CHAIRMAN: DR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: DR. KHALID MUBARAK AL-SHAFI

Qatar

British Council Qatar launches online English courses during lockdown

Published: 23 May 2020 - 10:30 am | Last Updated: 01 Nov 2021 - 12:25 pm
Peninsula

The Peninsula

Doha: The British Council Qatar has launched new online English courses for both adults and children in response to COVID-19.

The courses—Primary Plus, Secondary Plus and English Online – Adults — have been designed to bring British Council classes into homes through a tailormade online learning platform.

The platform offers live classroom lessons with dedicated British Council teachers. Students will also be provided with support between classes, their own personalised dashboard and a wide range of extra online resources.

Children can join the summer programme from home. Primary Plus, which is suitable for children aged six to 11, is designed to be as child-friendly and intuitive as possible with high quality, engaging materials - including lots of varied activities, with songs, videos and quizzes.  

It will focus on critical and creative thinking, problem solving and citizenship alongside English learning. Secondary Plus, designed for those aged 12 to 17, will help develop students into assertive, independent global citizens. It features an exciting range of practical and challenging tasks to encourage self-expression and creative thinking in a digital world.

Finally, English Online – Adults aims to deliver an engaging, flexible, high quality learning experience which builds learners’ confidence no matter their skill levels. Students have the choice of adding a specific pathway that supports their learning needs - English for Work, English for Study or English for Life.

Speaking about the new online platform, Sam Ayton, Country Director, British Council Qatar said: “This innovative and intuitive platform has been designed with each age group in mind, and they will get the chance to experience real, face-to-face connections, using the same curriculum as in the classroom. All students will have lots of time to speak with their teachers and fellow classmates, with classes kept small with just eight to ten students in a class.”

“We are really excited to be able to offer this now. It brings our quality learning programme into people’s homes while enabling everyone to stay safe at home, study at their convenience and importantly it allows the children to engage in some fun learning with friends over the summer.”

The British Council also has an extensive range of free online resources for learners and teachers of English. They have something for kids, teenagers and adults at all levels of English. 

TeachingEnglish brings together everything busy teachers need for the classroom including lesson plans and worksheets, teaching tips, web links, teaching articles and lots of information about professional development.

While Learn English Kids and Learn English Teens includes free online learning resources including videos, reading texts, listening and worksheets practise to help improve English at home.

Courses are open now for Primary Plus, Secondary Plus and English Online – Adults. The classroom schedule will vary according to the age group of the students and communication skills, with learners initially provided with a free online English level assessment.

All courses are accessible from a desktop computer, laptop or tablet. Students will need to ensure they have a good wi-fi connection, a microphone (headset recommended), a speaker and a webcam and are in a quiet place in the home where they will not be distracted.