World Teachers' Day 2025 Thursday 9 October

World Teachers' Day – Thursday 9 October

The theme for our World Teachers' Day conference 2025 is 'Global voices, future focus', inviting you to join English language professionals worldwide in shaping the future of English language teaching. 

Our opening day included four practical and interactive webinars from expert classroom practitioners from all over the world. The first day's sessions focus on the themes of continuing professional development (CPD) and digital technology in teaching.

About Thursday's sessions

Plenary session: Rethinking professional development in a connected world  

Speaker

Cecilia Nobre

About the session

Twenty years ago, professional development often meant attending a course, reading a book or waiting for a workshop. Today, teachers can shape their growth in more flexible and personal ways. Technology has opened up new possibilities, but the real question is how we can use it to support meaningful, long-term development rather than quick fixes. This talk explores how reflection, community and simple digital tools can support your growth in sustainable and relevant ways. By the end of the session, you will be able to use tech-based strategies that genuinely support reflection (not just add noise), set meaningful development goals using tools and platforms you already access, and choose the kinds of communities that feel right for you.

Session 2: Top tips for reflective practice

Speaker

Anestin Lum Chi

About the session

This webinar explores the what, why and how of reflective practice. We start by discussing what reflective practice is and explore a range of tools and strategies you can use to reflect. Next, we discuss problems and solutions to implementing reflective practice in teaching, and participants will reflect on their teaching practice. You will end the session with more confidence in knowing which reflective strategies and tools will work in your context and why. 

Session 3: Using AI to boost confidence

Speaker

Man Wu

About the session

In this practical webinar, you discover how AI tools can transform both teacher development and classroom preparation. Drawing from successful cases across Chinese schools, this session demonstrates how teachers are effectively integrating AI into their daily teaching practice to create more engaging and innovative lessons and to develop as teachers. Teachers both with and without experience of using AI will benefit from this practical session! 

Session 4: Digital storytelling and multimedia projects

Speaker

Mary Rose Banaag

About the session

Watch this session to see how digital storytelling can enhance learners' language skills, creativity and engagement through multimedia projects such as videos, podcasts and digital narratives. We first look at the fundamentals of digital storytelling, then participants explore practical examples of how multimedia narratives can create meaningful communication opportunities in the classroom. Suitable for all experience levels! 

About the speakers

Cecilia Nobre is a teacher, teacher educator and mentor with over 20 years of experience in education. She has taught in Brazil, the UK and Turkey and she is currently doing a PhD in Applied Linguistics at the University of Warwick, with a focus on teacher development. She is passionate about online teaching and teacher development and has spoken about this area at numerous conferences all over the world. She is a co-author of Using video to support teacher reflection and development in ELT (Equinox Publishing, 2023). Cecilia also gave a webinar –  Using resources that aren't textbooks –  at our Managing resources webinar event in May 2024.

Man Wu is a Beijing-based English teacher and teacher educator working with educational institutions across China. She speaks regularly at major workshops about AI and innovative teaching, including at the British Council 90th Anniversary Conference. As chief editor of "Master Teachers' Perspectives" series with 12 published books, she has trained thousands of teachers in technology integration and language teaching.   

Anestin Lum Chi is a multi-award-winning English and French language teacher from Cameroon, who has also worked and studied in the UK. She is also a British Council certified trainer and a language consultant. Anestin is passionate about innovative teaching methodologies and teachers' professional development. Anestin also gave a talk –  Using emojis to help develop writing skills – at our Teaching the four skills webinar event in November 2024.

Mary Rose Banaag is an experienced teacher from the Philippines, with over 15 years of training and development experience. She has taught both face-to-face and online and has worked extensively with business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients, crafting tailored training programmes to meet their needs. Mary Rose was mentored by TeachingEnglish in 2024 and spoke at our Multimodal classrooms webinar event in a panel discussion called How do we integrate digital tools?