TeachingEnglish: Communication skills
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.
How will the course help you?
By the end of Communication skills, you'll be able to:
- define what dialogue means
- develop learners’ active listening skills
- use classroom activities to develop assertiveness.
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
Thic content is wonderful and helpful. It will help me more Motivating my learners