Building understanding through dialogue

Welcome to Building understanding through dialogue

How will the course help you?

Create positive relationships and effective communication in your classroom by exploring techniques to develop empathy, critical thinking and intercultural competence.

What does the course include?

Building understanding through dialogue is a free self-study training course, which is divided into three-hour modules. It also includes:

• A dedicated Facebook community of course participants with up-to-date insight, resources and innovative ideas for you to try out.
• Engaging discussions taking place in the Facebook community
• Live events with your course tutor and language teaching experts.
• A free workbook with extra learning content and resources.

What will you learn?

Module 1: Dialogue and intercultural competence

The aim of this module is to help you help your learners better understand their own culture, identity and values – something which can help them to build dialogue and understand others.  You’ll do this by first exploring aspects of your own culture, identity and personal values. You'll also look at diversity and what it means to live in a diverse society.

Module 2: Dialogue, trust and empathy

In this module, you'll look at a range of strategies and techniques that can help learners to use dialogue to have a positive influence on those around them.  In the module, you'll explore empathy and how you can encourage your learners to develop more empathy for others. You'll explore techniques for building trust, and in the final unit, you'll look at motivation and how to influence people using push and pull motivational techniques.

Module 3: Dialogue and critical thinking

In this module, you'll look at the basic elements of critical thinking and forming an argument, and you'll evaluate a range of activities and techniques for helping your learners develop their critical-thinking abilities. You'll also look at some of the common problems that block critical thinking and make meaningful dialogue more difficult, such as arguments that are weak or flawed.

When is the course?

How much does the course cost?

The course is free.

How can you get a certificate?

You will receive a certificate if you successfully complete all self-study modules.

What level of English do you need?

Minimum CEFR B1

What can you do next?

If you're interested in learning more about building understanding through dialogue, you can:

• Get teaching ideas from our Courses for teachers Facebook community.
• Access learning content related to our courses on Facebook (Facebook account required).
• Access teaching resources on the TeachingEnglish website
• Download the free course workbook
• Sign up to the free newsletter to keep up to date on when our courses open.