EMC CPD Face-to-Face: Starting to Teach English Language A Level
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Availability -
Places available
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Price - £265 per place
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Location - EMC, SE1 8QW
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Duration - 10-3.30pm
If you are (or are about to be) teaching English Language for the first time, this course will give you an introduction to most of the key areas. We will explore ways to develop both your own knowledge and your students’ understanding of the building blocks of language analysis and the main approaches to sociolinguistic research used on all AS & A Level courses. Assuming no prior knowledge of English Language teaching and not focused on one particular specification, this course will equip you to take on the first year of teaching with confidence.
Areas covered on the day include:
- How to develop confidence, knowledge and skills for analysing texts
- A look at the different types of text and data typically found at A Level
- An introduction to sociolinguistic topic areas such as gender, ethnicity, accent and language change
- A survey of some of the main debates and arguments about language
- How to encourage student-led research and writing.
NB: This is a repeat course.
How to get to the English and Media Centre, 44 Webber Street, London, SE1 8QW
Once you are on Webber Street, look out for the big gates and a sign saying CLPE. You’ll see EMC’s sign to the right of the entrance.
National Rail:
- Waterloo and Waterloo East are within 10 minutes walk
- London Blackfriars is a 10-15 minutes walk
Underground:
- Southwark on the Jubilee Line
- Waterloo on the Jubilee, Bakerloo, Waterloo & City and Northern Lines
Buses:
- The following bus routes go close to Webber Street: 1, 139, 168, 171, 172, 344
A really excellent day which has given me confidence to face a new syllabus from September. Dan is an excellent presenter - full of practical tips for delivering the course, as well as sharing his passion and expertise in the subject. Kate Thompson, Didcot Girls School, Summer 2024
Dan is a superb teacher; great resources. I left feeling confident and excited about teaching the A level for the first time. Sally Price, King Edward’s, Summer 2024

Dan Clayton
Dan Clayton is an education consultant at the EMC and specialises in English Language work at A Level and language education across the secondary curriculum. He has been a teacher of A Level English for over 20 years, senior examiner and moderator for different awarding bodies and is author/editor of many books for A Level English Language, including ones for Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press & Routledge, as well as publications for the EMC and NATE. Dan has worked closely with many universities to help develop links between A level and HE, worked as a research fellow at UCL and runs the EngLangBlog site and @EngLangBlog Bluesky account, as well as being part of the Lexis Podcast team. He has also taught Media and Film Studies and is Associate Editor of emagazine and MediaMagazine.
Bookings for this course will close at 8am (London, UK) on Friday 27th June 2025 or when capacity is reached, whichever is the sooner.
- This course must be booked online.
- To book this course you must be signed into one of the following accounts:
- UK Trust/Academy – Head Office (purchasing)
- UK Educator Admin (purchasing)
- UK Teacher – Home Address Only
- UK Private Individual
- Overseas
- If you have a UK Educator Standard account you will not be able to book the course. Sign in to your account and add it to your Wishlist. See the list of people able to book courses at your organisation by clicking ‘My Account’, then ‘Our Admin Users’.
- Click 'Book now’ (right-hand column).
- Add the number of places you need.
- Fill in the names and email addresses of the people attending. To secure your place, please make sure you add the attendee details immediately and checkout within 24 minutes. Otherwise the booking will expire and you will have to begin the process again.
- Click submit and then Go to basket.
- Checkout.
- Please pay by card if you can. If you need to pay by invoice, you must be signed into a ‘UK Educator Admin User' account. You will not be able to request an invoice if you have one of the short courses in your basket at the same time. These must be paid for in advance.
- Once you have booked your place, you will see a screen indicating your order has been successful. You may want to make a note of your order number. The person making the booking and the attendee will receive an automatic acknowledgement of your booking.
- When the course has reached viable numbers, this will be indicated on the course page on the website and you may wish to book your transport.
Cancellations and amendments
- We require at least five working days’ notice of cancellation, otherwise your school will be invoiced for the full amount. However, if you are not able to attend and a colleague would like to take your place, this can be arranged at any time. (Please email [email protected] with the name and email address of the teacher.)
- We will indicate on the website when the course has reached viable numbers and will definitely run unless there are circumstances beyond our reasonable control. If you have booked your place before this threshold has been reached, we will email you to let you know. Before booking travel you may wish to wait until it has been confirmed on the website or by email that the course has reached viable numbers.
- If a course does have to be cancelled you will not be charged for the course and will receive a refund if you paid in advance. However, personal arrangements including travel, accommodation or hospitality relating to the course which have been arranged by you or your institution are at your own risk and not refundable by us.
- Our face-to-face courses are very interactive and cannot be live-streamed.