The 2025 Macmillan Global Teachers’ Festival brought together teachers from all over the world. For ten days, experts shared ideas, teaching methods, and new trends in education. The sessions covered creativity, mindfulness, technology, and inclusive teaching. The event highlighted the importance of global collaboration and continuous learning for teachers. In this recap, we explore key takeaways that can help educators improve their teaching and stay connected with the global education community.
The Art of Conversation and Creativity in Teaching
The event began with a session on communication and creativity in teaching. Father-son duo David and Ben Crystal discussed how conversation helps learning. They compared face-to-face and online communication and showed how teachers can use storytelling to engage students. Susan and Sarah Hillyard explained how drama and creative techniques make lessons fun and interactive. They encouraged teachers to think of themselves as artists, using creativity to help students express themselves.
Key Takeaways:
- Face-to-face conversations create stronger student engagement.
- Online conversations lack natural signals but can be improved with interaction strategies.
- Storytelling is a great way to teach both online and in-person.
- Drama helps students gain confidence and express ideas in new ways.
- Even shy students can join activities if given different roles in storytelling.
- Teachers can use simple prompts to spark conversation in any setting.
Collaboration and shared knowledge are at the heart of global education. This session set the stage for the festival by emphasizing how communication builds connections and how creativity fosters engagement in learning.
Learn more about the power of storytelling for young learners in the ESL classroom.

Mindfulness and Well-Being in the Classroom
Emma Reynolds and Lorena Peimbert led sessions on mindfulness and emotional security. Emma introduced the STOP method (Stop, Take a breath, Observe, Proceed) to help students manage stress. Lorena emphasized that teachers play a key role in creating a safe and welcoming classroom. She suggested activities like five-finger breathing and creating a peace corner where students can calm down when overwhelmed.
Key Takeaways:
- Teachers can model mindfulness to encourage student participation.
- Mindfulness helps students focus and feel less stressed.
- Teachers can introduce breathing exercises to improve classroom behavior.
- A strong teacher-student relationship leads to better learning outcomes.
- Gratitude exercises help students develop a positive mindset.
- A structured, predictable classroom environment helps students feel secure.
Teaching is not just about delivering content – it’s about creating an environment where students feel safe and supported. Around the world, teachers are recognizing that emotional well-being is just as important as academic success. This session reinforced the idea that mindfulness is a universal tool that educators can use to enhance focus, reduce stress, and build stronger student-teacher relationships.

Teaching Critical Thinking and Media Literacy
With so much information available online, students need critical thinking skills to make sense of what they see and hear. Chia Suan Chong and Rose Aylett led sessions on media literacy and critical questioning. They encouraged teachers to use Bloom’s Taxonomy to help students analyze information. Rose introduced critical literacy, where students learn to question the purpose and message behind news, advertisements, and media content.
Key Takeaways:
- Students need guidance in evaluating online content.
- Asking the right questions leads to deeper understanding.
- Teachers should include discussions on media and advertising in lessons.
- Comparing different viewpoints helps students think more critically.
- Understanding persuasive language helps students make informed decisions.
- Classroom debates encourage students to challenge ideas and form opinions.
With information overload becoming a global challenge, teachers everywhere are looking for ways to equip students with the skills to think critically. This session highlighted the importance of collaboration in education – when teachers share strategies for media literacy, they help students become more discerning and independent learners in an increasingly digital world.
Take a deep dive into the importance of teaching digital literacy in the ESL classroom.

Building Strong Grammar and Vocabulary Skills
Learning grammar and vocabulary can be challenging, but the right methods make it easier. In their respective sessions, Anna Parr-Modrzejewska and Małgorzata Kobierzycka discussed spiral learning and explained how teachers can revisit topics at increasing levels of difficulty to improve retention. Teachers were encouraged to use interactive games like vocabulary battleships and travel letters to make learning more engaging. Digital tools like Quizlet, Blooket, and Memrise were recommended for reviewing material.
Key Takeaways:
- Revisiting grammar and vocabulary helps students remember more.
- Games make language learning more engaging.
- Personalized lessons improve student confidence.
- Technology provides interactive ways to review material.
- Using familiar topics makes learning feel more natural.
- Real-life application of vocabulary makes it stick.
No matter where they teach, educators face the challenge of helping students retain grammar and vocabulary over time. This session demonstrated how a strategic, structured approach to language learning – one that involves repetition, interaction, and technology – can be applied across different learning environments and adapted to diverse classrooms worldwide.
Check out these ESL grammar activities to make your lessons interesting, interactive, and inclusive.
Infuse fun into your lessons with this free eBook sample
Teaching Online Games and Activities – Young Learners
downloadUsing Games and Characters for Engagement
Jeff Kuhn and Myriam Monterrubio shared strategies for making lessons more interactive. Jeff explained how video games can help students learn by offering challenges and choices. Myriam focused on classroom characters, explaining that students engage more when lessons include personalities and storytelling. She recommended letting students create their own characters to practice vocabulary and sentence structure.
Key Takeaways:
- Games can improve problem-solving and critical thinking.
- Giving students choices in assignments boosts motivation.
- Using characters makes lessons feel more personal and relatable.
- Role-playing activities help students practice real-world conversations.
- Interactive storytelling improves fluency and creativity.
- Teachers can use animated characters to explain difficult topics.
Engagement is a universal challenge, but these sessions showed that creativity can bridge gaps across cultures and learning styles. Whether through video games or storytelling, educators around the world can use interactive techniques to make learning more immersive and enjoyable for students.
Entrepreneurship for Teachers and AI in Education
Polina Venglovskaia encouraged teachers to consider entrepreneurship as a career path. She shared steps to build an independent teaching business, such as finding a niche, setting your rates, and creating an online presence.
Joanna Szoke discussed AI in education, focusing on its benefits and risks. She explained how AI can assist with lesson planning, grading, and personalized learning, but warned about issues like data privacy and over-reliance on technology.
Key Takeaways:
- Independent teaching can provide more flexibility and income opportunities.
- Finding a specific teaching focus helps attract students.
- AI can help teachers with planning and grading but should not replace human interaction.
- Data privacy and ethical concerns must be considered when using AI.
- Automation can free up teachers’ time for more personalized instruction.
- AI can personalize content for students, making learning more engaging.
The role of teachers is evolving, with many educators looking beyond traditional classrooms to expand their impact. These sessions reinforced the idea that continuous learning is not just for students. Teachers, too, can explore new paths by embracing entrepreneurship and emerging technologies like AI. By staying informed and adaptable, educators can enhance their careers while shaping the future of learning.
Creating an Inclusive Classroom for Neurodiverse Students
Claire Hart, Boelo van der Pool, and Wiktoria Allen led sessions focused on neurodiversity in education. They explained that students with conditions like autism, ADHD, and dyslexia learn differently but bring unique strengths to the classroom. Teachers were encouraged to use flexible seating, clear instructions, and visual aids to support neurodiverse learners. Boelo and Wiktoria stressed that creating an inclusive classroom benefits all students, not just those with learning differences.
Key Takeaways:
- Neurodiverse students need structured and supportive classrooms.
- Visual aids and step-by-step instructions improve learning.
- Allowing movement and breaks helps students with ADHD focus.
- Creating a welcoming environment benefits all learners.
- Teachers should use multiple teaching methods to reach different learning styles.
- Small adjustments can make a big difference for neurodiverse students.
Global education is about ensuring that every student, regardless of background or learning differences, has the opportunity to succeed. This session emphasized that inclusion benefits all learners, and through collaboration, teachers can exchange best practices and strategies to support neurodiverse students in diverse classroom settings.
Conclusion
The 2025 Macmillan Global Teachers’ Festival provided valuable insights into teaching methods, creativity, and professional growth. Educators learned how to build engaging lessons, support student well-being, and use technology effectively. The event showed that collaboration and continuous learning are essential for teachers to succeed in today’s classrooms. By applying these strategies, teachers can create inclusive, engaging, and effective learning environments.