Context
ELT roadshows play a vital role in strengthening national English language education systems by bringing high-quality professional development directly to teachers where they work. Unlike centralised training that reaches only a few, roadshows create inclusive, accessible opportunities for teachers across regions to engage with new methodologies, materials, and assessment practices. They foster professional networks, inspire collaboration between ministries, universities, and schools, and promote consistent standards aligned with international frameworks such as the CEFR. By combining local ownership with global expertise, ELT roadshows help revitalise classroom practice, support policy implementation at scale, and ensure that every teacher has the tools and confidence to deliver effective, communicative English language learning.
This Roadshow was organised by the British Council in collaboration with the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Cuba (MINED) and the Ministry of Higher Education of Cuba (MES) across three different locations: Havana, Santa Clara and Cienfuegos.
Objectives:
- To build capacity of teachers, teacher educators and student teachers in training.
- To resume in-person teacher development/training and to strengthen the use of specially produced content through MINED/MES platforms.
- To improve communicative skills in English language teaching, aligning with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
Key components & features:
- Workshops were delivered by TELT – plenary sessions and workshop sessions – plenary for universities in each location and two-day workshops on backward design using CEFR outcome statements.
- Parallel sessions for primary and secondary teachers focusing on 'making classrooms more dynamic'.
Impact
360 teachers received the training across the three locations. A set of materials complementing the workshops were compiled into a booklet which has been reproduced and distributed to all teachers and teachers in training in Cuba.