What's happening in July 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 July 2023.
For teachers this month, we'll be focusing on the theme of 'Managing the lesson', 'gamification' and 'bringing the real world into the classroom'. For teacher educators, the focus is 'Knowing the subject'.
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.
- Online skills for remote teaching
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Develop the skills you need to make your learners successful in remote learning by reflecting on different approaches to planning activities, creating interactive opportunities and managing remote learners.
In this free 4-week online course, you will learn about the following:
- Understanding remote teaching
- Planning and adapting materials
- Managing remote learning
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 4-week 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.
- ICT in the classroom - mini event (13 July 2023)
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This one day webinar event will feature three webinars with ELT experts from around the world. Attend up to three webinars on July 13 from 10:00 to 13:30 (UK time). All three webinars focus on how teachers can use technology in an innovative way. The webinars are for teachers of primary, secondary and young adult English language learners.
Schedule and speakers
10.00am UK - 11.00am UK: Virtual penpal exchanges (Melissa Thomson)
11.15am UK - 12.15pm UK: From game playing to game thinking: Unravelling the impact of gamification for language learning (Sirin Soyoz)
12.30pm UK - 13.30pm UK: Insights from online immersive task-based innovative teaching (Weiqun Wang)
Find out more and register for the event - Policies and practices in the ELT classroom - mini-event (27 July 2023)
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This one day webinar event will feature three webinars with ELT experts from around the world. Attend up to three webinars on July 17 from 10:00 to 13:30 (UK time). All three webinars focus on policies and practices that are important to English teachers nowadays. The webinars are for teachers of primary, secondary and young adult English language learners.
Schedule and speakers
10.00am - 11.00am UK: E-safety - raising awareness in the classroom (Maria Jose Galleno)
11.15am - 12.15pm UK: The role of workers' representation in English language teaching (Kevin Thomson and Stuart Anderson)
12.30pm - 13.30pm UK: Empowering learners through sustainable development goals (Cristiana Osan and Teodora Naiba)
Find out more and register for the event - Teachers' engagement with published research: what, how and why (18 July 2023)
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In this webinar for teacher educators, Graham Hall, Professor of Applied Linguistics/TESOL at Northumbria University, UK, focuses on the role research and research-oriented publications might play in teachers' professional lives and in the development of their professional understandings and practices.
Tuesday 18 July 2023 12.00 - 13.00 (UK time).
Find out more and register for this webinar for teacher educators - Facebook and Instagram Live events in July 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.
- World Population Day (11 July)
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Title of lesson plan: Put yourself in the picture
Age group: Secondary learners
Level: Upper intermediate and above
This is a speaking task that encourages students to empathise with other people and try to understand them better. The activity uses a number of visuals of migrants and the students have to imagine they are the person in the picture. The activity is based on themes from the British Council OPENCities project - World Youth Skills Day (15 July)
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Title of lesson plan: Children's rights
Age group: Primary learners
Level: Intermediate and above
In this integrated skills lesson, pupils will learn about some of the rights listed in the United Nations 'Convention on the Rights of the Child' (CRC)*. First, pupils are introduced to the concept of 'rights' through a teacher-led discussion. Then they study a list of items (in the form of picture cards) and decide which ones are 'rights'. Next, they read some of the fundamental rights, share missing information and complete the gaps in their text. Finally, learners work in groups, using the ideas from the lesson to make a booklet about children's rights. - Nelson Mandela International Day (18 July)
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Title of lesson plan: Mandela Day
Age group: Primary learners
Level: Intermediate and above
On Mandela Day, people aim to give 67 minutes of their time to helping others (to celebrate the 67 years of service of Mandela’s life. Students will learn about Mandela and then discuss ideas for projects to help others. You could take this forward with your class so that they actually choose one project and do it, then write about it later.
Title of lesson plan: Journey to Jo'burg
Age group: Secondary learners
Level: Upper intermediate and above
This B2 level BritLit pack is based on a story of South Africa during the apartheid years. It includes audio, a reading text and pre and after reading language activities. - International Day of Friendship (30 July)
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Title of lesson plan: Friendship
Age group: Primary learners
Level: Beginner
An A1 primary lesson plan to celebrate the UN International Day of Friendship. Learners are introduced to the idea of friendship through simple pictures, discuss what makes a good friend and work in groups to design posters celebrating friendship.
Title of lesson plan: My grandfriend
Age group: Primary learners
Level: Beginner
An A1 primary face to face and online lesson exploring the topic of intergenerational friendship. Learners will practice listening and speaking skills and describe where people live, what they like and what they do.
Title of lesson plan: Family and friends
Age group: Primary learners
Level: Pre-intermediate
An A2 primary lesson plan where learners practice speaking about and describing family and friends, are encouraged to think about how they can help their friends and develop their listening and writing skills. - World Day against Trafficking in Persons (30 July)
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Title of lesson plan: Is slavery a thing of the past?
Age group: Secondary learners
Level: Intermediate and above
Designed to raise awareness of the UN's World Day against Trafficking in Persons, this B1 lesson begins by asking students to consider what they know about the issue, then takes them through a process of learning more before concluding by asking them about what they have learnt, and how their understanding might have changed.
Podcast episodes
See all our podcast episodes connected to this month's themes below.
- Teaching English podcast: How can I teach online effectively?
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The last two years have seen a rush to teaching online, driven largely by the COVID-19 pandemic. But whilst some teachers had considerable experience teaching remotely, for others it was a completely new experience. In episode 5, we learn from Plan Ceibal (Ceibal en Inglés), an innovative English teaching project which uses videoconferencing technology to reach 80,000 children in over 550 primary schools across Uruguay. In the second part, digital learning specialist and lecturer in English language teacher Raquel Ribeiro shares her insights into how you can teach online more effectively, whatever your own experience and personal context.
Listen to the episode and download the show notes - Teaching English podcast: How can we use virtual reality to teach English?
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In recent times, the influence of virtual reality, artificial intelligence and the metaverse in our daily lives has increased. This influence has also been very noticeable in English language teaching in many parts of the world. In this episode, we talk to Nergiz Kern, a leading expert in this field, who talks to us about the past, present and future of these educational technologies. She shares with us advice about how we can get the most out of VR in the classroom with whatever resources we have, wherever in the world we may be.
Listen to the episode and download the show notes.
Publications, research, and insight
See all of our publications related to July's themes below.
- Identity in foreign language learning and teaching: why listening to our students’ and teachers’ voices really matters
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This report discusses the importance of providing a personally relevant learning and teaching environment and provides several practical suggestions of how this can be achieved.
Identity in foreign language learning and teaching: why listening to our students’ and teachers’ voices really matters - Evaluating the role of video in supporting reflection beyond INSET
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This research considers the impact of a video-based initiative aimed at sustaining engagement, reflection and impact beyond a three-week INSET (in-service teacher education and training) programme.
Evaluating the role of video in supporting reflection beyond INSET - Video in language teacher education
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This report details and evaluates the range of video-based practices currently being used in language teacher education.
Video in language teacher education - Mobile pedagogy for English language teaching: A guide for teachers
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This guide sets out a philosophy and proposes a frame of reference to aid teacher-thinking when designing mobile language learning in and beyond the classroom, informed by research conducted with teachers and learners in ESOL and EAP contexts.
Mobile pedagogy for English language teaching: A guide for teachers
It's great to see such a diverse range of topics and resources being highlighted for teachers and educators in July 2023. The focus on 'Managing the lesson', 'Gamification', and 'Bringing the real world into the classroom' offers valuable insights and strategies for enhancing teaching practices and engaging learners.