COURSES AND WORKSHOPS FOR TEACHERS
Our objectives
All of our courses and workshops are highly interactive, fun and practical. The emphasis is on participation. Over the years we’ve attended many talks, training sessions and conferences that were more like lectures, and our philosophy is different. Once the course has finished, all the session notes and handouts will be available online. You’ll be able to study supplementary material there too. The idea behind this is to enable you to take part fully at the time. We believe that learning by doing is a much more memorable experience.
These courses and workshops will help with your own professional development. In turn, this will help to foster a growth mindset with your students as your lessons become more engaging.
Using Theatre and Drama Techniques in English Language Teaching
A devised theatre workshop for the CEP in Isla Cristina, and turning your class into a theatre at Escuela de Verano MEVISUR in Malaga
Theatre made by teachers for teachers. We’ve worked all over Spain with our hands-on, very practical courses and workshops on bringing the theatre into the classroom. These are aimed at teachers of EFL/ESL, primary and secondary education who want to use elements of drama in their teaching. In the workshops you’ll learn about:
Drama and theatre across the curriculum
Warmers and icebreakers
Devised theatre
Successful role-play and character creation
Ideas on how to turn your classroom into a theatre
Improvisation
Using Puppets in the Language-Learning Classroom
With teachers in Seville University, and a sock comes to life in IES Torreón del Alcázar, Toledo!
Puppets are a low-tech, cheap and incredibly flexible resource to use. We guarantee you’ll enjoy yourself, learn lots of new skills and go away feeling inspired to use them in your classroom. The workshops are aimed at teachers with all levels of experience and from all educational sectors (infant, primary, secondary, EFL etc). Some of the aspects we cover are:
Choosing a puppet
Puppet manipulation
How to bring your puppet to life
Using puppets in CLIL
Making simple puppets
Making simple puppet theatres from recycled materials
Green screen puppetry and simple puppet animation
Storytelling
Workshops at CARLEE (Centro Aragonés de Lenguas Extranjeras para la Educación) and the Escuela de Verano MEVISUR 2019, Malaga
So why do storytelling? Well, storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to influence, teach and inspire the listener. Not only that, it also gives learners the opportunity to hear language in context. Students of all ages – from early years to adults – will enjoy listening to them, and enjoyment is key to learning. In these courses and workshops we’ll look at how to bring stories alive, and how to create an engaging and immersive experience that your students will love. Some of the aspects we cover are:
Why use storytelling in class?
Telling stories with and without a book
Different storytelling techniques
How to engage and maintain student interest
Body language
Use of voice
Using storytelling in CLIL
Digital storytelling
Encouraging Creativity in the Classroom
Teaching creativity to teachers at a weekend course organised by the CEP Huelva-Isla Cristina
Along with critical thinking and emotional intelligence, creativity is one of the most in-demand soft skills these days. We strongly believe that young learners can be taught to be more creative. In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn activities that you can do with your classes and in other spheres too. We’ll cover:
How to teach and encourage your students to be more creative
Encouraging the use of 21st-century skills
Learning to think outside the box
Increasing collaboration in the classroom
Team-Building
Workshop for teachers at GetBrit in Toledo
Along with creativity, being able to collaborate successfully is another skill that is in high demand. At the beginning of the academic year, it’s really good idea to help your new teachers bond and build a team. A happy workplace is a more productive workplace! Or perhaps you find that half-way through the term, your teachers are starting to flag, and could do with some team-building input. In these workshops we also do activities that you can do with your students. Some of the aspects we cover are:
Ideas on how to get the team working together
Team-building for teachers
Promoting team-spirit and cooperative activities
Development of social skills
Cuisenaire Rods
Using Cuisenaire rods with teachers at GetBrit in Toledo
Originally intended for teaching maths, this little-used tool has great potential in English language teaching. In these workshops we look at:
Use of rods in grammar, storytelling and pronunciation.
Tips and practical advice on using rods
Making and Using Masks
Working with Spanish secondary school teachers with emoji and Larva masks, on a course run by CTIF Madrid
Masks are a great way of bringing classrrom roleplays to life. In these courses and workshops we look at:
Introduction to masks
Mask-making
Character creation using masks
Full-face and half-face masks
English for Teachers
Are you a non-native speaker and teacher of English? As English teachers with more than 60 years of EFL experience between us, we can help you. We offer courses tailored to classroom language, in addition to general language courses to help bring you up to B2.
As examiners ourselves, we’re extremely familiar with all the main exam suites (Trinity, Aptis, Cambridge, etc). So if you need extra tuition, or simply some help with preparing for a an exam, contact us through this site or on social media.
Online courses coming soon!
Send us a message via the Contact Us page, and Marge will let you know when they go live!
You can look at our Facebook Page and YouTube channel to see some photos and videos, read some feedback and get an idea of what we’ve been doing.
Here are just some of the places where we’ve run teacher-training courses and workshops – so don’t delay, contact us today!