As a secondary school English teacher, you’ve likely experienced both the excitement and the challenges of teaching teenagers—an age group full of energy, curiosity, and, at times, unpredictability. In this free, practice-oriented course, you’ll join fellow educators from across the region to explore effective, engaging, and innovative ways to teach English to teenagers and help them grow into confident, capable language users.

This twelve-week course is facilitated by English Language Specialist Carol Foye, who will present a hands-on exploration of what works when teaching English to teens. You’ll work through specially developed online materials in Google Classroom and take part in weekly live Zoom workshops. Each week, Carol will help you dive deeper into the content, offer additional techniques and insights, and answer your questions. These sessions will also give you the chance to exchange ideas with fellow teachers and collaborate on lesson planning in a supportive and inspiring environment.

What: Teaching English to Teenagers – A guided online professional development course

Who: English teachers

When: May 30 – October 10, 2025 (see full schedule below)

Where: Online (Google Classroom + Zoom)

Why: Because teaching teens takes patience, creativity, and a strong set of tools you can build through this course!

What You’ll Learn

Throughout the course, you’ll explore a wide range of practical topics, including how to:

• Use technology to enhance classroom engagement
• Motivate and support teenage learners
• Adapt activities for different language levels
• Address students’ social-emotional needs

Through engaging videos, interactive readings, and group discussions, you’ll learn creative, student-centered strategies for teaching vocabulary, grammar, and all four language skills—listening, speaking, reading, and writing. You’ll leave the course with a toolkit of fun, meaningful, and effective approaches that you can apply immediately in your classroom. And along the way, you’ll connect with fellow educators who share your passion for teaching and learning.

By the end of the course, you will be able to…

• Explain the specific challenges and opportunities of teaching English to teens
• Apply effective methods and strategies that align with teens’ cognitive and emotional development
• Use technology and creative resources in your lessons
• Design age-appropriate activities for vocabulary, grammar, and the four language skills
• Foster a positive, communicative classroom environment
• Use strategies to motivate students and manage common behavioral challenges
• Collaborate with peers and grow your professional network
• Access additional resources to continue learning beyond the course

Schedule

Weekly meetings: Fridays at 15:00 MSK, starting from May 30, 2025

Phase 1: Spring/Summer

• May 30 – Session 1. Orientation
• June 6 – Session 2
• June 13 – Session 3
• June 20 – Session 4
• June 27 – Session 5

Summer Break

• July – No sessions
• August – No sessions (course resumes at the end of the month)

Phase 2: Fall

• August 29 – Session 6. Re-orientation 
• September 5 – Session 7
• September 12 – Session 8
• September 19 – Session 9
• September 26 – Session 10
• October 3 – Session 11
• October 10 – Session 12. Final session and course wrap-up

Certificates: Participants who complete all course tasks and attend at least 80% of the sessions (10 out of 12) will receive certificates recognizing their work and progress.

About the English Language Specialist:

Carol Foye is a passionate educator with over 20 years of experience in teaching English to speakers of other languages (ESOL). She earned a BA in International Relations from the University of Minnesota, an MA in Second Language Acquisition from the University of Hawai’i, and a professional K-12 ESOL teaching certificate with Gifted and Reading endorsements from the State of Florida. In her teaching career, she has worked in classrooms all over the US and internationally, including a full-time position at the University of Minnesota and a professorship at TransPacific Hawai’i College. Most recently, she was a District ESOL Specialist in Florida, and supported K-12 ESOL programs, administrators, students, and teachers throughout the school district. In this role, she focused on the needs of secondary teachers and programs to support teenagers in the area. Carol is currently working as a content developer for an educational publisher and as a college instructor at the State College of Florida (SCF). At SCF, Carol teaches the ESOL endorsement courses for Florida’s Department of Education to pre-service teachers. She enjoys contributing to the dynamic, global community that EL Specialist projects cultivate.

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ALL AMERICAN CENTER IN MOSCOW EVENTS ARE FREE OF CHARGE / ALL EVENTS OF THE AMERICAN CENTER IN MOSCOW ARE FREE OF CHARGE

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These sessions are hosted on Zoom, so if you are interested in joining, please create a Zoom account beforehand. When registering below, please submit your valid email address to receive a link to the class Zoom meeting 30 minutes before the session begins.

To join other AMC Online programs, please check the American Center’s website and TimePad calendars.

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