English teacher training courses in the UK

Welcome to England

ELC Brighton has been welcoming new and experienced overseas teachers of English for many years.

ELC Brighton is an educational charity with over 50 years’ experience in delivering training courses for teachers of English. Over the years the school has welcomed 1000s of overseas teachers and has developed a broad range of practical courses.

The school provides a warm, friendly and professional learning environment. All our staff are passionate about providing comprehensive, practical courses and very personal service, and ELC is ranked the No 1 group of English language schools in the UK by EL Gazette in its review of language school groups and chains.

About our teacher training programmes

ELC schools have many decades of experience in providing teacher training and development courses for teachers of English at its centres in Brighton and Eastbourne. We can offer tailormade courses for closed groups at both centres. In brighton, we also offer teachers’ courses with fixed dates.

All of the courses for overseas teachers are to a large degree tailormade to the participants on each course. We will send you a pre-course questionnaire when you enrol for a particular teachers’ course and your trainer will then collate the information from all the questionnaires of the participants on that course for the same dates and plan the course to try to address everyone’s needs.

All our teachers’ courses give you practical teaching ideas that you can immediately use in your classroom, encourage you to develop further your general English language skills and enable you to share best practice with your trainer and other teachers on the course.

Looking for an initial English teaching qualification?

If you’re looking to start out in teaching English (TEFL) then take a look at our CELTA course offering which is perfect for newcomers to English language teaching.

Course features

We conduct a pre-course needs assessment to get your course just right.
Each course is tailor-made to the needs of the participants.
All course books and materials are included.
Suitable for Erasmus+ funding applications.
You can use the self-access study centre after lessons to practise and improve.

Where to study Teacher training in England

Here you can see which courses are available at each of our locations.

If you know where you would like to study, you can choose your course and location here. If not, see our explore the courses below or learn about our locations.

Courses	Brighton	Chester	Eastbourne
English in the primary classroom
Language, methodology and culture

Our selection of teacher training programmes in England

We offer a range of courses for particular needs. Some teachers’ courses are available on specific dates:

Language, Methodology and Culture is our core teachers’ course and is probably the best choice if you haven’t done such a course before, or you just want to brush up your English, get some very practical teaching ideas and learn a bit more about UK life and culture.
If you are teaching younger learners, 11 or 12 years old or under, and you also need to improve your general level of English, then English in the Primary Classroom is a good choice. Teaching children is very different from teaching adults. Young learners usually need more, shorter activities and a wide variety of activities that use a range sense such as songs, games, drama and storytelling.
Teaching Business English is aimed at all teachers of business English. Typically, you may be teaching classes at an adult education college to students who need English in their daily jobs, or you could be giving one-to-one lessons in companies.

Other courses are available on demand for closed groups of teachers:

Many countries have now introduced bilingual education or elements of bilingual education – teaching history, geography or science lessons in English for example. The Content & Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) course was developed with teachers who are new to this or at an initial stage very much in mind.
Choose Teaching English with Technology if you wish to explore and develop your use of technology in the classroom and need help navigating the multitude of teaching apps and digital media platforms in order to support language learning.

We can include elements of the CLIL and TECH courses in Language, Methodology and Culture.

Brighton: English in the primary classroom

Primary English teaching is very different from teaching English to other age groups, and is definitely worth studying if you work with young learners.

A library photo of a young girl who has clearly been having a good time with a load of paints. Her open palms face the camera and they're covered with different paint colours. She's got hand prints on her white T-shirt and more paint on her face. The background is a muted pink colour.

Min age: 21
Weeks: 2
Max students: 12
Hours per week: 22.5
Lessons per week: 30

Brighton: Language, methodology and culture

Our Language, methodology and culture course in Brighton develops your English language skills, whilst giving you a refreshing, practical look at current language…

This is a professionally taken photo which has captured the iconic Elizabeth Tower of the Houses of Parliament in London at sunset. There is a pinky yellow light in the sky and being cast over the surrounding buildings. The photo is taken from Trafalgar Square looking down Whitehall towards Parliament. You can see one of the bronze lions at the foot of Nelson's column in some detail, and a red double-decker London bus streaks past, out of focus being the lion.

Min age: 21
Weeks: 2
Max students: 12
Hours per week: 22.5
Lessons per week: 30

Find your English level

Our language learning levels relate closely to how the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) define them, but with a difference which we have found to help our students at Elementary level.

ELC level	Equivalent CEFR levels
Complete beginner	A0
Beginner	A1
Elementary	Upper A1	Lower A2
Pre-intermediate	A2
Intermediate	B1
Upper-intermediate	B2
Advanced	C1
Upper-advanced	C2

We offer an English level test which anyone can take. It involves 50 questions and, depending on your level, will probably take you from 10 to 20 minutes. At the end of it, we will tell you your probable level.

But when you book, we will ask you to take a more detailed and accurate test, to make sure that you start in the class which is best for you.

Test your English level now

Is a teacher training course with ELC right for you?

Our selection of English teacher training courses are perfect for aspiring, new or experienced overseas teachers of the English language. Perhaps you are seeking to refresh your teaching skills, re-energise yourself in the classroom, or simply learn the core skills of an English language teacher - whatever your reason, we hope you’ll feel at home with ELC.

If you’re part of a group of teachers, a governmental association, or another teaching collective, we can create fully bespoke programmes in the UK for you and your group. Simply get in touch with us and we’ll put a proposal together for you with pleasure.

A private class or consultation session is underway at ELC where the teacher has time to help someone on an individual basis.

Cool places that are small enough to be friendly, big enough to be fun

We offer year-round English language courses in three English locations. All our schools are classic, historical buildings with up-to-date, modern language learning facilities, and a warm and friendly welcome.

Map of ELC’s locations in England at Brighton, Chester and Eastbourne, with indications of their distance from major cities, airports and national parks. Brighton and Eastbourne are on the south east coast next door to the South Downs National Park and not far from London Gatwick and London Heathrow airports. Chester just to the east of north Wales is close to Liverpool and Manchester airports and roughly half way between Snowdon National Park and the Peak District National Park. An overlaid scale of 50km helps to show that Brighton and Eastbourne are about 120km from central London, and that Chester is about 35km from central Liverpool and 65km from central Manchester.

A photo of the seafront at Brighton which shows an array of white buildings and the sand-coloured pebble beach. There is a large white ferris wheel in the foreground, and a scattering of people sitting looking out to sea. — Brighton

Brighton and Hove is a lively, cosmopolitan seaside city of about 300,000 people with a vivid cultural life. It is about 85 km – 1 hour – south of central London and surrounded by the beautiful Sussex countryside. Learn more about Brighton

A photograph of the famous Eastgate clock in Chester which stands high above the road on a section of the Roman walls. The clock has a round white face with black roman numerals and hands, and lots of ornate black metalwork filled in with orange and gold panels. The letters VR are above it, visible against the turquoise dome roof, and the date 1897. This was erected in memory of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. — Chester

Chester is an English city with 2,000 years of heritage, excellent shopping and a lively nightlife. It is 30km from Liverpool and 60km from Manchester – major cities of around half a million people each. Learn more about Chester

A seafront photo of Eastbourne taken from the west side. The pier can be seen jutting out into the sea towards the top of the photo, as the beach extends round to the left and the emerald sea takes up most of the rest of the shot. The sun is shining and the white hotels on the seafront are very noticeable. — Eastbourne

Eastbourne is a traditional seaside town that’s regularly the UK’s sunniest place. It is about 120 km from central London. The beautiful South Downs national park rises up directly from the western end of its seafront. Learn more about Eastbourne