A teacher praises her student

Professional development for teachers

Here you’ll find a wide range of free, self-access training and resources designed to help you build the skills and knowledge you need as an English teacher.

All TeachingEnglish professional development resources are aligned with the British Council Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Framework for teachers, to help you plan your learning and develop the areas most relevant to your professional growth.

You can explore resources in a way that suits your goals:
- by professional practices – to focus on specific areas of teaching where you want to deepen your skills and expertise
- by professional development levels – to find resources matched to your training and experience and see how they can help you progress within each area.

Each resource includes a timer icon to show how much time you’ll need, helping you plan your learning effectively.

Four young learners sitting in a group, talking
Course closed
Course
9–12 hours
Knowing the subject
Using 21C skills or core skills

TeachingEnglish: Communication skills

Enhance your learners’ communication skills with engaging, practical classroom activities that build a clear understanding of effective dialogue.

A group of teachers around a big table, looking at different notebooks and tablets. There are teachers of different genders and ethnic backgrounds sitting at the same table.
Course closed
Course
9–12 hours
Planning lessons and courses
Understanding my learners
Assessing learning

TeachingEnglish: Planning courses

Discover how to plan learner-centred courses based on your learners, their context and curriculum requirements. Explore techniques for analysing learner needs and involving them as active participants in the assessment process.

A White primary-aged learner with Down’s Syndrome has his hand up in a classroom.
Course closed
Course
9–12 hours
Knowing the subject
Planning lessons and courses

TeachingEnglish: How to teach vocabulary

Help your learners notice, record, recycle and use new vocabulary more confidently with engaging classroom activities. Enrolment for How to teach vocabulary is closed.

Child and adult happily writing
Course closed
Course
9–12 hours
Knowing the subject
Planning lessons and courses

TeachingEnglish: How to teach writing

Improve your learners’ writing skills by exploring the subskills that make good writers, and ways of developing them in the classroom.

A Black teacher and a gender-neutral learner writing something on a classroom board.
Course closed
Course
9–12 hours
Planning lessons and courses
Managing the lesson

TeachingEnglish: Managing learning

Learn how to evaluate and write engaging lesson plans, and explore techniques for effective transitions, signalling, task-setting and checking instructions.

A group of primary-aged learners in a classroom sitting at desks. A White teacher is giving a Black learner a high-five.
Course closed
Course
9–12 hours
Planning lessons and courses
Managing the lesson

TeachingEnglish: Managing learners and resources

Learn how to manage resources, groupings and differentiation effectively to help build positive relationships with learners in your classroom.

A group of primary-aged learners sitting at a table, working together on something. The photo is taken from above. The learners are of different genders and ethnic backgrounds.
Course closed
Course
9–12 hours
Planning lessons and courses
Managing the lesson

TeachingEnglish: Organising the classroom

Learn how to use boards and other classroom resources effectively. Develop strategies for promoting social language, starting and finishing lessons and managing different interaction patterns in class.

A Black teacher sitting at a desk, typing something on a laptop.
Course closed
Course
9–12 hours
Planning lessons and courses
Assessing learning

TeachingEnglish: Planning lessons

Learn how to plan engaging language and topic-based lessons by identifying and applying commonly used lesson models. Explore techniques for introducing new language, writing achievable learning outcomes, and planning warmers and lead-ins.

A group of diverse teenagers standing around a desk working together on a project
Assessing learning
Using inclusive practices

Inclusive assessment – webinars

Watch the recordings of three practical webinars on how to make assessment more inclusive and creative.

Article
Knowing the subject

Teaching the schwa

If you only learn or teach one phoneme, make sure it’s the most common English sound – the schwa.