Best of NTC: Teacher training and other teacher resources

It’s tempting, but don’t put your feet up for the whole of the summer – take some time to look at effective ways to develop yourself as a teacher and expand your range of classroom materials over the holiday break.

TeachingEnglish, run by the BBC and the British Council, is one of the most respected and well-used sites for ELT teachers throughout the world. It’s stuffed full of tools for teachers, teaching resources, training resources and articles on teaching. It also has plenty of material on teacher development, teacher training and has links to blogs and other teaching networks.

Jamie Keddie’s Lessonstream has lots of video material and film clips ready to use in your classroom – and all with helpful lesson plans.

And if it’s real teachers you’d like to talk to, then why not join your local teaching association? Each English Language Teaching Association (ELTA) has its own website with details of forthcoming events.

Click on the left button below if you would like to find out more about any of these websites.

And if you’d like to use another top class source of material, why not try the BBC’s Learning English? Click on the right button below to read more about it.

BBC’s Learning English

As its name suggests, it’s a website for learners of English, but as there are so many useful resources, it’s also a great site for teachers as well.

Why not try 6 Minute English, a long-running weekly podcast on a topical subject. Each (six minute) downloadable audio comes with a pdf of the transcript and a vocabulary list. Why not listen to recent editions: 'The teenage brain', 'Are beards back here to stay?' or 'The three-parent baby'.

And what about 6 Minute Grammar, a download where presenters discuss and use examples of particular grammar forms, such as first conditionals, present perfect continuous and state verbs.

There’s also a Words in the News feature, which takes a BBC news story and presents a short audio, with accompanying transcript and worksheet. Recent Words in the News have included 'Monuments in Nepal reopen', 'Fighting child marriage' and 'What’s the meaning of a royal name?'.

There is also a Drama with supporting vocabulary and a transcript. Recently, students have been able to listen to 'Jamaica Inn' by Daphne du Maurier.

If you’d like to discover more about the BBC’s Learning English website, then click here.

And whether you spend your summer in the classroom or on the beach, in the mountains or at your desk, we wish you some sunny and relaxing weeks.

Product recommendation:

Another great support for your lesson preparation is Network Now digital. These DVD-Roms for the level A1, A2 and B1 provide all the student’s coursebook material plus teaching notes, photocopiable materials and audio files for you, the teacher - all at the click of a button.