Teaching Young Learners Online Course - British Council

Discover how to plan, create, and facilitate inclusive online learning that engages and inspires young people aged 5 to 17.

Explore online language teaching with young learners

Have you recently had to adapt to online teaching in response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

This 3-week course from the British Council will help you explore the practice and theory of online teaching.

While this course is mostly aimed at English language teachers, all teachers can benefit from learning about accessibility, online safety, and how to engage young learners online.

Create the best conditions for online learning

The course will begin with an exploration of how to ensure learners interact together meaningfully. You’ll learn about the principles of language learning and teaching, and gain insight into how to connect with learners and their parents.

Building a community and developing rapport with your students will help them have a positive online learning experience, so you’ll plan and share a meaningful activity that’ll help you get to know your learners.

Develop inclusive teaching methods

It’s important to tailor your online teaching to your learners’ needs so that each class is inclusive and fun, so you’ll learn how to provide extra support for those who need it.

You’ll help expose your learners to language through reading and listening activities, and develop strategies to engage learners in different online learning environments.

Learn strategies for teaching English online

In the final week, you’ll be helping your learners to develop their speaking and writing skills. We’ll discuss assessments for learning, including how to set expectations and motivate your students.

When would you like to start?

Most FutureLearn courses run multiple times. Every run of a course has a set start date but you can join it and work through it after it starts.

• Available now

Who will you learn with?

Claire Ross

I research and develop courses for teachers and trainers. I’m interested in online learning/teaching and pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures particularly in refugee/immigrant contexts

Joshua Underwood

I’m a FutureLearn educator & co-designer of Teaching Young Learners Online

Who developed the course?

British Council

The British Council is on the ground in six continents and over 100 countries connecting the best of UK culture with a global audience and providing high-quality English language courses.

Learn on FutureLearn

Who is the course for?

This course is for English language teachers, teaching young learners (5-17) in an online environment. Experience of teaching in online contexts is not essential and both experienced and novice online teachers will benefit.

While most of the context is based around English language learning, teachers of other subjects will also find the course valuable, as the principles of English language lesson planning apply to online teaching in general.

What topics will you cover

• Week 1: Meaningful interaction
  Creating the best conditions for your learners to interact meaningfully and learn together online
• Week 2: Engagement, content and differentiation
  Tailoring your online teaching to your learners’ needs, to ensure your classes are inclusive and enjoyable
• Week 3: Practice, assessment and progress
  Helping learners develop their speaking and writing skills, and using assessment for learning to make learners and their parents aware of their progress

What will you achieve

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to:

• Identify how to build relationships with learners, between learners and with parents, and be present and supportive when teaching online.
• Know how to include and engage learners online both in synchronous and asynchronous environments.
• Understand privacy and safety issues online and how to help learners and parents think critically about online risks and behaviour.
• Evaluate the opportunities and challenges associated with different tools and modes of online teaching and learning.
• Apply principles of English language lesson planning to online teaching.
• Develop and share techniques for language and skills teaching and assessment online.
• Apply and practise how to manage online interactions effectively.