How can we use virtual reality to teach English?

12/29/22 • 30 min

In recent times, the influence of virtual reality, artificial intelligence and the metaverse in our daily lives has increased. This influence has also been very noticeable in English language teaching in many parts of the world. In this episode, we talk to Nergiz Kern, a leading expert in this field, who talks to us about the past, present and future of these educational technologies. She shares with us advice about how we can get the most out of VR in the classroom with whatever resources we have, wherever in the world we may be. In our field report, we are invited into a VR lesson to see for ourselves how they work, and how they can make our teaching even more effective.

Download the show notes, activity booklet and transcript from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/british-council-teachingenglish-podcast-how-can-we-use-virtual-reality-teach-english

Download the show notes, activity booklet and transcript from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/british-council-teachingenglish-podcast-how-can-we-use-virtual-reality-teach-english

Previous Episode

How can we use football to teach English?

It’s the first episode of Series 2 of Teaching English with the British Council, and we’ve got world cup fever. We’re looking at how teachers can use football to teach English – as well as other languages – effectively. We interview the founders of Languagecaster and Multilingua FC, who provide a range of resources and materials to help students interested in football improve their English language skills. We also hear from the British Council’s own Premier Skills programme, which has used football as a way to promote social, language and skills development for over 15 years.

You can download the show notes, the English transcript, Arabic transcript, and Activity Booklet from the TeachingEnglish website.

Next Episode

How can we teach difficult or taboo subjects?

Teachers often ask to what extent they should be responsible for teaching challenging material in the classroom, for example topics such as sex, sexuality, racism, politics, religion and economic inequality.

Given that in most teaching situations, teachers will have to teach difficult issues at some point, it is important to think about the best way to do this, in order to minimise any problems or embarrassment, and to maximise learning for the students.

In our interview, we talk to Rose Aylett, who tells us all about PARSNIPs, and suggests many innovative ways in which these issues can be managed in the classroom.

And in the field report, we go to Cardiff, in Wales, to hear about how the not-for-profit Oasis Centre discuss these issues with their refugee and asylum seeker clients.

Download the practical activity booklet, show notes and transcript in English or Arabic