Creating lessons that work – mini-event

Creating lessons that work

Here you can watch the videos of three practical sessions where our speakers share tools, tips and strategies to help you plan effective lessons and write classroom materials. You will learn how to define and deliver learning outcomes that meet learners' needs and discover the secrets to writing excellent lesson materials. The live event took place on 20 March 2025.

About the sessions

Session 1: How to write great learning outcomes

Speaker:

Robert Martínez

Session information:

Do you feel that your lesson aims could be clearer sometimes? Do you already know the basics of planning lessons and writing learning outcomes, but could do with another perspective and ideas? Did you know 'fudge' helps with lesson planning?! If you want to get even better at writing and achieving great learning outcomes, watch this practical webinar to find out how.  

Find a summary of the key points and references in the handout for Robert's webinar.

Session 2: The secrets to writing classroom materials

Speakers:

Kath Bilsborough and John Hughes

Session information:

Writing classroom materials is a key skill for any teacher. Even if we use published materials, we still need to make tests, create video worksheets, design games, plan discussion questions … The list is endless! Combining over 60 years of experience as teachers and published authors, John and Kath share their top tips for writing materials, including analysing the flow of your materials, integrating images, using free online tools and working with a 'writing buddy'!  

Find a summary of the key points and references in the handout for Kath and John's session.

Session 3: Panel discussion: How to create lessons that work

Speakers:

Sadiku Bashiru, Jessica Gallagher, Kseniia Zelinskaia

Session information:

Three teachers from around the world share their practical ideas for creating engaging and effective lessons. 

Find a summary of the key points and references in the handout for the panel discussion.

About the speakers

Robert Martínez has worked as a teacher and teacher trainer in numerous countries since 1994 and is now based in Spain. He is passionate about language assessment, technology integration in the classroom and teacher education, and he is a CELTA tutor and assessor and an EAQUALS inspector. He speaks Italian and Spanish, and can get by in French and Portuguese. 

Kath Bilsborough is a teacher educator and ELT author, well known for her coursebooks for primary and secondary. Besides coursebooks and digital courses, she writes free-access materials and lesson plans for the British Council and several ELT publishers. She has worked with teachers around the globe on developing materials, from low-resource printed worksheets to highly polished video animation.  

John Hughes is a published ELT author and a specialist in coursebooks for adults and business English. Increasingly, he is working in areas such as online course design and video production. He's also the originator and series editor of the 'ETpedia' resource series for teachers (a British Council ELTons finalist). As a teacher trainer, he's worked with teachers from all over the world. John regularly collaborates with Kath as https://writingeltmaterials.com/ 

Sadiku Bashiru teaches and manages other teachers in a school in Nigeria. Sadiku has a special interest in how to plan lessons and courses using projects, which he'll focus on in the session.

Jessica Gallagher is a teacher from the USA who now lives and teaches teenagers in Peru. Jessica is interested in higher-order thinking skills and will show you how to use questions to engage learners.

Kseniia Zelinskaia teaches English to young learners in Russia. Kseniia will talk about the importance of warmers when planning lessons, and teach you some of her favourite.