What's happening in December 2023?
Whether you are a teacher or a teacher educator, this page gives you an overview of all the activity happening across our TeachingEnglish channels in December 2023.
For teachers this month, we'll be focusing on the theme of 'Using inclusive practices'. For teacher educators, the focus is 'Supporting remote learning'. If you're interested in these themes, see below for information about:
- Current and upcoming free online training courses
- Upcoming online events and webinars for teachers and teacher educators
- Facebook and Instagram Live events
- Podcasts
- Current research and insights
In addition to our monthly themed events and content, we also have hundreds of lesson plans and classroom resources. Below we've selected some lesson plans connected to United Nations special days this month.
Online training courses
Our tutored course for the month is 'TeachingEnglish: Inclusive classrooms'. Live events and discussions related to this course are hosted in our Courses for teachers community on Facebook. Find out about 'TeachingEnglish: Inclusive classrooms' and all other courses open in December below.
- TeachingEnglish: Inclusive classrooms
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Make your classes inclusive learning spaces by identifying barriers that can affect learning and practical strategies to overcome them.
In this free 4-week online course, you will learn about the following:
-Introduction to inclusion
-Creating an inclusive classroom environment
-Making your school culture more inclusive
Find out more and enrol on this free course - Creative resources for primary
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Inspire your primary learners by learning how to make high-quality resources out of creative and sustainable teaching materials. Develop your learners’ language and oral skills through effective use of resources such as flashcards, big books, and puppets.
In this free online course, you will learn about the following:
-Understanding flashcards for primary
-Understanding picture books for primary
-Understanding puppets and masks for primary
Find out more and enrol on this free course - How to teach vocabulary
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Help your learners notice, record, recycle and use new vocabulary more confidently with engaging, classroom activities.
In this free online course, you will learn about the following:
-Understanding vocabulary
-Engaging with vocabulary - recording and recycling
-Engaging with vocabulary teaching
Find out more and enrol on this free course
Online events and webinars
See our free online events and webinars for teachers and teacher educators below.
- Inclusion, neurodiversity and neuromyths in ELT classrooms – mini-event (5 December)
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This event will feature three webinars with ELT teachers and experts from around the world. All three sessions will help English teachers think about how they can cater to their learners as individuals. The webinars are for teachers of primary, secondary and young adult English language learners.
Schedule and speakers
15pm - 16pm (UK time): Making participation in project-based learning more inclusive (Elsa O'Brien, Spain)
16:15pm - 17:15pm (UK time): Understanding and accommodating neurodiversity in ELT (Claire Hart, Germany)
17:30pm - 18:30pm (UK time): Neuromyths in language teaching (Jane Delaney, Spain)
15.00pm - 18.30pm (UK time)
Find out more and register for this online event. - Digital literacy: How can we help teachers develop their understanding, approach and skills? (12 December)
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Please note the content of this webinar is not aimed at teachers, and is specifically for teacher educators who have a role in supporting the professional development of English language teachers.
Everyone understands that digital literacy is important for teachers. But what exactly does it mean to be digitally literate and how actually can we help teachers become digitally literate? Gavin Dudeney, Director of Technology at Consultants-E Ltd, and Obaje Chogu Ekele, experienced educator from Nigeria, discuss ways of defining digital literacy and the kinds of skills and understanding that contribute to our ability to navigate and exploit the digital environment for educational benefit. They provide practical training room examples teacher educators can use and suggest ways that digital literacy development can be incorporated into programmes of CPD for teachers. They also reflect on one of the major challenges to achieving equitable learning gain – the digital divide; a division that results from inequitable access as well as from low levels of digital literacy.
12.00 - 13.00 (UK time).
Find out more and register for this online event. - Facebook and Instagram Live events in December 2023
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Join our online community of more than 4 million teachers worldwide. We will be hosting weekly events throughout December via our Facebook and Instagram channels.
These 30-minute 'live' sessions are a great opportunity for you to join teachers from around the world.
Engage with English language teaching experts and community members on a range of topics and themes to help you develop your teaching skills, and share ideas and questions with a vibrant global online community.
See what's happening in our community on Facebook
See what's happening in our community on Instagram
For the classroom
See a selection of lesson plans below that you can use to focus on United Nation Special Days in December in your language teaching classrooms.
- International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (2 December)
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Title of lesson plan: Is slavery a thing of the past?
Age group: Older teenagers and adults
Level: B1 and above
Designed to raise awareness of the UN's World Day against Trafficking in Persons, this lesson begins by asking students to consider what they know about the issue, then takes them through a process of learning more before concluding by asking them about what they have learnt, and how their understanding might have changed. The lesson involves plenty of speaking, a vocabulary focus, which pre-teaches topic related vocabulary later found in the text, a jigsaw reading and a focus on passives. - International Day of Persons with Disabilities (3 December)
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Title of lesson plan: Susan Laughs
Age group: Primary (9 to 10 years old)
Level: A1 and above
This is a series of activities and related worksheets for you to download and use with the storybook Susan Laughs. Learners will make a personalised or class book based on the story and give a presentation. It forms part of the Promoting diversity through children's literature series, produced by the British Council Teaching Centre in Paris. - International Migrants Day (18 December)
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Title of lesson plan: Migrant stories
Age group: Secondary
Level: B1 and above
This activity is based around a website that tells the true stories of some people who migrated to Australia many years ago. The activity includes reading as well as listening and viewing skills and explores themes developed in the British Council OPENCities project.Title of lesson plan: Inside lives
Age group: Secondary
Level: B1 and above
This activity practices students’ listening and speaking skills. They first listen to a description of two images and then they analyse the language used and try to use it to describe some different pictures. The activity takes a similar format to that used in many speaking exams. The images used are those of Viennese migrants, all of whom run specialist businesses. The activity is based on themes and images from the OPENCities project.Title of lesson plan: Loose change
Age group: Secondary
Level: B2 and above
The kit is based on the short story of the same name by author Andrea Levy. The story was first published in ‘The Independent on Sunday' and later in the anthology ‘Underwords - The Hidden City' published by Maia Press Limited. It concerns a woman, the narrator, seeking change for a ten pound note in the National Portrait Gallery in London who strikes up a reluctant conversation with a young woman whose plight gradually becomes revealed. The narrator is plunged into a moral conflict, and the reader is drawn into the hard realities of the life of refugees and how they are treated.Title of lesson plan: Choose a city
Age group: Secondary
Level: B2 and above
In this speaking activity students think about and discuss a city they would like to live in for a year. The activity is based on themes from the British Council OPENCities project.Title of lesson plan: The challenges of being a migrant
Age group: Secondary
Level: C1 and above
This is a speaking and listening activity that involves students in thinking about the kinds of problems and challenges they might face as a migrant going to Belfast. They then listen to the true stories of 5 migrants talking about the challenges they have faced in moving to Belfast. The activity is based on themes and images from the OPENCities project.Title of lesson plan: Other cultures
Age group: Secondary
Level: C1 and above
One of the good things about migration is the opportunities it brings for learning about other cultures. In this speaking and discussion activity students will be able to share their views and knowledge of other cultures. The activity is based on themes from the British Council OPENCities project.
Podcast episodes
See all our podcast episodes connected to December's themes below.
- Teaching English podcast: How can I ensure my teaching is inclusive?
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All children have the right to learn, but often they are not given the opportunity to do so. Even when they are present in the classroom, they are not fully included in the learning. In this episode, teachers involved in the British Council’s innovative Teaching for All programme in South Africa will share approaches which can promote inclusivity, particularly in diverse classrooms communities. Then leading inclusivity expert Anne Margaret Smith will then share her ideas about how these strategies can be adapted and adopted in your teaching context.
Listen to the episode and download the show notes
Publications, research, and insight
See all of our publications related to December's themes below.
- Using inclusive practices self-study booklet
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This self-study guide for teachers and teacher educators looks at using inclusive practices. It forms part of a series of self-study booklets, in which teachers will find useful theory and practice for teaching English effectively, including short case studies and professional development activities to do individually and with colleagues.
Using inclusive practices self-study booklet - Creating an inclusive learning experience for English language learners with specific needs
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This collection of case studies aims to share some experiences in promoting positive attitudes and thinking around specific needs. It also aims to describe teaching and classroom management strategies to create an inclusive learning environment and positive experience for English language learners with specific needs.
Creating an inclusive learning experience for English language learners with specific needs - Guide for teacher educators: Supporting teachers in teaching English to learners with special educational needs and disabilities
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The British Council has produced a series of short evidence-based ‘How to’ guides for individuals and institutions who have a stake in designing and delivering professional development opportunities for English language teachers. These short guides provide a series of practical recommendations and a list of key associated research sources designed to inform the organisation of professional development programmes and interventions for practising English language teachers. They also serve as self-access guides for teachers who are enrolling on formal professional development programmes or pursuing self-directed professional learning.
Guide for teacher educators: Supporting teachers in teaching English to learners with special educational needs and disabilities - Teaching and technology: Case studies from India
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This collection of case studies illustrates teachers and organisations using technology in innovative ways. The case studies show teachers using virtual reality, video conferencing, WhatsApp groups and other technologies with ideas for how other teachers might replicate their innovations. By highlighting this good practice, we aim to inspire future action by others to experiment in similar contexts.
Teaching and technology: Case studies from India - Exploring the role of recently-qualified English teachers in developing technology use in language classrooms through communities of practice
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This paper is looking at six secondary schools across Malaysia with focus on how recently-qualified English language teachers develop and increase technology use in their teaching. Findings suggest, given the right conditions, that such communities of practice can flourish, resulting in greater use of technology in the classroom, and that recently-qualified teachers are capable of taking on a guiding role within these communities. The study will be of interest to teachers, teacher trainers and academics interested in the development of technology use in English language classrooms.
Exploring the role of recently-qualified English teachers in developing technology use in language classrooms through communities of practice - Using action research to explore technology in language teaching: international perspectives
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This report focuses on the use of ICT and new technologies in the classroom across different international contexts. This study provides an investigation of the processes and practices involved in conducting action research on the use of ICT and new technologies in the classroom as experienced by 12 teachers located across different international contexts, from Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Using action research to explore technology in language teaching: international perspectives