1. Home
  2. Training
  3. Courses

TeachingEnglish: How to teach speaking

Develop your understanding of speaking skills and explore teaching techniques and activities that promote oral communication in the classroom for a range of ages and levels. Enrolment for How to teach speaking is closed. Find resources connected to the course contents on this page, and sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date on when our courses open.

A Black teacher and a learner in a wheelchair smiling at each other. There are other learners of different genders and ethnic backgrounds sitting at the same table.
TeachingEnglish
Understanding
9–12 hours
Start: 03/04/25
End: 30/09/25
Certificate
Workbook
Online community

Courses

Explore the latest articles, resources, and updates related to Courses

Enrolment for How to teach speaking 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 How to teach speaking, you can view helpful resources here.

How will the course help you?

By the end of How to teach speaking, you'll be able to:

  • evaluate and adapt activities to promote meaningful communication
  • adapt tasks to maximise learner interaction
  • identify and justify appropriate speaking activities that effectively support specific lesson objectives.

What resources can you access 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
  • Sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date on when our courses open

What are the self-study modules?

Module 1 – Understanding speaking – key terms and issues

The aim of this module is to explore key terms and issues in the teaching of speaking. You'll look at how to evaluate and modify activities in terms of communicative quality, and consider how to get your learners using 'real speaking', not just completing grammar tasks.

Module 2 – Understanding speaking – maximising interaction

The aim of this module is to introduce you to a range of techniques and activities which promote speaking in your classroom. You'll look at the benefits of pair and group work and adapt tasks to maximise learner interaction.

Module 3 – Understanding language practice activities

The aim of this module is to explore and evaluate a range of practice activities. The module also looks at flexible activities that can be adapted for different ages and levels. You have the opportunity to select appropriate activities which match with lesson aims, and justify your choices.

Course reviews

What have other teachers said about how How to teach speaking helped them?

"Today, I taught a beginner class how to participate in a role-play activity for the first time. Instead of giving them instructions and then moving on straight to the speaking activity, I extended the speaking practice by eliciting what a role-play is, and brainstorming possible situations and roles reducing teacher speaking time. Also, after the role-play I extended the activity by asking them how they felt during the role-play encouraging them to express their personality and inout on the activity."

Course participant, Argentina

"After learning about the importance of fluency-focused activities, I started including short speaking tasks earlier in my lessons instead of leaving them until the end. For example, I now use pair discussions or role-plays in the middle of class to give students more time to practise speaking freely. This has helped boost their confidence and made lessons more interactive."

Course participant, Malaysia

"The British Council, TeachingEnglish course on how to teach speaking was very insightful.  For example, I learned the importance of using communicative activities like role-plays in speaking lessons. I now regularly incorporate role-plays into my daily classes, allowing students to practice real-life conversations in a supportive environment to boost their confidence and helps improve their speaking skills more effectively."

Course participant, Nigeria

Do you have more questions?

Please see our FAQs or access further support through our Help button.

Downloads
File attachments
How to teach speaking workbook 20251.09 MB
Bookmark this

Comments

Submitted by deltamodule1 on Thu, 01/20/2022 - 19:07

Hi!

I've created a new account with the belief that maybe there was a problem with the old one, and the problem persists. I see that there are many people with the same problem. Maybe there's something wrong with the site, could that be possible?

Thanks for everything you share and all the priceless opportunities you give to us in terms of professional development and teaching ideas!

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Mon, 01/24/2022 - 09:48

Hi deltamodule1

Thanks for your feedback and sorry to hear that you are having problems with enrolling on the course. We are constantly checking to ensure that the course page and enrolment process are working correctly. Can you give some more details about where you are having problems? Have you logged in successfully? Have you opened the courses homepage? If you can tell us what specific problem you are having, we should be able to resolve it.

Thanks,

Cath

TE Team

Submitted by BAKHITOGREBA on Wed, 01/19/2022 - 14:08

KINDLY, HOW DO I ENROLL IN THIS COURSE?

 

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Thu, 01/20/2022 - 15:07

Hi Bakhitogreba,

To enrol,  you need to follow steps 1-4 above. If you have created an account, make sure you are logged in. Then you will see a tab next to the Home button on the top of this page that says "My Portfolio" - if you click on this and then "My courses", this will take you to the courses homepage.   From here you can click on "Explore all courses" (a green tab on the right) - you will be able to see all the available courses, and can click on "Enrol in activity" for the courses that interest you.

Hope that helps,

Cath

TE Team

Submitted by Roxana Phocco … on Wed, 01/19/2022 - 13:56

Dear community, I really interested in this course but I can`t found the "ENROL IN  ACTIVITY BUTTON". Could you help me please?. 

Best regards!

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Thu, 01/20/2022 - 15:06

Hi Roxana,

To enrol,  you need to follow steps 1-4 above. If you have created an account, make sure you are logged in. Then you will see a tab next to the Home button on the top of this page that says "My Portfolio" - if you click on this and then "My courses", this will take you to the courses homepage.   From here you can click on "Explore all courses" (a green tab on the right) - you will be able to see all the available courses, and can click on "Enrol in activity" for the courses that interest you.

Hope that helps,

Cath

TE Team

Hi adedayo

If you have created an account, make sure you are logged in. Then you will see a tab next to the Home button on the top of this page that says "My Portfolio" - if you click on this and then "My courses", this will take you to the courses homepage.   From here you can click on "Explore all courses" (a green tab on the right) - you will be able to see all the available courses, and can click on "Enrol in activity" for the courses that interest you.

Hope that helps,

Cath

TE Team

Hello May

Are you enrolled on the course? You need to follow steps 1-4 above. Then you can go to "My Portfolio" at the top of this page, and access the course homepage. If you are on the courses page and you cannot access the course content, please use the orange "Help" button in the bottom right hand corner of the page.

Hope that helps

Cath
TE Team

Submitted by Ss samah on Tue, 01/18/2022 - 10:35

I do all the steps 

But i can't join the course i need? Any help?

How enrolling to the course

Hi Ss samah,

If you have followed the steps then you should have an account and be logged in. You just need to go to the courses homepage,  then click on "Explore all courses" (the green tab on the right). There you can see all the available courses and just click on "Enrol in activity" for the courses you are interested in.

Thanks

Cath
TE Team

Submitted by Zin Thet Oo on Tue, 01/18/2022 - 10:04

Hello!

Thank you fro joining this webiner and this course.Although I am not an English teacher, I am interested in learning English.

With regards,

Zin

Submitted by Kiran Tassaduq on Tue, 01/18/2022 - 09:08

Hi

Despite trying multiple times, I can't access to your main course outline.

please advise

 

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Tue, 01/18/2022 - 09:38

Hello Kiran

Have you created an account? You need to follow steps 1-4 above in order to enrol in and access the course. Can you give us some more details about which step you are having problems with?

Thanks,

Cath
TE Team

Submitted by JenyDiaz on Mon, 01/17/2022 - 23:47

I successfully finished Unit 1 (course: Teaching pathways: How to teach speaking), but when I return to this page, there is no register of my results in Unit 1. It says, it is in progress. I click again and a another window opens and wants me to do Unit 1 again. Can you help me, please?

Submitted by Naomi.Mathieu… on Mon, 01/17/2022 - 14:05

Hello,

I followed sthe instructions mentioned above but I can not find the enroll button.

Maybe a screenshot could help ?

Thanks,

Naomi

 

Hi Naomi,

If you have already created an account and are logged in, you will see the tab "My Portfolio" in the menu bar at the top of this page. Click on that, and then "My courses". This takes you to the courses homepage. If you then click on "Explore all courses" you can see all available courses and click "Enrol in activity" for the ones you are interested in.

Hope that helps,

Cath
TE Team

 

Hello Lwin

You need to follow steps 1-4 above. First you will need to create an account, or login to your existing account. Then you will see the tab "My Portfolio" in the menu bar at the top of this page. Click on that, and then "My courses". This takes you to the courses homepage. If you then click on "Explore all courses" you can see all available courses and click "Enrol in activity" for the ones you are interested in.

Hope that helps,

Cath
TE Team

Submitted by naph72 on Sun, 01/16/2022 - 17:44

Hello everyone,

I'm Mr. ZOA NAPHIS from Yaounde in Cameroon, looking for a way to teach English and it's a great opportunity for me to come across to this program hoping that it will help to achieve my goal.

Submitted by Swavana Yasmin Begum on Sun, 01/16/2022 - 15:18

Enroll button is not available, Please help to enroll

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Mon, 01/17/2022 - 08:23

Hello

To enrol on the course, you need to follow steps 1-4 above. First, you need to create an account and login - then you will see a tab "My Portfolio" in the top left hand of the menu bar. From there you can access the course homepage and enrol.

Hope that helps,

Cath

TE Team

Submitted by Suhani on Sun, 01/16/2022 - 10:31

Hi,

 

I have completed all the steps. However, when I try to access the under my classes, Only the thumbnail and general description of the module is visible. No content appears under the task status etc. It also shows the progress as 100%.

Hi Suhani

If you cannot see the course content after you are enrolled and logged in, you could try accessing the course using a different browser. If it still doesn't work, can you report this to the technical team. You need to click on the orange "Help" button in the bottom right of the screen.

Cath

TE Team

Submitted by tongquynhhoa on Sun, 01/16/2022 - 10:24

I really enjoy how to teach speaking course . I got many thing useful . I must often follow British Council from now on 

Submitted by Osama_6060 on Fri, 01/14/2022 - 14:53

I'd like to join this course to help improve my CPD. 

Thanks a lot for providing this opportunity.

Submitted by DasSumitra on Fri, 01/14/2022 - 06:33

I am not being able to see the ENROL tab / button, please help

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Fri, 01/14/2022 - 16:20

Hi DasSumitra

First you need to create an account and make sure you are logged in. Then you will see a tab at the top left of the page "MyPortfolio"  - if you click on that, and then "My Courses" you will be taken to the courses homepage. If you click on "Explore all courses" you will be able to see all the available courses. Then just click on "Enrol in activity".

Hope this helps!

Cath
TE Team

Submitted by Regina del Ros… on Fri, 01/14/2022 - 03:45

I really happy to participate in thus course. 

Hello LeeThuy,

If you are working through the course but are unable to save your progress, could you please report this to the technical team by clicking on the orange "Help" button in the bottom right hand of the screen on the course page?

Thanks,
Cath

Submitted by teachenglish789 on Thu, 01/13/2022 - 20:46

Hello everyone, I'm interested enrol to this course. I created an ccount  and it says  go to my portflio but there is no option for it, nor enrol  option. Please help me out. Thank you.

Submitted by Diamond59 on Thu, 01/13/2022 - 18:54

Hi  I am Almaz from Azerbaijan. I am interested how to teach speaking in class

Submitted by Juna Nagarkoti on Thu, 01/13/2022 - 13:47

I am interested in learning  teaching english language as a whole.

Submitted by Ola_ on Thu, 01/13/2022 - 12:33

I teach English to undergraduate students who need to boost their communication skill. 

Submitted by Cecilia Pan on Wed, 01/12/2022 - 20:35

Hello, I would be grateful if you could tell me how to enroll the course since I have already created a TeachingEnglish acount but I don't see any option or button around neither My Portfolio section. TIA

Submitted by Paul Braddock on Thu, 01/13/2022 - 08:40

Dear Cecilia

Please follow steps 1-4 above to enrol on the course. 

Regards

Paul

Submitted by Dilki on Wed, 01/12/2022 - 13:51

I could not find My Portfolio or my courses,when I logged in. Please help me.

Dear Dilki

You have not enrolled on the course. Please log in to your account first. 

When you have logged in, please click HERE to go to the course website. 

Click to 'Enrol in Activity'

The next time you log in to your TeachingEnglish account, you will see 'MY PORTFOLIO' at the top of the page. 

Regards

Paul (TeachingEnglish team)

Dear Dilki

This message appears when you are already logged in to your TeachingEnglish account on a different browser, for example Microsoft Edge. To continue, you just need to select a session to disconnect. You can only be logged in to your account on one browser for security reasons.

I hope that helps,

Regards

Paul (TeachingEnglish team)

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