British Council: TeachingEnglish - series overview
In this ten-part podcast series from the British Council, we try and provide solutions to some of the key questions being asked by English teachers around the world. Each episode explores a specific topic through interviews, a focus on recent developments and reports on British Council initiatives in English language teaching. Practical show notes and transcripts are available to download at the bottom of the page.
Episode 1: How can I integrate global issues into my teaching?
The Teaching English with the British Council podcast launches as COP26, the crucial UN climate change conference, draws to an end. In our first episode, we explore how teachers can effectively integrate teaching global issues in the language classroom. Initially, we’ll examine this question from the perspective of one of the most pressing global issues of our time, namely the climate crisis, in particular the British Council’s podcast series The Climate Connection. We’ll then interview Fadidac Jules Champrien, a young and dynamic Cameroonian educator, about how teachers in any context and any situation can use language teaching as a way of raising global issues.
Show notes
Each episode contains downloadable show notes. These include the following:
- Ideas for how you could use the podcast in your teaching
- Detailed notes with extra information about the contents of the episode
- Useful links
- A lexical glossary of words and phrases from the episode, mapped to the CEFR
How to listen or subscribe to the podcast
You can listen and subscribe to the podcast in the following ways:
- Download the episode below
- Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts - just search for 'British Council: TeachingEnglish' and subscribe, or paste the RSS feed URL below in to your podcast platform: https://feeds.captivate.fm/british-council-teach/
- Listen on Apple Podcasts
- Listen on Google Podcasts
- Listen on Spotify
Downloads
- Episode 1 audio file
- Episode 1 Show notes
- Epsiode 1 Transcript
This episode is produced for the British Council by Chris Sowton and Kris Dyer
English and Grammar (Grad
1. Adjectives in Context:
Use descriptive writing to explore global issues. For instance, describe the effects of deforestation ("vast empty lands," "beautiful lush forests").
Encourage students to write sentences or short paragraphs about diverse cultures or environmental challenges.
2. Storytelling:
Read stories or create narratives that address global topics like kindness, sustainability, or inequality.
Ask students to identify adjectives in these stories and use them in their own writing.
3. Cultural Connections:
Introduce adjectives to describe different cultures, food, or traditions from around the world.
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General Strategies
1. Collaborative Projects:
Have students research a global issue (e.g., climate change, poverty) and present solutions using their subject knowledge.
2. Problem-Solving Activities:
Pose real-world problems, like designing a sustainable city, and ask students to apply math and language skills to propose solutions.