English Language Course for Teachers and Education Staff

Name: English Language Course for Teachers and Education Staff
Price: 400 EUR

Why this is Erasmus+ eligible

Structured, multi-day programme (5 days) with a pre-defined schedule and learning outcomes — not a passive lecture format.

Built around interaction: participants engage directly with the trainer and with peers from other countries throughout the course.

Transnational by design — open to participants travelling from outside the host country, a core requirement of Erasmus+ mobility funding.

The Erasmus+ Programme Guide states that “The lack of language competences is one of the main barriers to participation in European education, training and youth programmes” (Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026, Part A – Important features of the Erasmus+ Programme, Multilingualism, p. 12), and lists among the objectives of Key Action 1 mobility in school education “supporting professional development of teachers, school leaders and other school staff” and “building capacity of schools to engage in cross-border exchanges and cooperation, and carry out high quality mobility projects” (Part B – Key Action 1, Mobility for pupils and staff in school education, Objectives of the action, p. 103). This week is for the staff that barrier holds back — teaching and non-teaching school staff, from the level below A1 upwards. It works on the English the job actually requires: a reply to a partner school, a message to a parent, the unavoidable spoken exchanges, and relaying and explaining for a visitor. Participants leave with a written self-assessment of their English across the Council of Europe's four modes of communication, in the CEFR's own wording, which a partner institution or a National Agency can read.

Overview

Many school staff need English at work, but their English is still basic. This week starts below A1, at the level called Pre-A1. You do not study grammar chapters. You practise four things you do at school every day: understanding, talking with people, writing, and passing on a message. The European framework calls these the four modes of communication.

Monday — you check your English level, step by step. You write this first self-assessment on a sheet and seal it until Friday.
Tuesday — you practise talking: in the corridor, in the staffroom, on the phone.
Wednesday — you write four short texts for school, and correct them.
Thursday — you practise helping someone understand: you pass on a message or explain something. This is called mediation. You already do it every day in your own language.
Friday — you do Tuesday’s and Thursday’s tasks again. Then you write about your English level, in the official European words.

You go home with a written self-assessment of your English. Colleagues will observe you in two rounds during the week, and their notes support it. Your school, a partner school or your National Agency can understand it. You do not need any level to start: the week begins below A1.

Description

Some teachers avoid English. They stop at the staffroom door, they do not answer the email from the partner school, and they ask a colleague to meet the visitors. This week is for them.

The Council of Europe’s language framework (the CEFR) now has an updated version (2020), and two changes matter here. First, it describes a level below A1, called Pre-A1, so a beginner has a real level too. Second, it gives mediation — passing something on so that another person can use it — its own scales. Mediation describes much of what a teacher does every day.

So the week is organised by what you do with the language, not by grammar chapters. Monday is understanding, and an honest check of where you stand. Tuesday is talking with people: the corridor, the staffroom, the unexpected phone call. Wednesday is the writing the job needs: a message to a parent, a reply to a partner school, a notice for a door. Thursday is mediation, and it often surprises people. Some mediation scales start very low: even at Pre-A1 you can pass on a simple message, and at A1 you can notice a disagreement and show sympathy. Only solving the disagreement needs B1.

On Friday you do Tuesday’s and Thursday’s tasks again. Colleagues observe you with the same descriptor scales as on Tuesday and Thursday. The framework itself suggests this use. Then you write your level in the Council of Europe’s own words, for each of the four modes. Most people’s levels are uneven across the four, and that is normal. Because the wording is European, your description means the same thing in Lisbon as in Tallinn.

Methodology

Descriptors as the working instrument, not the exam

every session names the “can do” scales it is working on, and each participant marks their own position against them on Monday and again on Friday. The framework is used the way its authors intend it — a proficiency map rather than an inventory of what is missing.

The language is used, not studied

grammar arrives when a task needs it and is practised inside that task. Sessions are built around producing something real — a message that gets sent, an explanation a partner can act on — rather than around a chapter of structures.

Mixed level by design, small groups throughout

speaking work happens in threes and fours, so nobody waits through nineteen turns to take one. Where a participant sits below or above the group, the task stays the same and the descriptor target moves.

Observed twice by the same instrument

participants take turns as observers, marking a partner against one named descriptor scale — on Tuesday (spoken interaction) and Thursday (mediation), and again on Friday with the same scales. Nothing is recorded and nothing leaves the room; the comparison is between two sets of notes on the same task, taken on different days.

What you'll take home

Follow English that arrives unannounced — a short instruction, a colleague’s question, an announcement — and use a strategy for the half of it you did not catch.

Hold the spoken exchanges a teacher cannot avoid, at your actual level, using clarification and turntaking rather than fluency to keep them going.

Write the short texts the job requires: a message to a parent, a reply to a partner school, a notice, a paragraph about your school.

Relay and explain in English for someone who needs it — the mediation work already in your profession, done in a second language.

Write a self-assessment of your own English across the four modes, in the Council of Europe’s wording, that you can defend line by line.

Daily programme

Icebreaker: “Three things I can already do in English” — each participant names three, in English, however short, so the group hears that the floor is not zero before anything has been taught
The framework as it now stands: the 2001 CEFR, which already organised language around four modes rather than four skills, and the Companion volume that updated it — online in 2018, final edition April 2020 — with what matters here: a defined Pre-A1 level, and descriptor scales for mediation, which the 2001 CEFR named but never measured
Self-placement against the descriptor scales, mode by mode: what “can do” looks like at Pre-A1, A1 and A2 — including the honest fact that a number of scales carry no descriptors at Pre-A1 at all, which is a gap in the framework rather than in you
Reception in practice: announcements, short instructions and a colleague’s question — and the strategies for a sentence you only half caught, which is the position most real listening happens in
Second reception round: a short announcement played twice at normal speed, with each participant writing down only what they are sure of. The difference between the two listenings is the strategy being taught, not the vocabulary
Output: a first self-assessment sheet, marked per mode, sealed and kept for Friday

Warm-up: “Ask me three questions” — pairs rotating every two minutes, questions only, nothing prepared
Why interaction is not production: turntaking, co-operating and asking for clarification are separate skills in the framework, and the third is the one that keeps a conversation alive when vocabulary runs out
The exchanges that cannot be avoided: a question caught mid-corridor, an introduction at a meeting, a call answered without warning
Practicum in threes: each situation run, swapped and run again, with the observer’s job defined as precisely as the speaker’s
Observation round: in each three, the participant who is not speaking marks the pair against one named descriptor scale — the first of the week's observation rounds — the Tuesday baseline that Friday compares against
Output: a personal phrase set for asking for clarification and buying time — the sentences that stop a conversation ending early

Warm-up: “The message I never sent” — one exchange each participant avoided in English, described in a single sentence
Written production and written interaction: the difference between a text you compose and a text that expects an answer, and why the framework separates them
Four real formats, drafted and rewritten: a message to a parent, a reply to a partner school, a notice for a door, a short paragraph describing your school
Where the language comes from at this level: adapting a model text rather than composing from nothing — how to find a usable model, and what has to change in it
Free browser-based tools — a spellchecker, or a grammar checker that needs no account — are used here only to check a draft that has already been written, never to produce one. The difference matters at this level, where an unchecked machine sentence is one you cannot defend in the room
Output: four short texts, checked by a partner, correct enough to send

Warm-up: “Explain it to me like I wasn’t there” — one thing from Wednesday, recounted in English to a partner who then reports it back to its owner
What the framework means by mediation: mediating a text (relaying specific information, explaining, note-taking), mediating concepts (collaborating in a group, leading group work), and mediating communication (acting as an intermediary, and easing a delicate situation or disagreement — within one language as often as between two)
The professional case, put plainly: a teacher relays, explains, simplifies and smooths over all day in their first language — the Council of Europe classes those as language activities in their own right, with their own scales, and the scales do not start at B1
Practicum: relaying a short English text to a partner who has not read it; note-taking from a two-minute spoken briefing; then a three-way task in which two participants share no common language and the third has to make the exchange work — and where the group's own languages do not allow that, one participant takes the role of someone who understands only very simple English, which produces the same mediation load
Observation round, as on Tuesday: in each group the participant who is not working marks the pair against one named mediation scale — this is the Thursday baseline that Friday compares against
Output: a one-page record of which mediation scale each participant found easiest and hardest, written in the framework’s own wording rather than in impressions

Opening session — the second pass: Tuesday’s and Thursday’s tasks run again in groups of four, two working and two observing against the same scales used on Tuesday and Thursday, then swapped, so everyone is both observed and observer
Monday’s sealed sheet opened and set beside Friday’s observation notes: what moved, what did not, and what a truthful A1 or A2 claim looks like beside an inflated one
Writing the profile: a short self-assessment for each of the four modes in the framework’s wording — including what to write when the level is uneven across them, which it usually is, and what to write where the scale carries no descriptor at your level at all, which happens most in mediation
Selected work in plenary: two or three participants who want to run their exchange for the whole group do so, by choice rather than by rota
Output: a rewritten self-assessment across the four modes — the interaction and mediation lines backed by a peer observation, the reception and production lines by Monday's sealed sheet and Wednesday's partner check
Course evaluation and feedback
Certificate ceremony

Please note: sessions run from 09:30 to 15:00, Monday to Friday, with a break for lunch. Timings can shift a little to suit the venue and the group. If you'd like a specific topic covered, let us know when you apply — the confirmed day-by-day schedule is sent to registered participants ahead of the course.

Certificate: we issue the Certificate of Attendance to everyone who's present for at least 80% of the course — tracked with the daily sign-in sheet (see Certificate & assessment).

Equipment: a few of our courses ask participants to bring a laptop — check the day-by-day programme above, or ask us if you're not sure.

Need a formal invoice or proforma for your school's records? Ask us — we issue official invoices with the participant's name and course details.

Materials & tools

Your own free copy of the Companion volume, downloaded from the Council of Europe on Day 1 — with EMA's one-page map of which scales this week works on, so you are not searching 278 pages. Several mediation scales carry no descriptors at Pre-A1 and the volume's own self-assessment grid starts at A1; the map says so, because that gap is in the framework rather than in you

The self-assessment sheet, completed on Monday and rewritten on Friday

The observation sheets used on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, one named descriptor scale per sheet

Model texts for the four written formats of Day 3, used as material to adapt rather than to copy

A clarification and turntaking phrase set — built by the participant during Day 2, not handed out

Certificate & assessment

This is a Certificate of Attendance, not an exam-based qualification — recognition comes from completing the structured programme, not from passing a test. The real, lasting value is in the competencies listed above under What you'll take home.

Erasmus Mobility Academy

Certificate of Attendance

English Language Course for Teachers and Education Staff · 5 days · 25 hrs

+ Europass Mobility document

Type your name above — clearly marked "SAMPLE" in the PDF, not an official document.

The real certificate is signed by your trainer and EMA's authorised signatory. Your own signature isn't on this document — it's captured separately, on the Europass Mobility document.

Need to verify a real certificate? Check it online using the serial number and participant's full name, or contact us directly — [email protected], OID E10304561.

Attendance

Tracked using a sign-in sheet with one signature per participant per day (paper or digital). This record is used to issue your Certificate of Attendance and Europass Mobility document. View sign-in sheet (PDF)

Output

Every participant leaves with a completed Dissemination & School Impact Plan — a step-by-step template for applying the course back at your school (see below).

Feedback

An end-of-course evaluation form is sent to every participant after the course ends — a chance to reflect on what you've learned and how you'll apply it, and it helps us keep improving the course for future participants.

Your paperwork

Keep your travel tickets, boarding passes and (if you used green travel) any related receipts — your school or National Agency may ask for these for their own Erasmus+ reporting.

How to prepare

There is nothing to study beforehand and no level test to pass. If it helps, it is worth having in mind one situation at school where English would have made a difference — a visitor, an email, a call that went to somebody else. Monday starts from wherever your English genuinely is, including if that is very little; that is who the week is for.

Nothing needs to be installed and no account has to be created. The self-assessment sheet, the observation sheets and the scales map are on paper and arrive with the course.

You download your own free copy of the Companion volume on Monday, so bring whatever you normally carry — a phone is enough for that. A laptop or tablet is useful on Wednesday if you would rather draft on a screen, but it is not required: every task that day works on paper. If bringing a device is difficult, tell us when you book and we will sort it out beforehand.

Practical information

Registration & documents

Not sure how registering works or what paperwork is involved? See our full Registration & Documents guide — from applying to your Certificate of Attendance, in one place.

Invitation letter

Need a formal invitation letter for your school or embassy? Request one — we send it within 2 business days. See a sample (PDF).

Learning Agreement

Prepared by our staff and sent to you and your school once your registration form is submitted — see what it looks like. See a sample (PDF).

Billing & invoicing

We issue official invoices/proformas with the participant's name and course details — ask us. Payment is due in full by bank transfer before the course start date. See a sample (PDF).

Airport transfer

Guidance on getting from the nearest airport to the venue is included in your welcome information.

Accommodation

We can recommend partner hotels close to the venue in the host city — ask us when you apply.

For your school / proposal

School impact

After completing this course, the participating staff member can transfer outcomes directly to their school: a short briefing for colleagues sharing the key takeaways, applying relevant tools or strategies from the programme in their own role, and inclusion of the course materials in the school's professional development resources — turning one person's mobility into a wider institutional gain that supports the school's Erasmus+ objectives. Use the Dissemination & School Impact Plan below to fill in your own — it saves as you go and can generate a one-page summary for your coordinator too.

Prefer a blank, course-independent version of this template? Get it here →

After the course

Participants will receive their Certificate of Attendance and the co-signed Europass Mobility document.

Participants will complete a general course evaluation and event survey.

Participants will receive course materials, videos, photos, and PDF documents in both digital and print formats.

Follow-up support: self-evaluation materials are provided. Depending on the group, an email group may be set up so that participants can keep exchanging ideas.

Frequently asked

This course is an eligible training activity under Erasmus+ Key Action 1 (School Education Mobility) — the course fee, travel and subsistence fall within the eligible cost categories. Whether it is covered depends on your own project's approved grant agreement and your National Agency's rules; we provide all the invoices, attendance records and certificates your National Agency requires for reporting.

No level is required — this course starts below A1. It is one of two courses in our catalogue that teach English rather than being taught in it; if you already use English at work with some confidence, Intermediate English Course for Teachers (B1–B2) is the next step. So the usual "B1 is enough" answer does not apply here. Sessions work from the Council of Europe's Pre-A1, A1 and A2 descriptors, and Monday opens with self-placement rather than a test. A rough test: if you can say three things in English, however short, you are at the level this week starts from.

Absolutely — group bookings of 3+ from one school or organisation receive priority placement, and we can schedule a dedicated session for groups of 12 or more.

Our courses run on request at our centres in Antalya, İstanbul, İzmir, Mersin, Budapest, Bremen and Rome. Tell us your preferred city and dates and we will arrange a session.

Tuition, all course materials, your Certificate of Attendance, and the co-signed Europass Mobility document. Flights, accommodation and travel insurance are booked separately — we send a vetted hotel list.

You can move to any later session free of charge. Cancellations made 30+ days before the start date receive a full refund; a reduced refund applies closer to the date — see our full Cancellation & Refund Policy for the exact schedule.

The Erasmus+ Programme Guide states that “The lack of language competences is one of the main barriers to participation in European education, training and youth programmes” (Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026, Part A – Important features of the Erasmus+ Programme, Multilingualism, p. 12), and lists among the objectives of Key Action 1 mobility in school education “supporting professional development of teachers, school leaders and other school staff” and “building capacity of schools to engage in cross-border exchanges and cooperation, and carry out high quality mobility projects” (Part B – Key Action 1, Mobility for pupils and staff in school education, Objectives of the action, p. 103). This week is for the staff that barrier holds back — teaching and non-teaching school staff, from the level below A1 upwards. It works on the English the job actually requires: a reply to a partner school, a message to a parent, the unavoidable spoken exchanges, and relaying and explaining for a visitor. Participants leave with a written self-assessment of their English across the Council of Europe's four modes of communication, in the CEFR's own wording, which a partner institution or a National Agency can read. Frame it in your own project's terms — your National Agency's current call will confirm exactly how it applies.

Yes. The course title says "and Education Staff" and means it: the week is built around the English a school day actually asks for, whoever is doing the asking — a parent messaged, a visitor met at the door, a partner-school email answered, a call taken at the front desk. Nothing in it assumes you teach English, or teach at all. The Council of Europe scales it works from describe what any adult can do in another language, not what a language specialist can explain about one.