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5 December 2022

Teaching English: top 5 blog posts of 2022

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From key literary topics such as poetry and Shakespeare to 21st-century skills like speaking and listening and critical thinking, we’ve covered all manner of topics to support English teaching and learning this year. 

Get quick and easy access to our most popular blog posts for English teachers with this round-up of our top 5 most-read articles, each designed to help you bring the texts you teach to life whilst also developing key literary skills and knowledge among your students!

3 simple ways to connect your students with poetry

How can we ensure that our students have the best possible chance in engaging with poetry? How can we ignite and then protect that crucial spark of interest?

From finding poems that resonate with your students to building a diverse reading list and considering the role of performance, unlock three key starting points to help support your lesson prep and engage your students in poetry! 

Student presenting to class

How to boost your students' speaking and listening skills

Public speaking is challenging for pretty much everybody, let alone students who are just taking their first steps into this skill. Fortunately, speaking and listening skills are increasingly prioritized in the classroom, and there are many different techniques and resources that can support you – including this blog post!

Discover a selection of simple tips to build oral proficiency skills in your students without taking crucial lesson time away from reading and writing.

5 reasons why critical thinking is THE most important skill for students

Critical thinking is definitely a buzzword in schools at the moment, and whether for higher education, processing the news, supporting decision-making, or just feeling happier, it’s also one of the most important skills for students to develop. Find out more about this invaluable skill and its importance to today’s students in this engaging blog post.

How to make Shakespeare’s language more accessible to students

One of the biggest struggles many students face when studying Shakespeare is the language he uses – but Shakespeare might not actually be as unfamiliar as he first seems… 

Try taking a look at where Shakespeare’s influence can still be seen today with these fun facts and engaging exercises you can share with your class.

The Tempest © Helen MaybanksThe Tempest | Donmar Warehouse © Helen Maybanks

5 easy ways to introduce students to a new text

Introducing a text is no small job – in fact, depending on your chosen text, this can feel like a mammoth task! Try these top tips to help you introduce a text to students for the very first time, covering the text’s author, context, plot, theme and characters.