What's happening in August 2023?
Whether you are a teacher or a teacher educator, this page gives you an overview of all the activity happening across our TeachingEnglish channels in August 2023.
For teachers this month, we'll be focusing on the theme of 'Understanding educational policies and practice','Safeguarding', and Sustainable Development Goals'. For teacher educators, the focus is 'Supporting ongoing teacher professional development'.
Find out about:
- Current and upcoming free online training courses
- Upcoming online events and webinars for teachers and teacher educators
- Facebook and Instagram Live
We have hundreds of lesson plans and classroom resources. Below are just a few to help you explore different days celebrated by the United Nations, examine some of the key themes with your learners and help them to develop their language and 21st century skills.
If you like listening to podcasts or reading current research and insights, we also recommend a range of podcast episodes, as well as publications related to this month's themes.
Online training
See all of our free training courses for teachers below.
- Safeguarding learners online
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Make your classroom a safe space for online learning. Help your learners to feel confident, be successful and recognise when they may need help.
In this free 4-week online course, you will learn about the following:
-Understanding safeguarding
-Digital citizen identity
-Digital privacy and security
Find out more and enrol on this free course - How to teach pronunciation
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Increase your understanding of phonology and your ability to support learners with effective pronunciation activities in the classroom.
In this free 4-week online course, you will learn about the following:
-Understanding pronunciation
-Engaging with pronunciation – individual sounds
-Engaging with pronunciation – techniques and activities
Find out more and enrol on this free course - Classroom management for primary
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Give your primary learners the best environment to learn English by improving your management of instructions, learning activities, resources and physical space.
In this free online course, you will learn about the following:
-Language use and instructions for primary
-Activities and classroom space for primary
-Understanding resources
Find out more and enrol on this free course - How to teach speaking
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Develop your understanding of speaking skills and explore teaching techniques and activities which promote oral communication in the classroom for a range of ages and levels.
In this free online course, you will learn about the following:
-Key terms and issues about teaching speaking
-How to select and adapt speaking activities
-The benefits of pair and group work for speaking
-A range of language practice activities for speaking
-How to adapt speaking activities for different ages and levels.
Find out more and enrol on this free course
Online events and webinars
See all of our free online events and webinars for teachers and teacher educators below.
- Developing skills to enhance your career as a teacher educator (8 August)
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In this webinar for teacher educators, discover how teacher educators working with the British Council have developed skills to enhance their careers. Discover the specific skills and understanding required for a range of teacher education initiatives in a variety of settings:
-Leading engagement on our Pathway Builder programme with Sirin Soyoz from Turkey.
-Facilitating Teacher Activity Groups across different regions with Radhika Gholkar from India.
-E-moderating the Assured Certificate in Teacher Education training program with Ann Armstrong from Malaysia.
-Facilitating a Community of Practice for teachers involved in project-related collaborative output with Doina Fleanta from Romania.
Tuesday 8 August 2023 12.00 - 13.00 (UK time).
Find out more and register for this online event. - Facebook and Instagram Live events in August 2023
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Join our online community of more than 4 million teachers worldwide. We will be hosting weekly events throughout June via our Facebook and Instagram channels.
These 30-minute 'live' sessions are a great opportunity for you to join teachers from around the world.
Engage with English language teaching experts and community members on a range of topics and themes to help you develop your teaching skills, and share ideas and questions with a vibrant global online community.
See what's happening in our community on Facebook
See what's happening in our community on Instagram
For the classroom
See a list of resources below that you can use to focus on UN Special Days in your language teaching classrooms.
- International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples (9 August)
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Title of lesson plan: Star Stories
Age group: Primary learners
Level: Lower intermediate and above
Learners read about two stories about dark constellations told by indigenous peoples. The lesson aims to raise awareness of the International Day of Indigenous Peoples and to develop learners’ speaking, observation and collaboration skills - International Youth Day (12 August)
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Title of lesson plan: Young market traders (lower level)
Age group: Secondary learners
Level: Lower Intermediate
Young market traders is a complete set of teaching resources designed around interesting and unusual photographs with activities to activate your students' higher level critical thinking skills. This pack deals with the topics of travel, lifestyle, childhood and child labour and practises both listening and speaking skills. - World Humanitarian Day (19 August)
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Title of lesson plan: Kindness calendar
Age group: Primary learners
Level: Lower Intermediate and above
An A2 primary lesson plan to celebrate World Humanitarian Day. Learners will explore the idea of peace and war and think about how they can live in peace, brainstorming acts of kindness that they could do in their own lives and create their own kindness calendar.
Podcast episodes
See all our podcast episodes connected to this month's themes below.
- Teaching English podcast: How can I integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into my teaching?
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We are now into the last decade of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and their emphasis on promoting education, improving health outcomes and eradicating poverty have never been more crucial. Despite their importance, many students around the world know little about them. In this podcast, we hear from three ELT writers who contributed articles to the British Council publication Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom. We then speak to Margarita Kosior about how these ideas can be effectively contextualised in the classroom, showing that it is possible to meet language goals – and prepare students for examinations – by teaching about the Sustainable Development Goals.
Listen to the episode and download the show notes
Publications, research, and insight
See all of our publications related to August's themes below.
- Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom
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This publication has a twofold aim – to help students learn a language creatively whilst at the same time raising awareness of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through bringing together a range of innovative ideas for teaching creatively and addressing these key issues. The activities include enabling students to think creatively about sustainable food and food supplies, creating energy which does not harm the environment, and collaborating with other students globally to diminish the digital divide.
Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom - Understanding educational policies and practices self-study booklet
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This self-study guide for teachers and teacher educators looks at understanding educational policies and practice.
Understanding educational policies and practices self-study booklet - Professional development through Teacher Activity Groups
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This report examines use of a model of continuing professional development (CPD) called Teacher Activity Groups (TAGs).
Professional development through Teacher Activity Groups - Investigating Global Practices in Teaching English to Young Learners
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The study uncovered a range of factors concerning the teaching of English to young learners globally from the perspective of teachers involved in implementing these programmes. In particular, it shows that many of these factors are commonly experienced by teachers across different countries and contexts. The paper concludes with five key recommendations for future action to support teaching English to young learners.
Investigating Global Practices in Teaching English to Young Learners - On language teachers as agents of cultural relations
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In this article the theoretical concepts related to cultural relations and teacher agency are introduced. Empirical evidence is presented from ODA (official development assistance) contexts which shows how teacher agency can be manifested, and further reflections and implications are discussed by the author.
On language teachers as agents of cultural relations - English Public Policies in Latin America
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This series of Americas regional policy dialogues brings together decision makers from ministries and authorities in the Americas to look at solutions leading to the systemic improvement of English Language Teaching (ELT) in public education contexts. In this edition, the policy dialogue was co-hosted by the British Council and the Government of Jalisco. This publication comprises the output of each delegate’s participation in the event. Each contribution enriched the discussion and allowed attendees to reflect on topics ranging from the importance of English for economic development to the key success factors in language teaching in public education systems. All the while showcasing trends and innovations with the potential to improve the quality of English language teaching in Latin America.
English Public Policies in Latin America - Towards a language rich Europe: multilingual essays on language policies and practices
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This collection of 20 essays is the first of a number of initiatives under the British Council Language Rich Europe project, a two and a half year initiative to explore language policy and practice, facilitate knowledge sharing, and promote multilingualism across Europe in partnership with the European Commission, EUNIC (European National Institutes of Culture) and around 30 further partner institutions.
Towards a language rich Europe: multilingual essays on language policies and practices - Perspectives on English in the Middle East and North Africa
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This is a collection of papers written by both UK and Arabic academics on the theme of how the growing knowledge and use of English is affecting the region.
The researchers have tackled a broad range of topics: interfaith dialogue; the influence of English on individuals’ life chances; social inclusion; and English in the workplace.
The aim of the book is to encourage discussion on how the English language may (or may not) be challenging perceptions of culture and identity in peoples and groups of the Middle East and North Africa Region and in the UK.
Perspectives on English in the Middle East and North Africa