British Council Seminars for teachers and learners of English

To help both teachers and learners further develop their skills, the British Council offers a wide variety of free seminars and other training opportunities, all designed and delivered by highly qualified and experienced British Council presenters.

Seminars for teachers of English

The aim of these seminars for teachers of English is to share knowledge, skills and expertise in teaching, provide information, clarify grey areas, introduce new approaches to the teaching of English and give teachers the opportunity to come together to discuss issues around preparing students for exams. Both new and experienced teachers are welcome to take part in our seminars.

Given the level and speed of changes taking place in exams, these seminars will be even more important in future and will enable teachers to plan and prepare students for very different qualifications.

IELTS seminars

IELTS seminars cover all four test components – Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing. The seminar materials have been specifically designed by British Council IELTS experts to help teachers better prepare their students for the test. They provide teachers with:

· key strategies for success in IELTS

· practical ideas for classroom teaching

· guidelines on marking and assessing candidate performance

· information on the content of the IELTS exam.

Cambridge English seminars

Cambridge English seminars are designed both for teachers who already have some experience with these exams and for those who plan to start preparing students for them in the future. Different topics are available for each exam, such as FCEfS Writing, CPE Speaking etc.

The seminars are organised in partnership with Cambridge English Language Assessment and the materials are designed by Cambridge English exams experts. Their aim is to:

· familiarise teachers with the content of the particular papers in these exams

· increase teachers’ awareness of the skills required by candidates taking these exams

· familiarise teachers with the assessment criteria for particular skills

· help teachers improve candidate performance.

Programme

Seminars for learners of English

The British Council also offers student seminars to candidates who register for the Cambridge English exams through the British Council.

Candidates receive their invitations about two weeks before their written exams and the seminars are conducted in Athens, Thessaloniki and other major cities/exam venues.

The seminars provide candidates with practical advice to help boost their confidence on the day of the exam and tips on how to tackle a variety of tasks in the Reading, Writing, Listening, Use of English and Speaking papers. Candidates are invited to take part in activities designed to demonstrate how they can improve their test performance by utilising effective strategies such as skimming and scanning texts, recognising paraphrase (Reading),  identifying and addressing key content points appropriately (Writing), and responding with extended and relevant contributions (Speaking).

Programme

Further information

· Each seminar is designed to last around one to two hours.

· As the seminars are popular, it is recommended that requests are made as soon as possible as places are allocated on a first come, first served basis.

· All seminars are free of charge.