Webinars for educators
Led by top experts, this series dives into AI innovations and their impact on pedagogy and assessment. We'll address every-day challenges faced by language educators, while providing practical, game-changing solutions to elevate your teaching.
A free professional development series for English language educators.
Join us for another year of the ɫèAV Assessment Teacher Training Academy. The 2025 program aims to give participants an in-depth knowledge of the ɫèAV assessment portfolio, as well as exploring innovative strategies for tackling challenging question types and integrating AI into your teaching practices.
Earn professional development certificates by completing each training series block. Plus, earn a Credly by ɫèAV digital badge when you complete at least 7 sessions.
Webinars for HR, talent acquisition and development professionals, people managers and business leaders.
72% of employees say their jobs would be easier if they had better English skills. Yet 2 out of 3 organizations do not invest in workforce language training C despite its potential to improve employee retention, job satisfaction and performance.
In our brand-new webinar series, we explore how integrating English language training and assessments into your talent strategy can power business growth. Are you ready to set your workforce up for success in 2025?
Enhance student placement with the ɫèAV English Level Test. Discover its key features, benefits, and how to utilize it effectively for accurate student placement and a successful start.
This session highlights the features and benefits of ɫèAV English Benchmark Test, and strategies for tracking progress and guiding students toward their goals.
This session encourages teachers to think creatively, discover innovative techniques and embrace non-traditional study methods.?
This session is tailored to ignite teachers' curiosity, expand their horizons, and revolutionize the way they teach for the read then write question type.?
In this session, teachers will move out of traditional learning styles as we guide them through real-world scenarios and dynamic situational challenges.?
This session focuses on unconventional methods to teach towards composing essays and emails. To achieve different outcomes, one must take different actions.
The skills students will need in their future studies and careers are dramatically different from those required previously. Times are changing rapidly and educational institutions and teachers have a critical role to play in developing those skills in our young learners so that they are able to fulfill their potential and have bright futures ahead of them.?
These skills are referred to as future skills. There is no common consensus on how to define these skills but, broadly speaking, they can be grouped into four categories:?
Skills in this category include critical thinking, creativity, innovation, problem solving, metacognition and learning skills.
Here, were talking about the skills of communication and collaboration.
Information literacy is an important 21st-century skill, as well as ICT literacy and citizenship, both global and local.?
The final category covers life and career skills, and is all about personal and social responsibility.?
One way you can encourage young learners to build these skills is through STEAM subjects (thats science, technology, engineering, arts and math), which will equip them with functional skills such as organizing, planning, cognitive flexibility and self-regulation.?
The four Cs refer to four important skills for young learners to master: communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. These are essential, not just in an educational context, but in everyday life.?
Falling into the first two categories of future skills (ways of thinking and ways of working), these can help children build confidence and self-esteem. They also encourage healthy emotional development.??
So lets take a closer look at the theory behind them.
We usually think of communication as speaking and listening, but its actually much broader than that. Communication encapsulates telling stories, reading, sharing ideas and experiences, body language, facial expression, eye contact and tone. Children learn to decipher the world around them by learning and practicing these skills.
Strong communication skills, developed early, are directly related to their literacy success. These skills allow children to articulate their thoughts and ideas effectively, and listen to decode meaning. Students then begin to use communication for a range of purposes, and communicate effectively in diverse environments. Furthermore, developing strong patterns of verbal and non-verbal communication also fosters self-esteem and social skills.?
Collaboration is how young children begin to build friendships with others. At first, young children will watch what others do and say, before moving on to playing together. As they get older, they become aware of other childrens feelings and ideas. Friendships become motivating and they learn how to make compromises and respect each others perspectives and skills.?
Collaboration is enhanced through group work and project-based activities, sharing time with peers. Children thrive when they feel valued by the people around them, not just adults but their peers too.?
English not only opens up career opportunities beyond national borders; it is a key requirement for many jobs. Its also no longer a case of just learning English for employability, but mastering English for business C and that means an on-going commitment to learn.
My experience is consistent with this trend. If I had to estimate the value that being fluent in English has had on my career, I'd say it was my entire lifes earnings. Learning English has offered me educational options beyond the borders of my own country and enabled me to develop the skills to work for global companies that operate across national boundaries. I have been privileged to work in different countries in roles that have spanned functions, geographies and markets C and my ability to learn and evolve my English skills has been an underlying factor throughout.
Alice Pilkington qualified as a CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certified teacher in October 2009. She started working in Rome before moving to Istanbul, where shes spent the past three and a half years teaching English to everyone from 8-year-olds to company executives; students to bored housewives. Having taught in two very different countries to a diverse range of English learners, Alice shares with us the five lessons shes learned:
"I am probably not emotionally suited for this job. I take everything very personally and if a lesson goes wrong or an activity I have taken time and energy to plan doesnt work, I feel like a complete failure. Its a trial and error experience but when things go wrong, they can go very wrong, and it really makes you doubt your abilities as a teacher.
Having said that, the lessons that do go well can make up for these negative feelings. I shouldnt take things personally; the majority of my colleagues dont and it saves them a lot of sleepless nights"
"There are very few feelings that Ive experienced that compare to seeing a student use a word that you have taught them C it makes you feel like a proud parent. Equally, seeing a student improve over a series of months is so joyful.?I have been teaching English university preparation students for the past year.
In September, they could barely say what their name was and what they did over the weekend. Nine months on and theyre capable of reading academic texts and speaking at length about marketing strategies and environmental problems. Its a wonderful thing to observe"
"Turkish students love hearing about how you appreciate their food and cultural traditions. Equally, they are genuinely interested in understanding how things operate in the UK and enjoy hearing personal anecdotes.?I tend to be very open with my students C even about my personal life.?I think it is partly because I have striven from the very beginning of my career to be seen as their equal.
Turkish students are used to having a huge respect for teachers, and there is a hierarchical system in schools here, which I can never go along with. In my first lesson with most students, I tell them that they must call me by my first name (usually you refer to teachers here as hocam which means my teacher and shows respect) and this can take a long while for them to get used to."
"Lessons that you spend hours preparing for generally dont go as well as you had hoped. There were several times when Id spend hours cutting and sticking things on pieces of card and placing pictures all over the classroom, hoping it would get some vocabulary action going, only to start the class and receive no response from the students.
Conversely, lessons where you dont feel very motivated or have no idea what you are going to do until you get into the classroom (which I call the flying by the seat of your pants lessons) can turn out to be the best ones. I once had a lesson in which I was, admittedly, rather hungover. On the way to the lesson, I grabbed a book called Taboos and Issues, full of discussion topics, which I used as a basis for a rather impromptu lesson on addictions, which was very successful indeed."
"Teaching English is a love/hate profession. There are weeks when you absolutely loathe it and want to quit, but then within the space of a lesson or two, you get inspired by something completely unexpected, rediscover your joy for it and love it again."
