Over the past few years, supporting migrants and refugees has become an increasingly important part of local authority services. This service, among other aspects, relies on providing access to effective English language teaching delivered by qualified and confident ESOL professionals.

However, teaching in this space is not like other forms of English language education; refugees and migrant learners may come from vastly different backgrounds, often carrying the weight of trauma or displacement. For teachers, this work can be deeply rewarding, but it also demands specialised skills, flexibility, and resilience.

To address the need from teachers wishing to work effectively in these circumstances, NILE (Norwich Institute for Language Education) and TERM (Teach English to Refugees and Migrants) have joined forces to create a practical and supportive online course.

Teaching English to Refugees and Migrants provides practical tools and professional knowledge to ensure that educators are well-prepared, both professionally and emotionally, to meet the specific needs of refugee and migrant learners. This part-time course takes place over 8 weeks, and is highly collaborative throughout, including live tutored sessions, group tasks and reflective exercises.

Key course outcomes:

  • Designing lessons, materials, and activities that respond to learners’ emotional, cognitive, linguistic, and cultural needs
  • Creating inclusive and supportive learning environments
  • Understanding how trauma impacts learning, behaviour, and classroom dynamics

Course writers and founders of TERM Chris Moore and Stephanie Lam bring a wealth of experience. Stephanie has spent over 25 years as an ELT practitioner in two Immigration Removal Centres at Gatwick Airport, working with learners in highly sensitive and challenging contexts. Chris has extensive expertise in developing course curricula and delivering a wide range of courses specifically for refugee and migrant education. Together, they have designed a course grounded in both research and real-world teaching.

Learn more about TERM and the course

Through the award-winning NILE Online platform, NILE has developed over 50 professional development courses over the last 10 years, supporting 6500 teachers through our programmes. Recently we have built successful partnerships with the East of England Local Government Association and South West Councils to deliver training courses such as CELTA. NILE’s dedicated Online Client Manager assists both individual participants and groups of teachers on courses, corresponding directly with participants and thus offering minimal administrative demand for council teams.

We are encouraged by current availability of funding — such as the recently announced Capacity Building for ESOL Provision — which specifically targets training and professional development those working with migrant and refugee communities.

In a sector where specialised training has often been scarce, the NILE Online course “Teaching English to Refugees and Migrants” provides a structured, accessible and well-supported route to upskilling ESOL staff in councils and organisations across the country.

READ MORE AND Enrol       coNTACT NILE

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