This new primary workshop is for teachers who want to explore and develop a range of ideas and strategies to use for developing students’ speaking skills.

This is a hands-on workshop in which teachers will participate in practical demonstrations of useful classroom teaching ideas.

There will be a range of motivating activities and tasks for participants to experience and evaluate for their own use. Participants will be shown several ways to stimulate their students to speak more freely using simple resources such as pictures, games, realia and art.

Time will be given for teachers to share their ideas, concerns and experiences in groups. Practical advice on motivating, managing and monitoring students will also be explored.

During the workshop, participants will be guided to adapt the different speaking activities to cater for learner diversity and to share their ideas with the group.

The activities and procedures demonstrated during the workshop aim to promote enjoyment of English and to build confidence and fluency. Click here for more details.

Since 2006 we have provided high quality professional development workshops to many hundreds of Hong Kong secondary school teachers who will be involved in planning and delivering the four Elective Modules on Learning English through Drama, Short Stories, Poems and Songs and Popular Culture.

These four practical workshops are held regularly at the British Council in Admiralty. Courses last six hours (eight hours for Poems and Songs) and teachers receive a certificate and are awarded CPD hours. During the day teachers find out about some of the main features of the NSS curriculum paying particular attention to the language arts modules.

The main part of the day is given to practical teaching and learning activities. Teachers take part in a wide range of classroom activities related to the Suggested Schemes of Work and are given a comprehensive handbook containing all the materials used in the session.

The courses also focus on different aspects of assessment within NSS covering such topics as assessment for learning and SBA. Each workshop focuses on an area relevant to the specific subject of the elective module. A major priority for teachers is how to resource and plan the module in their schools. Teachers find out about the structure and organisation of the Suggested Schemes of Work and consider how they could be adapted to suit their teaching context.

In 2008-09, we have extended our range of workshop to focus on developing teachers' knowledge base.  These two workshops primarily aim to increase teachers' content knowledge in preparation for introducing the elective modules.  

It is not necessary for teachers to have attended the basic language arts workshops in order to fully benefit from the enriching knowledge workshops as we recap key points in these sessions.

In the workshops, we continue to take a practical, hands-on approach to extending and developing teachers' existing knowledge and teaching skills base regarding key features of the text-types in the elective modules.

Modules included:

Enriching Knowledge: Appreciating Poems and Songs
Enriching Knowledge: Appreciating Short Stories

Teachers are busy people and attending a face-to-face session is not always an option. In March 2009 the British Council launched the first online teacher training courses in the territory and since then many hundreds of teachers have benefitted from our courses.

All web-based courses are the same as the face-to-face versions and led by experienced British Council tutors. The courses make use of discussion forums, live chat meetings, video, audio, presentations and interactive activities.

As well as this, you have access to a wealth of classroom resources to adapt and use with your students. Learning online does not mean learning alone and there are many ways for us to share our ideas and experiences. The tutor is online regularly throughout your course to guide and support you. The timetable for the course is flexible, although we provide a suggested programme for you to follow if you wish.

For more information about our online course, visit the British Council Community for EDB Online Training.