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TeachingEnglish: Communication skills

Enhance your learners' communication skills with engaging, practical classroom activities that build a clear understanding of effective dialogue. Enrolment for Communication skills is closed. Find resources connected to the course contents on this page, and sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date on when our courses open.

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TeachingEnglish
Start: 01/01/25
End: 31/03/25
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Enrolment for Communication skills is closed. Sign up for our newsletter, and we'll keep you updated when enrolment will open next. In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more about Communication skills, you can view helpful resources here.

What resources can you access at any time?

  • 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
  • Teaching resources on the TeachingEnglish website
  • Sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date on when our courses open

What are the self-study modules in Communication skills?

 

Module 1 – Introduction to dialogue

The aim of this module is to identify and define what dialogue means. It looks at how the word 'dialogue' is used. You will explain why dialogue is so important, select activities you can use in your classroom to encourage dialogue as well as reflect on your own classroom activities around building dialogue.

Module 2 – Dialogue and active listening

In this module, you'll explore a wider range of issues related to building dialogue and you'll look at some techniques and activities that you can use with your learners to develop their dialogue-building skills. You will identify the subconscious barriers to communication that often cause misunderstanding, evaluate a range of activities to develop active-listening skills as well as reflect on your own classroom activities around active listening.

Module 3 – Dialogue and speaking up

The aim of this module is to look at assertiveness and managing conflict. You'll also gain an understanding of how dealing with issues can help both you and your learners become better communicators. You will describe what it means to be assertive and how assertiveness can enhance your ability to communicate more honestly and openly, use a collection of activities in the classroom to develop assertiveness as well as create SMART plans for autonomous development.

Course reviews

What have other teachers said about how Communication skills helped them?

"I've learned a lot about active listening and it has not only change my teaching, it changed my everyday life. Now I care about listening to others actively and I want to make sure they feel listened."

Course participant, Cuba

"I applied the COIN strategy from the course to address a classroom behavior issue. When a student was interrupting others during group work, I calmly described the situation (C - Context), explained how it affected the group’s progress (O - Observation), shared my feelings about maintaining a respectful environment (I - Impact), and suggested a solution, asking the student to take turns speaking (N - Next Steps). This approach resolved the issue and reinforced a positive classroom atmosphere."

Course participant, Thailand

"Broadened my knowledge regarding use of dialogue, how to teach assertiveness (and improve my assertiveness level), the use of the listening spectrum and COIN strategy. The various activity examples were excellent and the inclusion of feedback from other teachers, who provided reflection information on their activities used, really helped me to not only apply the activities but learn how to adapt them to my learners and apply useful reflection techniques in assessing their effectiveness."

Course participant, Ireland

Do you have more questions?

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

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Comments

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Mon, 05/19/2025 - 08:29

Hi librawen

Thanks for your message. 

This course is now closed, so it is not possible to access the course content and get a certificate.

The workbook includes extra resources and content related to the course as an extra to the course itself.

You can see which courses we are offering now and for the rest of the year on our course calendar, here: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/2025-03/2025-2026_TeachingEnglish_training_course_calendar_QR.pdf

Thanks,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Hi EyongMatilEyong

Thanks for your comment. If you have completed all of the modules on the courses you are enrolled in, you will automatically receive a certificate. To download certificates, you need to log in, click on 'My Portfolio -My courses' and then the 'My awards' tab. Any certificates for completed courses will be there. If you do not have any certificates and you think you should, please contact the courses team by using the orange 'Help' button on the courses page.

Thanks,

Cath
TeachingEnglish team

Hi Sameera65

It looks like you haven't enrolled on this course, and registration is now closed, so you won't be able to access the course.

All of our free courses are only available for a limited period of time (the course dates are published on the course page). You can always download the course workbook (see link above), which has lots of useful information and resources related to the course.

Hope that helps,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Wed, 01/29/2025 - 07:41

Hi Kanika_Batheja

I'm afraid this course is now closed, so you won't be able to register for it. All of our free courses are only available for a limited period of time (the course dates are published on the course page). You can always download the course workbook (see link above), which has lots of useful information and resources related to the course.

Hope that helps,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by guterkaefer on Mon, 01/27/2025 - 10:53

Hello! Can you help me answer my question please? If I start and make some progress but I can't complete all the modules till the date the course closes, will I be able to continue when it opens again or will I need to start from the very beginning again?
Thank you in advance!

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Mon, 01/27/2025 - 11:16

Hi guterkaefer

Thanks for your comment. As you know, this course ends on 31st January. If you are unable to complete the modules your progress won't be saved I'm afraid. At the moment we don't have a date for when this course will run again.

Hope you can finish the course and that you are finding it useful. Remember you can download the course workbook, which has lots of information related to the course contetn, at any time.

Hope that helps,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by guterkaefer on Fri, 01/31/2025 - 12:05

Cath, thank you for letting me know. Even if I do it twice, it won't be a waste of time)
Best regards, Anastasia

Submitted by Nazanin.F on Fri, 01/10/2025 - 19:25

I can't seem to enroll in the course. I've tried multiple times to get enrolled.

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Mon, 01/13/2025 - 09:55

Hi Nazanin.F

Thanks for your comment and sorry to hear you are having problems enrolling. Have you clicked on the purple 'Enrol in this course' button above? If so, what happens?

Can you try again and if you are still having problems, contact us at TeachingEnglish@britishcouncil.org?

Thanks,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by Aryone on Fri, 01/03/2025 - 17:21

Does this course close? I've tried multiple time to get enrolled.

Hi Aryone

Thanks for your comment and sorry that you are having problems enrolling. The course is open for enrollment and it's working fine for me.  When you click on the 'Enrol in this free course' button above, what happens? Do you get an error message? Please can you try again and then let us know if you are still having problems by sending us a message at TeachingEnglish@britishcouncil.org.uk?

Thanks,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Hi Ramatou

Thanks for your message - I've just checked and you are enrolled on the course, but it doesn't appear under 'My courses' yet as it doesn't start until 3rd December. If you click on 'My Portfolio' and then 'My learning', you can see the course there.

Hope you enjoy it when it starts!

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by Sumna Arif on Sat, 03/30/2024 - 16:18

I have tried multiple times to get enrolled in this course every time its not available in my explore courses section. the course would be helpful in my conversation class.Kindly guide me
I will be obliged
Regards

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Tue, 04/02/2024 - 08:06

Hi Sumna,

This course is now closed. Our courses are only available for a limited time, and we publish the course dates on each course page. If you are having problems signing up for one of our open courses, please e-mail us at TeachingEnglish@britishcouncil.org

You can keep up to date on all of our courses and starting dates by signing up for our free newsletter here: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/subscribe-our-newsletter

Thanks,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by ADP_15 on Mon, 03/25/2024 - 10:31

Hi!

I just recently signed up and have registered to a course. However I cannot see this course, TeachingEnglish: Communication skills on my "Explore Courses" page. Is this not available anymore? I only see a limited number of courses in my explore page vs what is on the main website, under the "Training courses" section.

I would love to hear back form you as soon as you can to help me guide through this, thanks!

Hi ADP_15

I've just checked your account and it looks like you are successfully enrolled on this course. If you look at the 'Explore courses' page, you will see all of the currently available courses, whereas on our training pages you can see all the courses that we offer, with information about course content as well as link to a participant workbook. All of our free courses are only available for a limited time, you can check the dates on each course page, as well as by signing up to our newsletter here: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/subscribe-our-newsletter

Hope that helps,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by AvD on Wed, 02/28/2024 - 07:49

I would love to learn about communication skills as it isvery useful for my teaching practice, but I can't seem to be able to enroll. Can anyone help me?

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Wed, 02/28/2024 - 09:27

Hi AvD

Sorry to hear you are having problems. You need to be logged into your TeachingEnglish account. Then you can click on the button above where it says "Enrol on this free course". Can you let us know if you are still having problems at TeachingEnglish@britishcouncil.org ?

Thanks,

Cath
TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by janaamr on Sun, 07/21/2024 - 00:04

I would love to learn about communication skills as it isvery useful for my teaching practice, but I can't seem to be able to enroll. Can anyone help me?

Hi janaamr

Thanks for your message - this course will be available again on 4th December. Please keep checking back so you can see when registration opens (usually a couple of months before).

Hope that helps,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by nhchanh on Tue, 02/27/2024 - 05:09

The course is so useful for my teaching practice, but I can not enroll.
I would be grateful if someone can help me.
Thank you so much!
Chanh.

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Tue, 02/27/2024 - 07:46

Hi nhchanh

Thanks for your comment. I've checked your account and can see that you are successfully enrolled in several of our courses. To register for this one, make sure you are logged in to your TeachingEnglish account, and then click directly on this link: https://open.teachingenglish.org.uk/Home/ExploreProgrammes You will be able to see this course on that page and you can click to enrol.

Hope that helps - please let us know if you are still having problems.

Thanks,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by Marc1984 on Tue, 02/13/2024 - 19:02

Thic content is wonderful and helpful. It will help me more Motivating my learners

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Wed, 02/14/2024 - 09:15

Thanks for your feedback Marc1984 - we are glad you are enjoying the course!

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

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