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Here you will find guidance and ideas for delivering lessons and homework online as well as material to support your professional development and wellbeing.
Teaching from Home

There are many ways you can start teaching English from home. From setting up a virtual classroom to using social media to connect with your students - see our top tips for engaging with learners online.

1. Online Teaching Part 1: Getting Started

2. Online Teaching Part 2: Practical Tips for English Language Lessons

3. Online Teaching Part 3: Tips to Engage and Motivate Students

4. The Complete Guide to Running a Blended Learning Course

5. 10 ways home learning apps can boost children's English learning

6. Learn English with Virtual Environments

7. 25 ideas for using WhatsApp with English language students

Online Teaching Resources

Online class activities for all ages and abilities at your fingertips.

1. Sign up to the Oxford Teacher's Club for online resources from your ELT course

2. Find free resources and word lists with Oxford Learner's Dictionaries

3. Visit our Graded Reader's Hub to browse and download extra resources to use with our readers.

4. Download free map posters, worksheets and answer keys to teach students about the English-speaking world

5. Discover our new Oxford 3000 word videos and activities:

Professional Development

Continue your professional development at home with webinars, blogs and expert advice from Oxford.

1. Upcoming Webinars

2. Webinar library highlights

3. Advice from our experts

4. Watch recordings of all the expert sessions at ELTOC 2020

Teacher Wellbeing

Take some time to focus your wellbeing so that you can continue to be a great teacher, even in demanding situations.

1. Thinking Thoughtfully: Tips for your Wellbeing - Blog from Tammy Gregerson

2. Tips for Language Teacher Wellbeing webinar

3. Wellbeing video tips with Ushapa Fortescue

Our Monthly Newsletters

Sign up to one of our four monthly newsletters and explore our archive of blog posts, videos, resources and activities for all age groups:
Support your child in learning English at home with tips and ideas for parents as well as apps and games that will make learning at home fun.
Graded Readers for Home Learning

Explore our collection of Graded Readers and browse or download extra resources to use alongside them.
Visit our Graded Readers Hub Learning English at home is made easy with our range of online resources for students of all ages. Connect with other learners from around the world or find activities you can start straight away wherever you are.
Online Learning Resources

Online activities to kick-start your learning at home

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Here you will find guidance and ideas for delivering lessons and homework online as well as material to support your professional development and wellbeing. There are many ways you can start teaching English from home. From setting up a virtual classroom to using social media to connect with your students - see our top tips for engaging with learners online.

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HERRAMIENTAS Y RECURSOS ON LINE PARA ENSEÑAR  en cualquier asignatura

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Welcome to LearnEnglish Teens

Covid-19 learning support: LearnEnglish Teens wants to support students who can't go to school at the moment. You can find tips and advice for learning at home on our new support page.

LearnEnglish Teens is brought to you by the British Council, the world's English teaching experts. If you want to learn English while having fun, this free website is just for you. LearnEnglish Teens can help improve your English with reading, writing and listening practice, tips for exams, grammar and vocabulary exercises, games and videos. You can also interact with other teenagers from all around the world. If you want to learn English in your own country, find a face-to-face course near you.

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British Council LearnEnglish Teens | Free resources for teens to help improve your English

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Covid-19 learning support: LearnEnglish Teens wants to support students who can't go to school at the moment. You can find tips and advice for learning at home on our new support page. LearnEnglish Teens is brought to you by the British Council, the world's English teaching experts.

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Lesson plan information

AGE: Edmodo is possibly most suitable for teens (though they might prefer to use Facebook!). You could certainly also do the lesson with adults, but with them a private Google+ community might be better. I'll look at that in a separate lesson.

LEVEL: Any class in which you are teaching or revising irregular simple past forms and (optionally) past perfect forms (A1-A2). You can, however, take the lesson suggested and use it at any level, right up to C2.

TIME: 45-60 minutes in class

AIM: Creative practice using the irregular verb forms, with the students writing and sharing their stories via Edmodo.

LANGUAGE FOCUS: Simple past forms, including past perfect if you've also been doing that. You can add to this by having your stories on a particular theme, e.g. if Valentine's Day is coming up, romance; if it's nearly Halloween, horror stories, etc.

TOOLS REQUIRED: Signing up for Edmodo - one of the many things I like about Edmodo is how easy it is to join and manage.

You will need to: (1) register as a teacher with Edmodo; (2) set up a group; and then (3) provide the access code to your students - a vital piece of information you can provide on your blackboard. Your students then need to (4) join Edmodo as students, using the access code to join your group.

If that sounds complicated, don't worry: one of the great things about Edmodo is that it's so easy to use.

You have full information, videos on set-up, etc on Edmodo.com (see Useful links, below).

Tip: As with all technology, it can be helpful to try it out first yourself. With Edmodo, you could set up a group for other teachers to use with you. They should join Edmodo as teachers (not as students), then join your group. It makes a great virtual staffroom for sharing ideas!

How to teach the lesson

The lesson suggested below works well in different ways. I've been using this idea with pen and paper for over 20 years, but if you have computers in the classroom it can be done in class. If you don't have one device per person (computer, laptop, tablet or even mobile phones ...), have your students work in pairs.

Personally, I actually prefer to have students work in pairs; I sit them in pairs in front of a single computer, and they write one story per pair. The advantages are: (1) they have to collaborate and talk; (2) anyone who hates writing or thinks they just don't have the imagination for this task gets help from a partner; and (3) you reduce the amount you might have to correct by 50%. Yay!

Alternatively, you could set the task to be done outside class (i.e. as homework), with the students sharing and commenting on their stories via Edmodo.
Before turning any computers on

1. Giving instructions: Explain to your students that they have to (1) write a story using as many irregular past forms as possible; (2) post it on Edmodo; (3) read other people's stories; and (4) comment on other people's stories.

2. Getting imaginative: Before anyone turns a computer on, provide a prompt of some kind that will generate ideas. To get your students' imagination flowing, I recommend an interesting photograph like the one shown below and some questions like these:

What is the green thing's name?

Is it a person?

Why is it green?

Why is it being carried?

Why is the kid in the red shirt reacting like that?

How does the kid know the green thing?

I generally do this in open class and use it as an opportunity to provide any extra language the story might require.

Writing the stories: If your students are writing in pairs, I like to have a pen and paper stage for this first, as it generally produces talking, which I think is better in a language class than typing. They can write in note form, rather than putting down the full story. Your job is to provide any language the students might require, though at low levels. I also like to encourage them to keep it simple and say mostly what they already know how to say. You might also suggest they use an online dictionary.
Now turn your computer on!

1. Providing the access code: Provide the students with the access code for your group (it's a 6-digit code, automatically generated when you create the group - see above).

2. Joining Edmodo: Have them join Edmodo. (Tip: Make sure you've given them all the instructions on what they have to write before this, as once they get started it will be tough to get their attention again!)

3. Writing and posting the stories: Again, I really recommend students working in pairs for this, with one computer or tablet per pair. They need to create what Edmodo calls a new 'note' for their story, and then use the 'send' button to post it to everyone.

4. Commenting on other stories: To really take advantage of Edmodo, and to make it communicative, you want your students to read each other's work and comment on it (Edmodo in fact calls them 'replies', not 'comments'). After about ten minutes (try using an online countdown, such as), tell everyone to stop, publish their (possibly unfinished) stories, and then spend the next five minutes reading and commenting on other people's stories. It's great for practising interrogative forms, e.g. 'Why did he ...?', 'What happened before she ...?', apart from anything else. Having the students comment on anything they don't understand and/or would change can also be very productive. You might like to write up some of these comments on the board as examples. Alternatively, you could post them on Edmodo (but be the LAST person to post, otherwise your examples will be invisible; you know what happens with 'old' Facebook posts - they drop out of sight!).

5. Editing stories: After the five-minute commenting stage, have the students go back to their own stories (they can edit what they have already published, obviously), answer any comments, and then continue editing their story.

6. More stories! If your students tell you they've finished, 20 minutes before the end of the lesson, ask them to write another a story. It's totally unthinkable to do that with traditional writing tasks, but with Edmodo I think you'll find that someone always asks you, 'Can I write another one?'

And at home ...
I try to avoid using the dreaded word 'homework', but here's a couple of fun things to do before the next class:

1. Writing more stories: As above.

2. Awarding prizes: Another great way to get lots of comments (and thus more language) - and to make sure the students read each other's work - is to have them award prizes to their classmates. These can be for the best story, the scariest story, etc, but also for things like the story with the most (correct!) irregular verb forms in it, or the story with the highest percentage of words that are irregular verbs.

In the next class ...

Correcting mistakes: My correction policy is essentially (1) NOT to correct any errors I see in comments (it's impossible!); (2) to provide as much help as possible while the stories are being written - to reduce the number of errors requiring subsequent correction as far as possible; (3) to write some corrections to the actual stories myself via Edmodo; and (4), as much as anything, have any errors made influence what I then teach and/or revise in subsequent lessons.
Other possibilities
At a more advanced level, you could try the following:

A story - one with a beginning, middle and end - in a single sentence.

A story in exactly 50 (or 100) words.

A story using lots of simple past forms, but incorporating (correctly!) any other language you want your students to practise (a list of 4 or 5 phrasal verbs is always fun!).

A story based on those video clips promoting songs that seem to tell a story: have your students discuss and then tell that story.

A story in exactly 100 words, in which no word is repeated (yes!).

Alternatively, there are some wonderful writing prompts here www.writeabout.com/ideas and here writingprompts.tumblr.com.

If you (or your students!) would rather practise speaking than writing, you could also have your students narrate their stories orally, record them with a tool like Vocaroo vocaroo.com or Voki (look for the free version!) www.voki.com/pricing.php or an app like Spreaker www.spreaker.com, and then share the audio (mp3) files created via Edmodo.

Useful links

Edmodo Help section https://support.edmodo.com/home#teacher

Edmodo Privacy section https://www.edmodo.com/privacy

Top ten tips for starting with Edmodo http://blogs.ihes.com/tech-elt/?p=3625

Edmodo: some of the features well worth exploring http://blogs.ihes.com/tech-elt/?p=3640

More ideas on how you could use Edmodo http://blogs.ihes.com/tech-elt/?cat=72
Tech Tools for Teachers: Digital Narrative http://www.onestopenglish.com/methodology/tech-tools-for-teachers/digital-narrative/
Writing matters: Planning, drafting and editing http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/writing/writing-matters/writing-matters-planning-drafting-and-editing/554184.article

Credits:
Edmodo and the Edmodo logo are registered trademarks of Edmodo, Inc., used with permission.

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Tech Tasks: Creative writing with Edmodo

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AGE: Edmodo is possibly most suitable for teens (though they might prefer to use Facebook!). You could certainly also do the lesson with adults, but with them a private Google+ community might be better. I'll look at that in a separate lesson.

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Google Arts & Culture features content from over 2000 leading museums and archives who have partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to bring the world's treasures online.

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Many of you around the world are having to stay at home. We'd like to share some ideas with you on how you can make the most of your time by practising your English.

Use the free resources on LearnEnglish

Whether you have ten minutes or an hour to practise each day, you'll find a wide variety of learning materials to help you make progress and improve your language skills. All the material on the LearnEnglish website is designed for self-study to support your learning.

We also have support for parents of primary-aged children on our LearnEnglish Kids website and learning support for teenagers on LearnEnglish Teens.

Take our online level test: Start by taking our free English grammar and vocabulary test to help you find your level. All the material is labelled with the level, to make it easier to find material to suit your needs.

Explore our Skills sections: In our Skills sections you can find self-study lessons to practise your listening, reading and writing skills. There are different types of texts and audio recordings, all with interactive exercises and worksheets that practise the skills you need. Choose your level and then choose a lesson!

Practise grammar: In this section you can improve your grammar with our clear and simple grammar lessons. The lessons start with an exercise to test your understanding, then an explanation to improve your grammar knowledge and finally another exercise to test your understanding again to see if you have improved. Choose your level and then choose a grammar point!

Read our Magazine sections: Are you looking for something quick to read? Our Magazine and Business magazine sections have short interesting articles for you to read about special days and business topics.

Watch a YouTube video: Our Video zone is a selection of YouTube videos about a wide range of topics. To make them easier for you to understand, we have prepared preparation activities to teach the difficult vocabulary and we've also written out the transcript so you can read and listen to help you understand. When you've watched the video, you can do the exercises to check your comprehension.

Challenge a friend or colleague: If you want to play a quick online game and practise your English vocabulary at the same time, have a go at Wordshake. See how many points you can get in three minutes! You can challenge a colleague to play too and compare your points to see whose English vocabulary is improving the most.

Take an online course

With our online English classes and courses, you'll soon improve your English speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Our teachers are highly qualified and will help you build your confidence as well as your English level.

Download our LearnEnglish apps

We also have a selection of apps for both adult learners and primary-aged and pre-school children. Download the LearnEnglish Podcasts app to listen to Learn English from Home, a brand new podcast series with three episodes a week, especially for those of you who are staying at home because of Covid-19.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram

Our social media team is working around the clock on our Facebook and Instagram channels to keep you up to date with the latest material on the website. They also share lots of interesting videos and links, and you can share your thoughts, ideas and suggestions with our learning community.

We hope these suggestions help at this challenging time, and you may find these become new English learning habits even after the world goes back to normal.

Take care and best wishes,

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Many of you around the world are having to stay at home. We'd like to share some ideas with you on how you can make the most of your time by practising your English. Whether you have ten minutes or an hour to practise each day, you'll find a wide variety of learning materials to help you make progress and improve your language skills.

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ESI

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Benjamin Zephaniah - Man to man | بنجامين زفانيا - مان تو مان

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ESI

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Content-based material. Deforestation

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Michael Jackson - Earth Song (Official Video)