This interactive course aims to help teachers plan and deliver holistic learning activities that connect English to the learner's vocational area. All of the activities use the vocational area as the starting point.

The workshop focusses on two key areas: how to use the vocational area as the foundation for all English teaching and learning activities; and how to ensure that, as far as possible, activities are holistic and representative of what learners might find themselves undertaking in the workplace.

This course will support technical and vocational tutors, trainers and assessors to understand that assessment of English GCSEs and Functional Skills is a process of gathering data to better understand the progress of the learner and how to use this data to inform planning that lead to improvements in learning.

This interactive course aims to explore how knowledge and skills in grammar can be taught in imaginative ways through the active exploration of everyday and vocational texts. It is the second of two linked webinars that explore the teaching of grammar and extends the ideas and teaching strategies that are covered in the course entitled 'Developing Grammar for reading and writing'. Ideally therefore, participants will have attended the first course but it is not a requirement as this course begins with a summary of the content of the earlier session

This course offers an introduction to the principles of marking and assessment for both Functional Skills and GCSE English. The importance of effective marking and ways of feeding forward will be discussed and plenty of opportunities to share ideas will be given. We will then move onto setting accurate and realistic targets for your learners that present sufficient challenge for them with actionable feedback that should help fuel progress. Actionable feedback will also be considered in terms of how we can help learners to develop their metacognitive skills and mindset for learning English.

This course aims to support ESOL practitioners working with New to ESOL (sometimes called 'pre-entry') learners. The content covers a broad range of aspects of this work including oracy and literacy teaching, phonics, participatory approaches to learning, literacy and language practices, and making the most of the New to ESOL Resources. Content is negotiated for each individual event. 

The course is for teachers of English in the post-16 sector who have resit learners or learners who experience barriers to progress in their learning of English.

This interactive course offers an introduction to the key ideas and terminology of post-16 phonics. You will explore important guiding principles to apply to your practice to optimise the influence phonics can have on learners.

The course lays the foundations to give you the knowledge, confidence and motivation to go on to attend other phonics courses. English teachers know that many learners re-sitting exams want to improve their reading and spelling, and it is not always the case that learners studying GCSE feel more confident in reading and spelling than those studying Functional Skills.

This course is a practical session to provide English teachers with strategies and ideas for using phonics in ways that are accessible, relevant and useful to learners. Tried and tested activities using phonics to improve reading and spelling in Functional Skills and GCSE English classes will be shared. You will work with other practitioners to evaluate their usefulness for your learners.

Do you find yourself having to repeat lessons because your learners find it difficult to retain information or concepts?

In this course, you will be looking at the importance of planning how you set tasks up and the order that they are introduced as well as exploring strategies which are designed to encourage deep learning. It will also help you understand Ofsted's 3 I's in education which are Intent, Implication and Impact.

This interactive introductory course is designed to help you get a better picture of how your learners' backgrounds may have influenced their behaviour, motivation and language development and signposts you to a raft of new courses where their needs will be explored further, and appropriate pedagogical approaches will be investigated..

These interactive sessions, free for those who have participated in other paid for CPD, will provide a chance for participants to share ideas of effective practice around an English topic.

Many of the learners in our sector begin their English courses with little confidence in their writing ability. This course explores the difference between writing for GCSE and Functional Skills. Also, the process of writing, developing ideas, turning ideas into plans, developing detail and preparing for writing is examined through a range of activities. In addition, we look at a range of integrated skills activities which help learners to evaluate their non-fiction writing skills and explore ways in which they can improve and refine specific aspects of their written work.

Within this informal webinar delegates are encouraged to discuss and participate in creating an "anxiety safe classroom" for their delivery of English. Delegates will explore "emotional differentiation and problem solving" solutions for when a learner is faced with a subject specific anxiety, as well as enhancing practitioners understanding of "cognitive schemas" and how these are important in relation to experiences in English.

This interactive course will help you to explore the importance of teaching learners more about the differences between speech and writing so that they can use language purposefully and make informed communicative choices.

With a focus on practical activities, and using real samples, you will explore how speaking and listening skills can be used to inform ad improve writing. You will have the opportunity to discuss themes and experiences and to share ideas with each other.

This course offers an insight into the effectiveness of using formative assessment techniques when planning for both Functional Skills and GCSE English teaching. Methods for ensuring that impact is measured are covered plus the tracking of learners' incremental progress and encouraging them to take responsibility for their targets. It follows "Knowing your Learners' Starting Points" and complements some of the principles in "Marking and Assessing and feeding forward in English" around the setting of targets. It helps participants build their skills in this area.