Getting started

Getting started with TeachingEnglish

Welcome to TeachingEnglish – the British Council’s global home for teachers and teacher educators who are working in schools, colleges, universities or language academies. For your classroom, you’ll find a range of practical resources, including full lesson plans, shorter activities and a range of teaching tools. 

For your professional development, we have a wide variety of content, including publications and research, webinars, articles, blog posts, videos, information about events and much more. 

TeachingEnglish is completely free of charge.

Here are two ways to find a page where you can get started:

  1. Use the menu links at the top of every page to explore the site and see what materials we have.
  2. Use the search button at the top-right of every page to find topics or areas of interest to you.

Explore the site

Our practical teaching resources are divided into three main areas, which you’ll see in the top menu: ‘Teaching primary’ for learners aged 5-12, ‘Teaching secondary’ for learners aged 13-17 and ‘Teaching adults’ for learners aged 18 and above. See below for more information.

Professional development

We have a wide range of professional development materials  for both teachers and teacher educators, including articles, more than 200 hours of webinar and conference recordings, publications and research, and a large number of blog posts. For more detailed information about how our professional development resources are organised, visit our Getting started with development section.

Publications

Our Publications section features a variety of downloadable books, each divided into key areas: 

  • practical resource books written by ELT experts and designed to help you in your classroom 
  • case studies, insights and research, which can be filtered by geographic region or topic; 
  • Milestones in ELT, a series of classic texts from the British Council. 

You can also find information about the British Council ELT Research Awards and read award-winning ELT Masters dissertations. 

News and events

Our News and Events section features the latest top stories and an unrivalled range of upcoming and recorded webinars, featuring experts in teaching and teacher education. You can also:

  • Keep up-to-date with the ELTons Innovation Awards and watch the ceremony live each year. 
  • Watch live and recorded talks from the annual IATEFL international conference.
  • View previous seminar recordings and use the seminar training material for your professional development.

Practical resources for teachers of primary

There are more than 100 lesson plans and activities specifically designed for the primary classroom for you to choose from. All our lesson plans and activities are divided by level and you’ll find a range topics – from seasons and festivals to ideas for using flashcards and a focus on grammar.

Our resources for primary teachers also include ideas for using songs, stories and poems and CLIL. You’ll find a range of activities to help bring you bring your primary classroom to life.

In our teaching tools section for primary, we have classroom rules posters in four different designs, badge builders and star charts to motivate your students and a range of board games.

Practical resources for teachers of teenagers

There are more than 200 lesson plans and activities specifically designed for the secondary classroom for you to choose from. All our lesson plans and activities are divided by level and you’ll find a range topics – from a series of plans to develop higher level thinking skills to online safety.

Our resources for teachers of teens also include ideas for using stories and poems from our BritLit series. We also have resources in our UK culture section will that help you teach your students about famous British authors, including Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Dylan Thomas.

In our teaching tools section for teens, we have classroom rules posters in four different designs, badge builders to motivate your students and a range of skills posters with top tips.

Practical resources for teachers of adults

There are more than 150 lesson plans and activities specifically designed for adult learners of English for you to choose from. All our lesson plans and activities are divided by level and you’ll find a range of topics – from a series of activities around rants and raves to cooking!

Our English for business section has 15 lesson plans to help you with your business English classes. With lesson plans around the themes of meetings, negotiations and socialising, you are sure to find what you need.

Sign up for a free account to add your comments and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for ideas on how to make the most of your teaching.

If you have any questions or feedback about TeachingEnglish, please contact us.
 

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Research and insight

Browse fascinating case studies, research papers, publications and books by researchers and ELT experts from around the world.

See our publications, research and insight