards

 

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Thu, 01/06/2022 - 09:24

Hello,

If you have created your account, go to the courses homepage, then click on the Home tab in the top left hand corner. You can then see two tabs "Your week ahead", "Your learning" and, to the right, a green tab "Explore all courses". If you click there, you should see all the available courses- Then you can click on "Enrol in activity". 

If you are still have problems, please can you report them using the orange "Help" button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen?

Hope that helps!

Cath

TE Team

Submitted by Cueva on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 04:01

I will like to perticipe in all of them, but I don´t know  how to register.

Hi Cueva

Have you created an account? If so, when you are logged in, go to the courses page, then click on the Home tab in the top left hand corner. You can then see two tabs "Your week ahead", "Your learning" and, to the right, a green tab "Explore all courses". If you click there, you should see all the available courses- Then you can click on "Enrol in activity". 

If you are still have problems, please can you report them using the orange "Help" button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen? Let us know if you need help with setting up the accout.

Hope that helps!

Cath

TE Team

Submitted by Mustafa079 on Tue, 01/04/2022 - 23:33

I did everything but I can't find Enrol now button 

Help me, please 

thank you so much

Hi Mustafa079

Have you created an account? If so, when you are logged in, go to the courses page, then click on the Home tab in the top left hand corner. You can then see two tabs "Your week ahead", "Your learning" and, to the right, a green tab "Explore all courses". If you click there, you should see all the available courses- Then you can click on "Enrol in activity". 

If you are still have problems, please can you report them using the orange "Help" button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen?

Hope that helps!

Cath

TE Team

Submitted by Josiane Kaupka… on Tue, 01/04/2022 - 21:49

Hi, everyone!
I'm glad to be part of this course. Already super excited about starting it. I'm currently working as a preschool teacher at an international school. I'm always looking forward to learning more about the learning process. Thank you in advance!

Submitted by Josiane Kaupka… on Tue, 01/04/2022 - 21:47

Hi, everyone!
I'm glad to be part of this course. Already super excited about starting it. I'm currently working as a preschool teacher at an international school. I'm always looking forward to learning more about the learning process. 

Submitted by Mariangelac18 on Tue, 01/04/2022 - 17:46

Hi!

I hope you're doing great! I already followed all the steps but I cannot find the place where it says "enroll" as the instructions only guide me to this page only, but not more. Can please help me? I really want to study this course.

Thanks!!!

PD: I'm writing from Chile. 

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 09:38

Hi Mariangelac18 (and welcome from Chile!)

If you have created your account, go to the courses page, then click on the Home tab in the top left hand corner. You can then see two tabs "Your week ahead", "Your learning" and, to the right, a green tab "Explore all courses". If you click there, you should see all the available courses- Then you can click on "Enrol in activity". 

If you are still have problems, please can you report them using the orange "Help" button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen?

Hope that helps!

Cath

TE Team

Submitted by MyNguyen on Tue, 01/04/2022 - 17:29

I have created my own account, I have reached to step 4, but I can not find out where to enroll. Could you give me a hand? Thank you so much

Hi MyNguyen

If you go to the courses page, then click on the Home tab in the top left hand corner. You can then see two tabs "Your week ahead", "Your learning" and, to the right, a green tab "Explore all courses". If you click there, you should see all the available courses- Then you can click on "Enrol in activity". 

If you are still have problems, please can you report them using the orange "Help" button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen?

Hope that helps!

Cath

TE Team

Submitted by Camina23 on Tue, 01/04/2022 - 16:57

Hi,

After the account was created I can't see the enroll field in order to access it.

Can you assist me on this part?

Best regards,

Carmen S

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Wed, 01/05/2022 - 09:34

Hi Camina23

If you go to the courses page, then click on the Home tab in the top left hand corner. You can then see two tabs "Your week ahead", "Your learning" and, to the right, a green tab "Explore all courses". If you click there, you should see all the available courses- Then you can click on "Enrol in activity". 

If you are still have problems, please can you report them using the orange "Help" button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen?

Hope that helps!

Cath

TE Team

Submitted by srijeetav on Tue, 01/04/2022 - 08:35

Hello,

I'm training to be an English Language Teacher, and I'm looking forward to this course helping me on that journey. Thanks!

Hi Penny wora,

 

When you are on the course website, you need to click on the 'Home' tab then the green 'Explore all courses' button. Then you can click 'Enrol in activity' for this course.

 

If you can't see the course there, you might already be enrolled on it. Choose 'My courses' from the 'My learning' tab to check.

 

If you still can't enroll, can you tell us exactly what you can and can't see for each of the steps?

 

Best wishes,

 

Rachael
TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by ArmineGatrjyan on Mon, 01/03/2022 - 17:52

Nice to meet everybody!

I am really interested in learning new methods of teaching speaking.

Submitted by Minu on Mon, 01/03/2022 - 03:15

Hi, can you please help me enroll for this course? I followed  the steps given above. But there is no "explore all courses" tab or "enroll" tab in "home" tab. Please advise. All i can see is an empty "my courses list" and a "view announcements" tab. 

Submitted by editor_rachael on Tue, 01/04/2022 - 14:00

Hi Minu,

 

If you can see 'My courses', then it means you are not on the 'Home' tab. Please click on the 'Home' tab. 'Explore all courses' is a green button (not tab) to the right of where it says 'Your week ahead' and 'Your learning'.

 

If you are definitely on the 'Home' tab and the 'Explore all courses' button is not there, please could you report this to our technical team using the 'Help' button in the bottom right corner? Then they will be able to help you.

 

Best wishes,

 

Rachael
TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by Zaid Ramos on Thu, 12/30/2021 - 16:50

I followed the steps mentioned above,  but I still  can't find how enrolling to this course, Wich I think will be very useful for us as teachers. :(

Submitted by editor_rachael on Tue, 01/04/2022 - 13:43

Hi Zaid Ramos,

 

Sorry you have been unable to enroll. Can you tell us which steps work and which steps don't work for you?

 

Best wishes,

 

Rachael
TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by Ragasownthariya on Tue, 12/28/2021 - 07:57

With years of teaching English to adults and teenagers for their spoken and Proficiency Exams I think this would be really helpful

Submitted by Dilki on Sun, 12/26/2021 - 02:45

I want to know whether I have enrolled on the course.I followed the instructions given.

Hi Dilki,

 

You can go to the course website and choose 'My courses' from the 'My learning' tab to check what courses you're enrolled on.

 

Best wishes,

 

Rachael
TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by Naheed Nada on Sat, 12/25/2021 - 12:11

I followed the steps and created an account. Yet, I am not able to enroll. Any advice, please? 

Submitted by editor_rachael on Thu, 12/30/2021 - 14:00

Hi Naheed Nada,

 

When you are on the course website, you need to click on the 'Home' tab then the green 'Explore all courses' button. Then you can click 'Enrol in activity' for this course.

 

If you can't see the course there, you might already be enrolled on it. Choose 'My courses' from the 'My learning' tab to check.

 

Best wishes,

 

Rachael
TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by Irosha Alawaththa on Sat, 12/25/2021 - 02:39

I can't enrol as there is not any link to click on for enrollling.Please help me to get enrolled.

Submitted by editor_rachael on Thu, 12/30/2021 - 14:03

Hi Irosha Alawaththa,

 

Have you followed the steps 1-6 above?

 

When you are on the course website, you need to click on the 'Home' tab then the green 'Explore all courses' button. Then you can click 'Enrol in activity' for this course.

 

If you can't see the course there, you might already be enrolled on it. Choose 'My courses' from the 'My learning' tab to check.

 

Best wishes,

 

Rachael
TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by editor_rachael on Thu, 12/30/2021 - 14:09

Hi Viktoria Bunkova,

 

You can enrol on the course by following the steps above. If you have a problem, please let us know what it is.

 

Best wishes,

 

Rachael
TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by lieve on Wed, 12/22/2021 - 12:27

Sorry, I have just realised what I need to do.  Perhaps you could clarify in your instructions that you need to click on the blue link 'visit our course website'....

Submitted by lieve on Wed, 12/22/2021 - 12:25

I have followed all the instructions 1-5 and 1-6, but unless there is somewhere a link or a button that says 'enrol here', you cannot sign up for the course..  There is clearly something missing, or am I missing something???  Would love the find out how to sign up for the course...

Hi Viviene,

Sorry that you have encountered problems with course access - sometimes us trying to  'make things simpler' for teachers causes problems at first.

Currently, courses are 'active' on your portfolio when they are actually running (e.g. Teaching Speaking isn't running at the moment, course dates will be publicised on the main teaching English page when it is).

When a course is running, and if you are logged in, you will see the course accessible on your portfolio. 

Hope that helps!

Anne 

TeachingEnglish team 

Submitted by Miss Janny Ortiz on Tue, 12/21/2021 - 15:25

Can you please send the link for enrollment by email? I can't find it in here...

 

Submitted by Shobhika Srivastava on Tue, 12/21/2021 - 09:14

Hello Team!

I have created the account and logged in also. Is there any tab for the enrollment?

I am unble to see how to enrol for the courese.

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Tue, 12/21/2021 - 15:23

Hi Shobhika

Once you have enrolled you need to click on the link to the course platform:

https://open.teachingenglish.org.uk/Home/MyProgrammes

You will be able to see all available courses on that page.

Hope that helps,

Cath

TE Team

Hi Ibtesam

To enrol on the course, follow the instructions (Step 1-6) above. Remember you will first need to create a free account by clicking on the link above.

Hope that helps,

Cath

TE Team

Hi

The instructions for enrolling are above - follow Steps 1-6 (the first step is to create an account). If you have problems, let us know.

Thanks,
Cath
TE Team

Submitted by Chamini_Sepali on Sun, 12/19/2021 - 07:24

I am a teacher of Sri Lankan government school. I really like to follow this course. I am really interested for British Council courses. They are very standard. 

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