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TeachingEnglish: Motivating activities for primary

Engage your primary learners with songs, games, chants and vocabulary activities that will make learning memorable. Enrolment for Motivating activities for primary 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 group of primary-aged children sitting on the floor of a classroom, smiling and laughing. The group has learners of different genders and ethnic backgrounds.
TeachingEnglish
Understanding
9–12 hours
Start: 01/04/25
End: 24/06/25
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Enrolment for Motivating activities for primary 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 motivating activities for primary, you can view helpful resources here. 

What resources can you access at 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
  • Teaching resources on the TeachingEnglish website
  • Sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date on when our courses open

What are the self-study modules in Motivating activities for primary?

Module 1 – Understanding vocabulary for primary

The aim of this module is to explore how to make learning vocabulary effective and memorable by considering a variety of strategies, activities and resources. You will identify factors that make vocabulary more memorable, describe how to adapt vocabulary activities to different age groups, as well as use a variety of activities and materials to make vocabulary memorable.

Module 2 – Understanding games for primary

The aim of this module is to explore the advantages of using interactive games in the primary classroom. You'll evaluate a range of games and watch several teachers in practice as they lead games in their classroom. You'll describe the advantages of using games in the primary classroom, identify some of the main issues with playing games and have strategies ready to prevent them, as well as plan how to use and teach games suited to your learners' needs.

Module 3 – Understanding songs, rhymes and chants for primary

The aim of this module is to demonstrate how songs, rhymes and chants can be used to create motivating lessons and enhance children's learning. The module also looks at exploiting and adapting songs, rhymes and chants with different age groups. You'll describe how songs can enhance children's learning, describe how rhymes and chants can enhance children's learning, as well as identify different techniques for adapting and exploiting songs, rhymes and chants in the classroom.

Course reviews

What have other teachers said about how Motivating activities for primary helped them?

"I am applying the knowledge to my teaching methods, accordingly. Previously, I'd rush through the vocabulary to 'dive' into the meat of the matter. Now, I put more emphasis on teaching the vocabulary / actions prior to telling a story or repeating chants / songs."

Course participant, Japan

"With my fifth grade students I have used the bus game to revise vocabularies related to goods, vehicles, day of the week and vegetables."

Course participant, Senegal

"I may not be confident in my singing ability, but incorporating chants and rhymes gives me a practical and enjoyable alternative. It also helps ease the guilt I sometimes feel when relying on recorded music, especially since I’ve often felt my singing voice isn’t quite up to par—so this feels like a great middle ground."

Course participant, Viet Nam

Do you have more questions?

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Motivating activities for primary workbook 20251.13 MB
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Comments

Submitted by ezealvarenga on Tue, 06/24/2025 - 02:01

Even this course is already closed, i've been facing some issues trying to view "My courses" page. Blank page was shown every time i've tried to access such section. No problem with the other items nor sections, just "my courses", thanks!

Hi ezealvarenga

Thanks for your message and sorry to hear that you are having problems viewing 'My courses'. I've just checked your account, and I can see all your pages fine, so I'm not sure what the issue is. It would be great if you could report this directly to the courses team by sending a message using the orange 'Help' button on the courses page - it's really helpful if you can send a screenshot of what you are seeing.

Thanks and hope we can resolve this ASAP for you.

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by sahar.sz on Fri, 05/02/2025 - 03:13

Hi.
I enrolled in this course, but there is not any active course in my profile. Please help me!

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Fri, 05/02/2025 - 07:57

Hi sahar.sz

Thanks for your comment - I've had a look at your account and I can see your course. Make sure you are logged in to your TeachingEnglish account, click/tap on 'My portfolio - my course' - this course appears in your active courses. If you still can't see it, please contact the courses team by using the orange 'Help' button on the page when you click on 'My portfolio'.

Hope you can access the course now and enjoy it!

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by Dhani_Lee on Fri, 05/16/2025 - 05:15

I have the same problem it has been a few days when I click on My Portfolio > My Courses, it is a blank page. I was able to access it last week. Nothing has been updated or changed on my laptop/

Hi Dhani_Lee

Thanks for your comment. 

I've just checked your account, and the course is displaying fine for me. Can you do the following:

 - Log out of your TeachingEnglish account on all your devices

 - clear the cache on your browser

- Log back into TeachingEnglish and click again on 'My Porfolio - My courses'

If the problem persists, please report this to our tech team using the Help button on the page.

Hope this resolves the issue and that you can continue to enjoy the course!

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by SundasKhan on Wed, 06/18/2025 - 11:58

I also registered for this course few days back
but i am not getting option of my course and portfolio
after several logins

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Thu, 06/19/2025 - 11:34

Hi SundasKhan

Thanks for your comment. I've checked your account and can see that you are successfully enrolled in this course. 

Can you log out of TeachingEnglish, clear the cache on your browser and then log in again - this should resolve the issue.

If you still can't access the course, please report this using the orange 'help' button on the courses page - if you can include a screenshot of any error messages that would be really helpful.

Hope this resolves the issue and you enjoy the rest of the course!

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Hi Yana_1980

Thanks for your message. You are now successfully enrolled in this course. When you log in, click on 'My Portfolio- my courses'- this course is currently under 'Closed courses'. It will appear in your courses once it opens (1st April).

Hope that helps and that you enjoy the course!

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Hello

Thanks for your comment.

Registration for this course is now closed I'm afraid.

You can still access the course workbook above, which has useful links and resources for you to use.

Hope that helps,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Hi Safiyah

Thanks for your comment. We are sorry that there are technical difficulties and some users are unable to access our courses at the moment. Our technical team is working on it and we hope to solve it soon. 

Thanks for your patience,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

 

Submitted by Ifeoma Yoma on Thu, 05/23/2024 - 02:34

I have done module 1 and 2. I tried logging in to Finish up and i kept seeing this debug information error. I have followed the instructions here about various ways to access the course, and its still not working. Please help!

Hi Ifeoma,

Thanks for your comment. We are sorry that there are technical difficulties and some users are unable to access our courses at the moment. Our technical team is working on it and we hope to solve it soon. 

Thanks for your patience,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by Yosra Mohamed Refaat on Sun, 05/19/2024 - 03:02

Pls
I'm finishing the course
But I don't know how can I get the certificate

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Tue, 05/21/2024 - 07:24

Hi Yosra

Thanks for your comment. Once you successfully complete a course, you can find your certificate by logging into your training in the usual way, then clicking /tapping on the 'My awards' tab. There you should be able to see the 'My certificates' section. The certificate should appear there once you've finished the course.

Hope that helps,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by HADDED ABDENACER on Wed, 04/02/2025 - 18:07

After finishing the course successfully , will you ask us to give you our personal information or you fill the certificate from the profile account

Submitted by Cath McLellan on Thu, 04/03/2025 - 09:01

Hi HADDAD

When you finish the course your certificate will be automatically generated. You can find it by logging in to your course as usual, and then clicking/tapping the 'My awards - My certificates' tab.

Hope that helps and that you enjoyed the course!

Cath
TeachingEnglish team

Hi svitlana11041670

Thanks for your comment.

When you have successfully completed the course, your certificate will be automatically generated. When you log into your course,  you can click/tap the 'My awards' tab - and it should be there under 'My certificates'.

Hope that helps and that you have enjoyed the course!

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by Hứa Quỳnh Thư on Thu, 05/02/2024 - 03:15

GooD

Submitted by blancamarinc on Sun, 04/28/2024 - 18:37

hello! I have registered for the course and i can access it, but i don't know how to open or start the modules. what steps do i have to take? Thank you.

Hi blancamarinc

Thanks for your message. I have checked and I can see that you are successfully registered. To access your training, make sure you are logged in to your TeachingEnglish account, then click / tap the 'My Porfolio - My courses' tab at the top of the page. You will see your course, and then just click / tap 'Start' for teach module to access the content.

Please let us know if you are still having problems.

Thanks,

Cath

TeachingEnglish team

Submitted by Yufang Zhou on Sat, 04/20/2024 - 13:28

good

Submitted by Dariat on Mon, 03/11/2024 - 15:03

I do have an account and I've successfully registered for a couple of other courses, but it doesn't seem to work with this one.

Hi Dariat

Sorry to hear you are having problems registering for the course. Can you try clicking directly on this link: https://open.teachingenglish.org.uk/Home/ExploreProgrammes (you will need to be logged in). You should be able to see the course there and click to enrol.

Can you let me know if you are still having problems at Teachingenglish@britishcouncil.org

Thanks,
Cath

TeachingEnglish team

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