The importance of teachers professional development

Richard Cleeve
a woman stood in front of a noteboard, gesturing to it. The noteboard has different papers and graphs stuck to it.

There¡¯s the saying, ¡°There are two types of teachers with 20 years of teaching experience: the first are those with 20 years of experience and the second are those with one year¡¯s experience repeated 20 times.¡±

Some believe most teachers want to be the first kind of teacher ¨C constantly evolving throughout their careers ¨C rather than repeating the same classes. Additionally, taking professional development courses can help us reach these new heights.

Doctors, engineers, lawyers and other professionals regularly have to seek training opportunities. This enables them to keep up to date with the latest technologies, innovations and changes in the wider world. It could be argued that teachers are no different.

Benefits of professional development training

There are several benefits to continued professional training for teachers. For instance, there¡¯s always something new to learn as developments are happening regularly in the world of ELT. Whether it¡¯s innovations in ed-tech, new research into how we learn languages or a new pedagogy, certain courses can help bring you up to speed with these!

Undertaking further training will help you to deepen your knowledge and widen your expertise. So rather than simply repeating the same method of teaching a grammar point over again, you¡¯ll learn new approaches. In turn, you¡¯ll be better equipped to find the tools that work to help your students reach their learning goals.

Another great thing about professional development is that it can lead to career progression and promotion. There are a number of courses that you can take to develop not only skills for teaching, but other roles in the ELT industry.
For example, you can train to become a director of studies, specialize in business or academic English, or enter ELT publishing or management. There are many options to explore through further education!

New trends in English language teaching

To be the best teachers we can be, it's important to be aware of new trends in the field of ELT. Some of the latest ones include:

Hybrid learning

Gaining popularity in recent years, hybrid learning is an approach to teaching. Specifically, it involves some students attending class in person, while others join the class virtually from home. This means that teachers must be prepared to simultaneously teach both students in person and online.

Flipped classroom

A flipped classroom means students are introduced to content at home. Often teachers introduce this via videos and then practice working through the new knowledge in class. This is the opposite of the more traditional method where they are given new content at school, and complete assignments independently at home.

Bite-sized learning

One method of teaching that has become more common is bite-sized learning. For example, breaking down information into smaller chunks instead of having learners listen to long, uninterrupted sessions, and this helps students absorb information and keeps them engaged.

If you¡¯re not already familiar with these, there are lots of professional development courses that teach you how to use them in your classroom.

Formal qualifications in ELT

So what courses can you take? Here are some of the most common courses you can take for English language teaching.

  • CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) - Cambridge¡¯s Level 5 qualification is an internationally recognized ELT course. While this certificate focuses on teaching adults, language academies accept it for both adults and young learners.
  • Trinity CertTESOL (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) - Like the CELTA, the Level 5 course is designed for people with little or no English teaching experience.
  • Trinity CertPT (Certificate for Practising Teachers) - Trinity¡¯s Level 6 is designed for teachers who have already been teaching for a minimum of six months. It aims to support teachers' further development and help them improve their teaching practice.
  • DELTA (Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) - Cambridge¡¯s provides professional development for teachers with at least one year¡¯s experience. This level 7 qualification is also designed for those who want to progress into more senior roles such as head of English and teacher training.
  • Trinity DipTESOL (Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) - Trinity¡¯s is designed for teachers who have reached a stage in their career where they¡¯d like to progress to a more senior level. Like the DELTA, it¡¯s an internationally respected level 7 qualification for experienced TEFL teachers.
  • Master¡¯s degree - Master¡¯s studies in English Language Teaching, TESOL, or applied linguistics, are great options to reach a more senior level in your career. Most people take them to become a director of studies or reach a management position.
  • Specialized courses - If there¡¯s an area of teaching that you¡¯d like to specialize in, plenty of short courses cover a range of topics. These include teaching online, teaching with technology, teaching business English and teaching very young children. Check out , or to see what they offer.

If you¡¯re unable to take a formal course, sharing ideas with colleagues is a great way to create professional development opportunities. You could exchange lesson plans and ask for feedback or input. There are plenty of podcasts, webinars and social media groups for teachers where you can find great tips and ideas from fellow teachers worldwide.

Whichever route you decide, remember that learning is a lifelong journey ¨C not only for your students but for yourself too! There are always new things to discover that will help you develop as a teacher.

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    Improve student vocabulary and memory with these classroom activities

    By Vaughan Jones

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    Vaughan Jones has more than 30 years of experience as an EFL Teacher, Trainer and Author. He¡¯s lived and worked in France, Japan and Spain, and has worked to produce a number of coursebooks, including Focus, an English language learning series for upper-secondary students.

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    Three ways to learn new English words

    By Vaughan Jones

    It¡¯s more important for teachers to help students find ways to practice their English outside the classroom. The more efficient students become at autonomous learning, the better they¡¯ll be able to overcome interruptions and make up for lost time.

    It will be even more challenging if you're a self-learner as you do not have a teacher looking over you and steering your learning. But it¡¯s helpful to learn from the teaching world and pick up teacher tips that you can apply to your own studies and techniques.

    Why are learning new words so challenging?

    Students learning new words in English generally progress steadily up until the pre-intermediate and intermediate levels. But after that, they start to struggle.

    This is because there¡¯s a big difference between the volume of the vocabulary that intermediate students and upper-intermediate students need to know.

    • Intermediate (B1/B2 level) students need to know about 2,500 words
    • upper-intermediate (B2/C1 level) students need to know about 7,500-9,000 words.

    That¡¯s a big jump in numbers. But the real challenge is that those 5,000+ new words are not very frequent. Consequently, students don¡¯t encounter them very often, making it difficult to recall them and leap from one level to the next.

    While there¡¯s no simple answer to this problem, there are ways to help students overcome it. The following framework can be a big help in any classroom:

    1. Focus on the most important words:?Always teach appropriate words for the levels your students are currently at.
    2. Provide memorable first encounters:?You never get a second chance to make a first impression. So, ensure your student's first encounter with a new word is as memorable as possible.
    3. Teach effective word-learning strategies:?Provide your students with valuable tools, tactics and resources so that they can learn new words outside the classroom, too.
    4. Organize repeat encounters:?Vocabulary works on a ¡°use it or lose it¡± basis, so ensure your students encounter the vocabulary you want them to learn repeatedly.

    How to teach effective word-learning strategies

    There are three steps to teach students how to learn new words effectively:

    1. Help learners maximize their exposure to English and find opportunities to use English outside the classroom

    Thanks to the internet and technology, there are many ways that students can engage with the English language outside the classroom.

    However, simple exposure to a new language is not enough ¨C it takes much longer and is less effective than active learning. When students do something with the language they¡¯re exposed to; it is far more memorable.

    That¡¯s why it¡¯s crucial for teachers to help their students seek out English in their own time and use the language, turning passive exposure into active learning.

    • Encourage students to read, listen and view things that they¡¯re interested in or passionate about in English. For example, introduce them to new blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos, or TV series that fit their interests ¨C since personalization leads to more effective learning.
    • Help students find ways to use English in different ways. For example, they can start a learning diary, make to-do lists in English, write social media posts, and create word cards to practice their writing. For speaking, they can record voice memos or video stories, take part in Zoom discussions, or participate in speaking projects and live classes.

    2. Provide ways for students to discover the meaning of new words

    It¡¯s crucial to help students improve their guesswork. Instead of asking online translators to translate every time they encounter a new word, they should be able to guess the meaning of new vocabulary differently.

    • One approach is to look at the morphology of words and consider word families. For example, you can ask your students to brainstorm words with a common root. Or, you can have them identify and practice common suffixes.
    • Explore ¡°true friends¡± or words that are similar in English and your student's native language.
    • Help your students figure out how to guess the meaning of a word from the context. To do this, you must ensure that your students don¡¯t just hear or read new words but also put them into use.

    One way to get students to learn and retain vocabulary is to get them to create word cards:

    • Ask students to collect ten new words that they¡¯re exposed to throughout the week and bring them to class, like a ¡°show and tell¡± for words.
    • Then have a debate about how useful each of those words is.

    This helps to connect learning inside and outside the classroom, and it¡¯s fun!

    3. Provide students with strategies to consolidate their knowledge of new words

    Finally, teachers should give students ideas on how to memorize words outside the classroom. You can have your students produce word cards and use a Word Store booklet to practice tasks like matching words with images or definitions.

    Lastly, it¡¯s important to teach students memory tricks or mnemonics so they can retain the new words they encounter.