09/15/2025

Teachers' Day: How to make English lessons realistic and task-oriented

Seminar room with several people and a lecturer
© UdS/Oliver DietzeTeachers' Day focuses on questions such as how teachers can use artificial intelligence (AI) to design tasks that are as realistic as possible.

Designing English lessons with the help of tasks that are rooted in the everyday lives of pupils – this is the central theme of the 21st Teachers' Day at Saarland University. It will take place on Tuesday, 7 October 2025, starting at 8:30 a.m. in the university auditorium (Building A3 3). The event is aimed at English teachers, trainee teachers and students. Registration is open until 22 September.

The following text has been machine translated from the German and has undergone no postediting.

‘Task-Based Learning’ – task-oriented English teaching – is the title of this year's Teachers' Day. It addresses the question of how teachers can make the learning process meaningful and as realistic as possible, including through the use of interactive software to create tasks. One workshop, for example, deals with suitable digital games that motivate students to speak in class. Another workshop presents how developing your own podcast episodes can improve speaking and listening skills in the long term. So how can teachers use artificial intelligence (AI) in a targeted manner to design tasks that are as realistic as possible – and how can they assess these tasks? These and other questions will be addressed in lectures and workshops at Teachers' Day. As in previous years, the speakers come from Saarland University and other German institutions, as well as from English-speaking countries.

Teachers' Day at Saarland University is organised by the Department of English and American Studies in collaboration with the Centre for Teacher Education (ZfL), the Saarland Education Campus, the Institute for Teacher Training and Continuing Education (ILF) and the German-American Institute (DAI). The 21st Teachers' Day is also financially supported by the British Council and various schoolbook publishers.

Background:

Teachers' Day has developed into a nationally sought-after training event with participants from Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and Luxembourg. Its aim is to link science and practice; the lectures and workshops focus on both the further development of subject teaching and practical ideas for the classroom. Teachers' Day thus takes particular account of the high value placed on didactic and methodological training and further development of teachers, as well as subject-specific training and further development.

Programme and registration at: 

https://www.uni-saarland.de/fachrichtung/anglistik/teachersday.html

Questions answered by:

Daniel Honert
department of English Studies
Saarland University
Tel.: +49 681 302-3732
Email: teachersday(at)uni-saarland.de